22.08.2014 - Ausgabe: 4/2014

Trend-setting at local government level: Rotterdam standard for outdoor play areas

By Marjolein Steemers – policy adviser Sports and Culture Department Rotterdam and Sandra de Bont – landscape architect Urban Planning Department Rotterdam

Rotterdam aims to be an attractive city to live in, especially for families. Facilities for children and opportunities to play outside are a prerequisite for this. In the City Vision that Rotterdam established in 2007, one of the spearheads is more space for children to play and participate in sports in order to encourage them to get more exercise. Good outdoor play areas attract more families to the city, and this in turn creates demand for family homes, which is also good for the city's economy. An ever increasing group of families deliberately choose the dynamics and cultural wealth of the city for their children to grow up in, particularly in the city centre. In addition, the old urban districts have traditionally been the breeding ground of the city and the child population density in these areas is especially high.

Playing outside is necessary for the healthy development of children. The presence of sufficient space for outdoor play not only increases children's skills and the fun they have in the city, it is also important to promote a healthy lifestyle and prevent obesity, which is still a very topical issue. Having enough space near to their home is essential for this. To that end, the Rotterdam standard for outdoor play areas has been developed. It describes where and how large the spaces for outdoor play in the living environment should be, concerning both location and pavements, so that children and teenagers have space for play and sport near their home. Using this standard, sufficient attention to creating outdoor play areas can be given in the various plans. In big cities, space is scarce and there are often major conflicting interests in spatial planning. By means of a Rotterdam standard for outdoor play areas, this 'conflict' or consideration whether or not to create more space for young people becomes more objective and transparent. The starting point for the play area standard is that all public space is a potential outdoor play area. It is a distribution standard and should be used as a guideline and test instrument for determining whether there is sufficient play space. It is therefore emphatically not a playground plan.
In October 2008, the Rotterdam Municipal Executive established the standard for outdoor play areas.

Procedure

The development of the standard was not taken lightly. In 2003, several lines of research were set up in order to be able to develop a standard based on the needs and abilities of children, which would also be easy to integrate into the spatial process. An analysis was made of the development of children, their sport and play behaviour in the different stages of development and the needs they have with regard to the use of outdoor space. In addition, the traffic skills of children at various ages was also examined. The accessibility of sport and play areas is vitally important because busy roads or tram lines represent literal boundaries for children's playing territory. Finally, an analysis of existing play area standards was made: what are the advantages and disadvantages; what would be the best option for Rotterdam?
This draft standard was tested in nine districts in different living environments in 2005 and 2006, both in densely built-up neighbourhoods as well as in neighbourhoods with more space. The tests took place in areas where spatial plans were being developed at the time in order to determine whether the standard is realistic.

Standard

A standard was eventually developed which is composed of three main elements:
1. A centralised sport and play area of at least 5,000 m2 within each major barrier block (greater than 15 hectares). Barrier blocks are areas within barriers consisting of 50 km/h (or a higher speed limit) roads, water, rail infrastructure and/or industrial estates. In small barrier blocks, a large area for sport and play of at least 1000 m2 suffices. For these areas, the following urban development principles apply:
- central location
- visible from homes
- at unpolluted locations
- parking ban on playing side of the road
- sunlight and shadow
2. larger sport and play areas (with a minimum of 1000 m2) at a maximum of every 300 metres from the centralised sport and play area. In densely built-up neighbourhoods at a maximum of every 200 metres. Densely built-up neighbourhoods are understood to be those with a density of at least 75 homes per hectare. The above-mentioned urban planning preconditions also apply here.
3. a pavement that can be played on (3-5 metres wide) on at least one side of the road, preferably the sunny side.

Child-friendly neighbourhoods

The attention for children in the city of Rotterdam has by now been extended further and a vision entitled 'Bouwstenen voor een kindvriendelijk Rotterdam' (Towards a child-friendly Rotterdam) was established in 2010. A child-friendly city not only has nice play areas, the homes are also big enough and have enough rooms. In addition, children can walk safely to and from school from a young age. This school is a real meeting place in the neighbourhood.
The Rotterdam standard for outdoor play areas is integrated in the element 'public space'. Besides the 'public space' element, elements have also been developed for child-friendly homes, facilities and safe (school) routes. The core of the document consists of a basic set of preconditions for the child-friendly residential city. By intelligent stacking of the four building blocks, a city is created in which parents and their children can live happily.

Evaluation

After having been used for a number of years, the Rotterdam standard for outdoor play areas has now been evaluated. This evaluation examined whether the standard is being used, whether any changes are necessary and whether the desired results have been achieved. The most important conclusions are that the standard works well in the design phase and as a test instrument for the existing situation. It is striking that many parties indicate that the outdoor play area standard not only creates outdoor play areas for children and teenagers, but also meeting places for all residents. A point of attention that remains, however, is that early deployment of the standard as a design tool in the planning process is essential and that continued attention and communication remain necessary. To support this, officers with the necessary knowledge have been appointed by the city and so-called distribution plans are currently being formulated for all districts by means of a specially developed GIS method. As a result, it quickly becomes clear where the main challenges lie in the city in order to create enough space for sport and play.
With the evaluation, it has also been decided to declare the standard applicable to the city centre as well and to add the following explanatory text to the standard:
All public outdoor space is a potential outdoor play area. In addition, all semi-public space which is suitable for children to play in - including playgrounds, courtyards and sports grounds if they are open for the neighbourhood part of the time - is also covered by the outdoor play area standard. Allotments and cemeteries are not included because of their private character.

Results

What has by now become apparent from working with this policy document? Despite the fact that spatial planning in the city often requires a long processing and execution period, the first results are visible on the streets. The standard was used during the development of new neighbourhoods such as Park Zestienhoven and Parkstad. During the redevelopment of the Spangen district, a child-friendly route with wide pavements was developed and a large centralised sport and play area, the Bellamyplein, was realised by demolishing a block of houses. A special feature of this square is that the water task is integrated in a special manner and is used to give the square extra play value.
In addition, during the redevelopment of many of the streets in the densely populated urban districts, wide pavements were deliberately chosen, sometimes at the expense of parking. This not only created a more pleasant streetscape, but also important play areas for smaller children closer to their homes and safer routes to parks and squares. The redevelopment of the Zijdewindestraat in the Oude Westen neighbourhood is a nice example of this.
In short, working with the play area standard has therefore literally increased space for children to have fun playing outdoors in a safe environment. And that not only benefits the children, but all residents of the city.

Photos: Rotterdam Image Bank / City of Rotterdam