A Playful City
- "A city that moves at the pace of its people rather than its cars is a city that understands progress." - Catherine Conlon, Senior Medical Officer, HSE, Cork. Former Director of Human Health and Nutrition at safefood. www.echolive.ie/corkviews/ar...
- "Too often when we think about play in a planning context, we default to thinking about structured activity and providing spaces that are designated and equipped. - Gemma Hyde, Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) 1 of 2
- 🎉A DAY FOR PLAY! 🎉 Wishing our 362 communities running Playful Streets across the globe 🇮🇪🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦🇿🇦🇵🇰🇲🇽🇩🇰🌍 a very ✨Happy International Day of Play✨ Thanks to ChangeX & The LEGO Foundation for their incredible support 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 are now in ‣ 9 countries 🇮🇪🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦🇿🇦🇵🇰🇲🇽🇩🇰🇻🇳 ‣ 362 communities ‣ 5 languages 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇻🇳🇪🇸🇩🇰
- ✨Befores → Afters✨ of The Gaps, Sallynoggin, May 2025. "What makes this project truly unique is that it is entirely community led." - Frank Curran, Chief Executive, DRLCC In partnership with @dlrcc.bsky.social @aplayfulcity.bsky.social & the National Transport Authority
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- Why is it that road safety campaigns so often emphasise high-vis & helmets, yet rarely directly address the dangerous design of vehicles — especially the height & bluntness of "SUV" bonnets that put pedestrians, particularly children, at far greater risk? www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...
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- What if a tree could talk—and not just talk, but share its experience of the world around it? The Talking Tree project by Droga5 Dublin & Accenture Song brings a 150-year-old horse chestnut tree to life using localized AI & real-time environmental data. www.rte.ie/news/2025/04...
- The OECD "Cities for All Ages" report provides a structured & evidence-based approach for governments to cultivate urban environments that are inclusive & supportive for residents of all ages. The full report: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
- "Design Justice begins with a simple premise: the built environment is never neutral. Cities are designed, & design is power. Who gets to shape a city? Who benefits from its architecture, its transport, its housing? Who is displaced, erased, pushed to the margins?" www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
- "The objective is therefore not to create specific facilities for children, but to consider the place of young people in order to improve public spaces for the benefit of all." theconversation.com/pourquoi-les...
- 🚀👏 A collaborative project between #NationalTransportAuthority, #dlrCC & @aplayfulcity.bsky.social bringing local community in Sallynoggin together to reimagine an underutilised laneway as a beautiful and meaningful space for all those who live, work & play there. www.dlrcoco.ie/news/general...
- Situations like these are among the key reasons why A Playful City was founded! R.Kikuo Johnson’s "Upstairs, Downstairs" cover for The New Yorker captures a reality that too many parents and caregivers face: cities are not always designed with young children—or those pushing strollers—in mind.
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- Every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity generates over £4 for the English economy and society. www.sportengland.org/news-and-ins...
- "66% of you voted "in favor" of greening and pedestrianizing 500 new streets across all neighborhoods. In the coming weeks, a consultation will be held to define the list of streets and begin the city's transformation!"
- Streets designed for play, not just car drivers! There's a vision for a 1km-long ‘play link’ for families, offering a dedicated space for recreation. It's all about putting people first & creating a truly liveable and playful community... www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...
- "a new narrative is key to how we might reimagine the future, given that some 60% of us live in towns. In this I turned to Cathal Mulry, director at A Playful City and UCC lecturer in urban design futures ..." www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
- Reposted by A Playful CityThis is the exact opposite of what should be happening if we want children to be outside, moving, healthy and happy! We and allies will be strongly opposing this change.
- We are concerned that government is considering removing @sport-england-se.bsky.social as a statutory consultee in planning applications. Sport England isn’t just about formal sport, it works to help *everyone* be more active. This is why it matters… for #people, for the #economy, for the #NHS:
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- What makes a street exciting, relaxing, or stressful to walk on? A new study presents a systematic way to analyse how urban design shapes emotions. ✨ Lively streets excite 🎭 🌿 Green spaces relax 🍃 🏢 Monotony bores 🚗 Traffic stress 😨 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- "Time spent playing outdoors has declined by 50% in a generation & fewer than three in ten children say that they play out on the street." www.centreforyounglives.org.uk/news-centre/...
- "Active by day and dream-like at dusk, it glows like a lantern. In contrast to the austere monuments that populate the parks, it reminds us we should never take ourselves too seriously." www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/peter-c...
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- "Whether we're active or sedentary really plays a profound role in our health status... the evidence suggests your environment can have big implications for your social & emotional wellbeing too." www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
- AN URBAN ALLEGORY A beautiful child's eye vision of the city in all its (extra)ordinariness from director Alice Rohrwacher (LA CHIMERA) & renowned street artist JR. Worth the watch 📽️ youtu.be/5XpztZXCP_U?...
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- Children's independent mobility is not just a matter of individual choices, but a product of the environments we create. Shift the focus from simply mitigating risks for children in dangerous environments to creating environments that are safe & supportive of children's independence.
- Good street planning & design has a multitude of benefits including: 💨less energy use and fewer emissions 🤝 better community connections ❤️ better health outcomes 🌻 improved amenity 🤫 less noise 🙂improved transport affordability 🔄 reduced traffic congestion 🛍️ benefits to local businesses 1 of 2
- This 35-page bureaucratic document redefined the use of America’s streets, tailoring them to the benefit of the automotive industry. www.fastcompany.com/91267013/100...
- "The social sustainability of an environment can be studied using two sets of indicators: the perceived quality of the living environment and the accessibility of everyday services." -Marketta Kyttä helda.helsinki.fi/items/0355d4...
- In an article in Nature in January, Canadian & Norwegian researchers pointed out the benefits of risky – but not outright dangerous – play, particularly outside, in helping children build transferable risk-management skills. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- The prompt is: "He is a boy. He’s from here, and you are responsible for him." 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴—on display at NCAD until 17th February— goes beyond stereotypes, showing that young men are more than how they’re often perceived. www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
- "Urban planners...will no longer consider green spaces as expendable. Instead, nature will be seen as part of the critical infrastructure of a healthy city" If we can’t get to the forest, the forest must come to us, in the form of cities designed around green spaces. www.wired.com/story/health...
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- Boissy-le-Chatel (77) A skateable work of art 🛹 - Constructo Skatepark + Inout Concept (design) / MBL Architectes + bureau David Apheceix (architects) / Camille Fréchou (landscaper) / Vulcano Skatepark (construction) 2019 www.constructo.fr/boissy-le-ch...
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- Reposted by A Playful CityA new UK group is suggesting a five-point manifesto to address the rise of SUVs www.suv-alliance.org.uk
- Outdoor time for children benefits both physical and mental health: 🌱 Fosters curiosity, independence & creativity 🏃♂️ Promotes movement & physical health www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
- "Are city streets places for pedestrians to hang out, or are they routes to be traversed as quickly as possible?" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- “We need to think about big cars in the same way that we think about cigarettes: Affecting not just the user, but everyone around the user.” - Robert Proctor www.vox.com/future-perfe...
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- A lambastinly good tongue in cheek video essay critique of the (alpha) "alpha bro doomsday vehicle" / "meme" from Adam Something is worth the watch... www.youtube.com/watch?si=MWg...
- "Importantly, risk is not the same as danger. Danger is something a child isn’t equipped to notice or deal with... Risk changes with age & doesn’t always include things that look risky to adults." www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- To make our public spaces more family-friendly, we need some clear changes in how we design our communities and how we think about children in public. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- "Creating Health & Wellbeing" A guide for local authorities linking between planning, design & public health. Advocating a shift from treating illness to fostering health through evidence-led planning & design in cities, towns & villages by addressing health inequalities proactively. 🧵1 of 2
- 🎉 2024 marked the 1st 🇺🇳 UN International Day of Play on June 11! A Playful City's Playful Streets were 1 of 4 projects as part of the International Day of Play Community Fund to invite communities across the world to host Playful Streets in their communities. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2u6... 🧵
