Children growing up in British cities face barriers to safe, playable spaces as financial constraints, policy misalignment and housing pressures cause planners to prioritise property over parks, finds a new study by researchers at UCL and Bradford Institute for Health Research.
Published in Cities and Health, the study - part of the PUSH (Play in Urban Spaces for Health) project, has explored the factors limiting the provision of parks and space for informal outdoor play in built-up urban environments.
The researchers interviewed policymakers and practitioners in Bradford and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets who influence planning, regeneration and children's play and physical activity, to better understand the challenges local authorities face and their lessons learned when it comes to designing play into urban communities.
The participants, who ranged from urban planners to public health specialists, explained how financial and staffing constraints persistently limit local authorities' ability to implement well intentioned play policy.
Corresponding author Emily Ranken (UCL Institute of Education) said: "Well-designed play space has so many positive knock-on effects. For children, it takes them outside, away from screens and develops their cognitive and physical skills. And for parents it helps build community ties and vital social networks."
""Our study offers a deep analysis of the challenges in embedding play into urban policy and our recommendations offer a blueprint for councils, developers, and public health leaders to make play a priority."
Participants spoke about the competing pressure of housing, where developers saw play space as a "nice to have" and led to a "constant kind of challenge between building up housing and keeping enough like green and open space and amenity space and play space." They suggested that greater regulation, such as national statutory guidance requiring developers to prioritise provision of playable space over quantity of homes, could help mitigate these competing interests.
Such a requirements are in place in Scotland and Wales, but when they were proposed for England as an amendment to the government's flagship Planning and Infrastructure bill but was ultimately not put to a vote.
Meanwhile, difficulties recruiting and retaining good staff were highlighted, as well as the combined impacts of austerity, Covid and Brexit. One interviewee despaired that "[The] baby boomers [are] all about to quit, and there is nobody underneath with the skill set." Appropriate training, it was suggested, should be available to those who work in urban planning and design.
With childhood obesity and social care needs especially acute in deprived communities like Bradford and Tower Hamlets, the participants championed the potential knock-on benefits of high-quality outdoor play space. One participant explained that "If a child was coming to an adventure playground, having some food, you know, chatting to adults, bit of support for the family elsewhere through safeguarding, it was maybe keeping some kids out of care and supporting the family."
The participants spoke of well-intentioned but fragmented policy where 'play' was used interchangeably with physical activity and, in Tower Hamlets, the council's 'Play Charter' was described as "a collection of catchphrases" which lacked a meaningful action plan.
PUSH (Play in Urban Spaces for Health), the UCL Institute of Education and Bradford Institute for Health Research who conducted the research, advocate for 'Forest School' principles to be applied to regenerated urban spaces for 4-7-year-olds.
Co-author Dr Amanda Seims (Bradford Institute for Health Research and Lancaster University) said: "Compared to their parents' generation, the amount of time today's children play outside has declined by 50%i. But this downward trend doesn't have to be inevitable. Thoughtful planning, which listens to the voices of children and young people, can produce accessible, enriching environments where children can develop."
Co-author Professor Claire Cameron (UCL Institute of Education) said: "We know the power of play can be transformational for young lives, and the PUSH project shows how small changes can make outdoor play a normal, everyday, thing to do".
PUSH's recommendations for good play practice:
- Alignment and coordination across several policy areas, including statutory regulation around child-focused environments and provision of play.
- Development of a robust local evidence base, including data on current play provisions, usage and outcomes.
- Appropriate training for those in planning and urban design to ensure they have the knowledge to embed play into urban spaces and the skills to meaningfully involve children, young people and the wider community in the decision-making process.
This research was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
