18.08.2010 - Ausgabe: 4/2010

On the future of outdoor play

 

 

We live in a time of rapid change. In the past fundamental processes of social change took place over generations, but at least over decades. We sense that nowadays, in an era of rapid change, so much is being transformed economically, ecologically and socially.

We know that it is almost as if things will not progress further, not for our societies, not for our welfare and not for our forms of living together. Structures to which we have become attached lose their importance, other things gain in importance. In the following I have tried briefly to outline possible development processes for playing in the open air on a thesis basis over a time scale of about 10 years:

1. Working life in our post-industrial society can be described in terms of a constantly progressive decline in physical work in favour of mental and mostly virtual activities. Today most jobs require hardly any physicality but only the mental skills of people. Meanwhile the computer has become the most important working tool and not the workbench. However, because a certain balance between mental and physical abilities and efforts is required for both physical and mental health, parks, gardens, playgrounds and activities such as fitness, sport, gardening, going for walks, in fact any form of promoting exercise, will assume increasing social importance. The “dephysicalisation” of working life promotes leisure activities in which the emphasis is on physical activity. There is no other activity which trains the body, mind and community more effectively than play. Therefore there are hardly any areas which are more future-orientated than intelligent play area concepts.
2. The individual and social lifestyle of people is changing. Because of demographic developments, increasing costs of mobility and serious trends towards impoverishment, there is increasing focus of the people on the local area. The car is becoming obsolescent and a luxury. Petrol prices of over 3 Euros a litre are changing our mobility behaviour and are bringing the focus more on the local area. This is why urban play area and open air concepts for urban developments are becoming increasingly exciting, concepts and idea which are making the residential and living environment richer in experience and play.
3. The separation of public sports grounds, private fitness and public play areas, which is still quite distinct, is likely to become obsolete because of the complexity of today’s playing and sports conditions. The demarcations between areas are fading. Sponsorships and motivations are changing. Publicly promoted club sport, trimmed for performance, needs new, even playful forms. The fitness studios, which are expensive in any case, lack freedom and access to fresh and natural surroundings. Public playing fields are still associated almost exclusively with children’s games. They are not “sexy” enough. This mixed situation is also exciting in content, but it opens the way to new spatial concepts. User structures and organisation models for new playing areas: sport and fitness will become more playful, whilst the game will become more performance- and fitness-orientated. Perhaps this will give rise to new parks and gardens which will programmatically give rise to a new mix of requirements in the areas of games, sport and fitness.
4. People are getting older and their associate health risks are also increasing. Today health costs can hardly be borne by society as a whole, not only in Germany. This is where the prevention concept gains in importance. Health policy prevention strategies are of great interest to the quality of life of the individual and to the financial relief of society as a whole. Considerable importance is attached to behaviour in terms of play and games from the point of view of health risk prevention. The serious sports and tedious wellness exercises urgently require an additional playful element.
5. In a time of permanent acceleration and constant overstimulation the simple is becoming a luxury and an authentic experience. What is needed is not more and more goods, impressions and images, but a return to what is essential. Whilst the games consoles and computer games are stifling the imagination in everyday life with alarming aggression, and not just in our children, the allure of peace and quiet and minimalistic designs and product ranges is growing. The special swing is a simple swing of high quality material.
6. The trend towards the multi-generation playground and making the spatial environment “more playful” will probably intensify. In terms of appearance and practice the game is moving from “kids stuff” to a socially recognised activity irrespective of age. The person is only really at one with him or her self when at play.
7. At present a strong trend towards reviving the kitchen garden culture can be seen in landscape architecture. In an increasing number of cities there are “green guerrillas” which secretly bedeck the “useless” green with fruit orchards and useful plants. The small garden, with garden sections for fruit and vegetables, is also making a comeback and the so-called “inter-cultural” gardens, where people with an immigration background garden together, can now be found in many cities. Fruit instead of ornamental plants, are in demand in the new kitchen gardens. In many cities there are now also vegetable allotments which can be hired for a summer. It must therefore be assumed that the kitchen garden concept will also have its influence on the play area concept.