18.10.2012 - Ausgabe: 5/2012

Child’s play makes you clever

School outdoor recreation areas should be designed to encourage children to take unsupervised exercise.

All children enjoy physical play – and this is not just a synonym for aimless running around and screaming. Through play, they become bodily active and learn more about themselves and the spatial and physical nature of their environment. While children explore their surroundings through play, they can construct an image of the world around them. They not only take pleasure in their own activities, but also experiment to find out what they can achieve. A child sitting on a swing, for example, will carefully try out various body postures to see how much they can enhance or slow its movements. All the information passed to the brain is filtered, sorted and emotionally evaluated in the limbic system. When a challenge is successfully mastered, the level of the transmitter substance dopamine is elevated and this leads to a sensation of well-being. This means that someone in the process of learning something thus becomes eager to learn more. Child’s play makes you clever. Sport is the source of an exercise-orientated society. Mental alertness is promoted through physical fitness. All are concepts endorsed by Professor Renate Zimmer.

“Because of the developing trend towards introducing all-day schooling in Germany in recent years, it is become particularly important to ensure that the quality of recreation time in the playground is adapted to the needs of children and adolescents. In all educational decision-making, greater emphasis must be placed in future on the function and significance of the school playground as a factor determining the healthy physical and mental development of children,” explains Claudia Gust (SIK-Holzgestaltungs GmbH).

When it comes to designing school playgrounds, it is the obligation of local government and school authorities to ensure not only that the financial resources are provided, but also that children and adolescents are actively involved. Participation is the watchword and research must not be ignored. There are many ways in which active involvement can be promoted – through such programs as the IdeenMachenSchule [Making Schools Work] project, for example. However, such projects should have one aspect in common: they need to be aimed at improving the school environment and facilitating physical recreational activities. Even the power supplier E.ON Thüringer Energie recognises the value of such projects and has donated €1000 towards its realisation. So there are other coffers from which it is possible to obtain funding.

In Nuremburg, the idea of making school playgrounds available for recreation outside school hours is not a recent concept. As early as 1955, the city’s education and culture committee passed the following resolution: In order to ensure that schools can make a tangible contribution to the scheme to get children off the streets, all school playgrounds of municipal schools will, with immediate effect, make their playgrounds available for use by young people from end of lessons until 7.00 pm. The municipal authority herewith assumes no liability for any related accidents that might occur.
“In large conurbations such as Nuremberg, the increasing density of construction and use of land for residential, commercial and transport purposes are making it progressively more difficult to find spaces within the closely defined municipal zone that are suitable for use as playgrounds. That was why, in 1955, Nuremberg city council decided to open its school playgrounds for more general use by children. Their local schools are not just places of learning for children and adolescents, but also represent their social meeting centres,” wrote Nuremberg’s Mayor, Dr. Ulrich Mady in June 2006 in the brochure Spielhöfe in Nürnberg [Playgrounds in Nuremberg].

Nürtingen primary school outdoor project in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Nürtingen primary school is a listed building and plays an important role within the town planning and social aspects of its neighbourhood. A review and competition procedure was initiated with the objective of ensuring that the outdoor areas of the school were converted into an attractive and appropriate recreational site for children, while taking into account the specific profile of the locale and the listed building status of the site. The driving concept is the awareness that it is in the new school playground that the children will be spending six of their formative years. An eventful period, in which the children are to be provided with the opportunity to freely develop ideas, attitudes and discover themselves in a context that offers them both orientation and protection. The main draft concept Neue Räume für Dschungelträume [New spaces for jungle dreams] divides the available space into four sections: a recreation and play area directly opposite the school building, an “Extramural” sector with a maze and school garden, a courtyard incorporating a pavilion, beach volleyball field and open-air classroom, and a front garden with monument structure and hydrangea beds.

The central recreation area offers generous opportunities for limitless play, a small water feature and play equipment made of wood developed in accompanying workshops in which the children themselves participated. Climbing and play equipment made of robinia wood are positioned along the surrounding walls with the attendant mature trees and lead to a large sand pit. The pathway to the main building is constructed of natural stone paving found on-site and is supplemented by seating platforms. A large spruce tree has been preserved at the specific wish of the children, who submitted an appropriate petition.

The “Extramural” sector contains a small maze and the school garden. This sector is linked to the recreation area by a characteristically colourful cube-shaped crossover element and low openings in the wall. The crossover element can be accessed either side and acts as an elevated viewpoint from which the whole school recreation area and the section on the other side of the wall can be surveyed. The maze takes advantage of the existing wall sections and is constructed from hornbeams and colourful wooden panels. To the southwest is a clinker-constructed accessible cabin whose walls follow the former outline of the historical headmaster’s house that once stood on this site. Here there are narrow window bands and viewing slits through which the children can observe what is happening on the neighbouring roads, the Wrangelstraße and Mariannenstraße.

The pavilion courtyard, which is directly next to the football field, contains an open-air classroom, a grove of trees and a beach volleyball field on the site of the former school pavilion. It has not yet been possible to install the wooden cubes intended to protect the cycle racks and the sail over the open-air classroom because of lack of funds; the demolition and removal of the contaminated asphalt that previously covered the area proved to be very expensive.

The original low wall with its ornamental railings has been restored in the front garden, and in keeping with the protected status of the construction, it is set off by restrained hydrangea beds, lawn and other forms of ground cover.

“Educational approach, landscape design, architecture and school management must conform and complement each other if everything is to run smoothly. Contribution and participation are essential factors that determine the success of the project,” states Markus Schega, headmaster of Nürtingen primary school.

The landscape architect responsible for completing the project, Claus Herrmann of hochC Landschaftsarchitektur (www.hochc.de) in Berlin comments as follows:

“We decided not to standardise the play equipment so that it can be used by all age groups but have designed it to provide levels of challenge appropriate to the individual age groups. For example, there is a climbing tower that can only be accessed by a quite formidable ladder. This is often a problem for first graders and a test for third graders, but represents no particular difficulty for older primary school children. This conforms to the mixed age teaching concept that is employed in the case of grades one to six at Nürtingen primary school. Older children help their younger peers (and vice versa...). This meant extensive negotiations with the playground experts of the local authority, who wanted the difficulty levels of the equipment to be downgraded to some extent.

Because the ‘Extramural’ sector cannot be easily observed despite the viewpoint provided by the crossover element, the original concept was to only make it accessible during the longer breaks, when it could be supervised. There were worries that there could be areas in the maze that could not be easily monitored and that might be ‘anxiety-inducing’. These areas are now much more open and are also monitored by the teaching staff during breaks. But the headmaster Mr Schega and the teachers of the incorporated nursery school also thought it would be appropriate to provide play areas that are not so clearly visible and which provide spaces where the children can withdraw and not be observed.

Following renovation of the school building and construction of the outdoor areas, the rate of accidents among the children has fallen significantly (some 70% fewer accidents). The headmaster, Mr Schega, believes this is because the facilities for games, play and exercise are now so exciting and diverse.

In collaboration with the children, ‘fair play’ regulations have been drawn up and a corresponding film made that shows how children can use the equipment without coming into conflict with each other (e.g. a timetable to determine when individual children can use the popular nest swing, rules for taking others into consideration).

The project cost a total of €550,000.”

School recreation area as playground: views

Detlef Thiel, Head of the Office for Urban Greenspace and Waste Management, Dresden
“The availability of playgrounds, particularly those suitable for children aged up about to 12 years, has improved significantly in recent years. At the same time, there is a dearth of sport-orientated facilities for youngsters, especially ball sports fields. The playground development concept that is currently being drawn up will show that there is a 50% shortfall when it comes to space. As the necessary areas are no longer available, or can only be created with considerable effort, school playgrounds become interesting because of their potential for diverse usage. The notion of opening up school playgrounds is frequently put on the political agenda in Dresden, but the school authorities, except in a few exceptional cases, are unable to make this viable because of a range of legal and commercial problems. School playgrounds generally lack play equipment. There a few sports fields that are open after school hours. These are already being used by schools and sometimes also by clubs into the late afternoon, but residential noise avoidance regulations mean that these cannot be opened at other times to the general public. In addition, many primary schools also incorporate nursery schools that also have outdoor recreation areas that are used into the late afternoon, but no nursery school playground has yet been opened up to public use. Despite all this, we need to keep the multiuse principle in mind for future planning.”

Volker Schwarz, Head of the Department of Parks, Landscapes and Forestry, Heidelberg:
“Heidelberg, represented by its Landscape and Forestry Department, is currently maintaining 131 playgrounds and school recreation fields scattered throughout the city. Under the municipal playground regulations, these are now accessible for the general public and can be freely used. Various voluntary groups, the church and housing development organisations also offer play facilities. The 1976 regulations governing the use of public playgrounds in Heidelberg (most recently revised in 2005) specify that school playgrounds are to be accessible as public playgrounds out of school hours.

We consider this opening up of schoolyards as public playgrounds necessary to meet the actual need for such amenities in the various districts of our city. In some instances, we have encountered resistance from local residents, particularly in the more densely populated areas, such as the old city core. But it has generally proved possible to overcome this problem by means of consultation of all those involved and by imposing specific regulations.

On the whole, the availability of playgrounds in Heidelberg is adequate. The distribution of playgrounds among Heidelberg’s 14 districts is relatively equitable, and the extent of land these occupy and the quality of equipment on them are largely the same in each instance. In order to be able to react to changing needs and demographic developments, Heidelberg is preparing a play amenity concept that is currently in the process of finalisation. A statistical space requirement per child (approx. 21 m2 in total) has been defined that is used to calculate the area required, and it is on this basis that the corresponding demand is determined. The play amenity concept thus serves as a major urban planning guideline for Heidelberg. The finances required for the renovation or construction of playgrounds are taken into account in the city’s medium term budget planning.”

Volker Schirner, Head of the Department of Gardens, Cemeteries and Forestry, Stuttgart:
“Children’s eyes light up when they come to Stuttgart; there are numerous public playgrounds and additional opportunities for play in the city’s school playgrounds. Because school playgrounds have been made more accessible, quality of life has been improved in the more heavily built-up central areas with their corresponding lack of open-air facilities. Families with children can feel at home in Stuttgart; we are implementing a family-friendly construction program that will make more affordable accommodation available to families. We hope this will keep families in the city and counteract the trend for them to move away. The Cities for Children Network, set up to enable European cities to exchange their best ideas on the design of the child-friendly city, has provided us with a number of excellent proposals for improvements so that we in Stuttgart are already far advanced in terms of child-friendly planning.

Facts and figures (from the annual report for 2011):
Playground facilities in Stuttgart: 453
Ball game fields: 123
Total area: 100.7 hectares
Area per child (to 16 years of age): 12.01 m2
Playground sponsors: 93
Cost of repair and maintenance; €8,250 million
Investment, construction, renovation: €1,438 million
School playgrounds available for use during afternoons, on Saturdays and during school holidays: approx. 100
Summer holidays: accessible school playgrounds. During the summer holidays, all children up to the age of 14 years are permitted to use school playgrounds and smaller games fields. Information boards are provided where there are any special regulations applying to their use in these periods. Opening times of school playgrounds: 8.00 am to 7.00 pm. However, necessary construction work is often undertaken on school premises during the holiday periods, so that certain playgrounds may on occasion be closed or available at limited times only. The larger grass recreation fields are not made accessible, and users are not allowed to enter school buildings, school gardens and other restricted areas. Stuttgart does not provide supervisory personnel and does not assume liability for accidents and mishaps that occur in areas that it has made accessible. School janitors are authorised and expected to intervene should they feel this is necessary. The users and anyone supervising them are held liable for any damage they cause to school property.”
Carmen Dams, Department of Parks, Forests and Agriculture, Saarbrücken:
“Saarbrücken, the state capital of Saarland, began opening up its school playgrounds to children living locally in the mid-1980s. Play amenities are particularly scarce in the inner city. The open spaces of municipally owned buildings – in this case, playgrounds – can thus be more constructively utilised. However, the situation has become rather more complicated with the introduction of all-day schooling. All day use by those at school has resulted in escalating conflicts of interest with those from outside the school wishing to use the facilities. In such cases, it is necessary to find a compromise solution appropriate to the individual situation. The mediator role that the local authorities have had to assume has grown in proportion. However, it is advantageous to view schools and their outdoor facilities not as separate islands but as a cultural resource that can benefit many of the local residents and which can be used to stage a wide diversity of urban activities. We did a test run of the mediator process in our model project Grüne Insel Kirchberg [Kirchberg green island], part of the national urban development program. For more information, go to http://www.nationale-stadtentwicklungspolitik.de/cln_031/nn_251538/Content/Projekte/gruene__insel__kirchberg.html.”

Copyright: TM
Images: SIK, hochC Landschaftsarchitektur