Playgrounds: The Experimental Years

After World War II, a new kind of playground emerged in Northern Europe and North America. Rather than slides, swings, and roundabouts, these new playgrounds encouraged children to build shacks and invent their own entertainment. Playgrounds tells the story of how waste grounds and bombsites were transformed into hives of activity by children and progressive educators. It shows how a belief in the imaginative capacity of children shaped a new kind of playground and how designers reimagined what playgrounds could be. Ben Highmore tells a compelling story about pioneers, designers, and charities - and above all - about the value of play. 'In the decades following the Second World War, playgrounds developed into radical sites for childhood experimentation. Ben Highmore has wonderfully recaptured that history in this richly detailed, highly readable, and beautifully illustrated account. In our era of worrying about housebound children, the book could not be more timely.' Mathew Thomson, author of Lost Freedom: The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement 'Playgrounds are essential for developing a sense of the world while shaping a meaningful social experience of equality, mutuality, and self-organizational practices amongst younger people. Ben Highmore shares an exquisitely written, hopeful narrative on the innovative qualities and progressive principals found in the post-war urban experimental playground movement. Relevant and incredibly pertinent, Playgrounds is a lesson for today's risk-averse society where indoor screentime often replaces outdoor playtime. Rather than bemoan a lost past, Highmore's book dares to imagine the future of public play spaces designed to ensure that young people thrive.' Raiford Guins, Indiana University

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Not All Swings and Roundabouts 1 The Early Playground Movement 2 The Junk Playground 3 Adventure Playgrounds 4 Busy Roads and High-Rise Living 5 A World of Loose Parts 6 Aesthetics and Playscapes 7 Inclusive Playgrounds 8 Playgrounds and Politics 9 Repairing the Future References Selected and Further Reading Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

About the Author :
Ben Highmore is professor of cultural studies at the University of Sussex. His books include Lifestyle Revolution: How Taste Changed Class in Late 20th-Century Britain.

Review :
In the decades following the Second World War, playgrounds developed into radical sites for childhood experimentation. Ben Highmore has wonderfully recaptured that history in this richly detailed, highly readable, and beautifully illustrated account. In our era of worrying about housebound children, the book could not be more timely. Playgrounds are essential for developing a sense of the world while shaping a meaningful social experience of equality, mutuality, and self-organizational practices amongst younger people. Ben Highmore shares an exquisitely written, hopeful narrative on the innovative qualities and progressive principals found in the post-war urban experimental playground movement. Relevant and incredibly pertinent, Playgrounds is a lesson for today’s risk-averse society where indoor screentime often replaces outdoor playtime. Rather than bemoan a lost past, Highmore’s book dares to imagine the future of public play spaces designed to ensure that young people thrive. From the junkyard to the city farm, Playgrounds tells a rich and inspiring story that marries design, politics, and social change. A profoundly useable history, the book shows us why experimental spaces for children mattered in the last century, and why they still matter today. [An] intriguing and readable book . . . This history is succinct and wide-ranging, with several specific case studies, and plenty of photographs . . . Highmore is optimistically adamant that we need to reconsider play and its relationship to growing up, and Playgrounds provides plenty of evidence and discussion to back up his argument. Play is at the heart of all creativity, and adult designers have tried, with varied success, to assist this natural process. Ben Highmore brings unusual insight to the recent history of designed play spaces and the principles on which they are based. Where does someone . . . play now? The metaverse would boot him out for violating the terms of service. You can guess how experimental playgrounds fell out of favor. It’s the likes of Reagan and Thatcher scissoring through the social safety net . . . Highmore takes playgrounds very seriously . . . with the passion of one who’s been too long at the monkey bars.