Internationally renowned and award-winning designer, Ryan Swanson is visiting Newcastle and Hunter region to encourage play in our urban environments.
Ryan, the Founder and Executive Director of The Urban Conga, who has been known to use guerrilla tactics to inject fun, playfulness and community connections into dull and uninviting urban environments, is teaming up with Newcastle locals, Mara Consulting to encourage playable cities.
"We are all about PLAYces! The power of creating better and thriving communities through open-ended play.
"Our focus is turning everyday spaces and boring or underutilised urban infrastructure into stimulating, creative outlets for social interaction and play.
"We've tracked data and can measure the benefits of playable infrastructure and we've created social, economic, health and identity values that underpin the importance of open-ended play.
"The research shows us that cities that are playable are more socially inclusive, people tend to spend more money in spaces where they linger, people are healthier both physically and mentally, and communities have a strong identity all because of play."
"We are partnering with other creatives around the world to rollout and promote The Guide for Creating a Playable City. Our focus is showing local governments and city builders the value of play in great urban spaces", Ryan said.
Mara Consulting, Managing Director Kelly Lofberg, said cities all around the world are now branding their towns as Playable Cities.
"It's based on the fundamental ideal that play creates social value in the spaces that we use on a day-to-day basis, for kids big and little.
"Why install a boring park bench when you can install a playable xylophone bench that encourages people to play or a slide at a train station instead of taking the stairs. Wherever possible we encourage our designs to have a play element to create fun spaces that attract people, creating vibrant communities", Kelly said.
