On 2 July, BWB’s Director of Place, Josh Dickerson, will join colleagues Raj Takhar and Barry Dobbins at the Festival of Place at Boxpark, London. The event is a key gathering for leaders shaping the future of our built environment.
Their attendance comes at a pivotal moment, as a national conversation gains momentum around the importance of integrating play into our public spaces to build healthier, more liveable places for children and communities alike.
In the lead-up to the event, a new inquiry has been launched calling for the expansion of play areas across the UK: https://www.centreforyounglives.org.uk/news-centre/everything-to-play-for.
Josh Dickerson has also featured in The Developer discussing how “The healthiest places have spontaneous play engrained in their public spaces,” adding to the growing dialogue on how play, prevention and placemaking go hand-in-hand. You can read the full article below:
Inspired by one too many episodes of Race Across the World and armed with an excuse of reaching a friend in Aarhus, last summer my partner and I embarked on a whirlwind adventure that involved more modes of transport than you can shake a pastry at.
What she didn’t realise at the time of enlisting on this mammoth multimodal movement across northwestern Europe is that our summer “holiday” was also a geography field trip-come-study tour to placemaking projects in Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Aalborg.
Unlike Race Across the World however, smartphones and credit cards were very much used, a route had been plotted in advance and seats were even reserved on trains with a list of prolific placemaking projects in the rucksack.
Play
Along our route to the country renowned for Lego, or leg godt (play well), endless kilometres of high-speed train travel were broken up with stops throughout Germany for a chance to stretch our legs and experience the urbanism directly.
Our first stop was Cologne, a playful highlight where we drew bemused looks from parents as we “tested” the informal play spaces, scrambling across the Paolozzi Fountain in the Rhine Garden, created by Eduardo Paolozzi, a Scottish graphic artist and sculptor. Built in the 1980s on land that was formerly a busy road, the blocks sticking out from the flowing pools of water nod to the former industrial heritage of the area whilst being the cornerstone for play alongside a lively wider waterfront public realm.
Our journey north then led us to Hamburg, where playful design could be found in an area boasting to be Europe’s largest inner-city urban development, HafenCity. From the boat’s sail roof topping the brick façade anchor plot of “Elphi” (Elbphilharmonie), to the wavy benches on the Marco Polo Terraces and the pirate playground of the verdant Grasbrookpark, there are plenty of subtle sea-like resemblances throughout this newly establishing community. HafenCity looks to revitalise Hamburg’s former industrial ports whilst also linking back to the nearby Speicherstadt (Warehouse city).
Rather than needing to formalise play into a specific fenced off and enclosed space, throughout Germany we found open-ended, non-structured spontaneous play in its public spaces. Perhaps this is achieved with a more relaxed approach to health and safety, but also likely due to a fostered sense of civic pride in shared spaces that allows for more communal management and upkeep.
Prevention
The brief stop in Hamburg also allowed for consideration of another P-word: prevention. Through adopting straightforward, yet conscious, placemaking interventions that promote good wellbeing, social cohesion and a sense of belonging, we can help prevent loneliness and ill health that require intervention at a later stage.
The benches in Hamburg’s Gerhart Hauptmann Square provide an example of this. In using either single seats oriented towards other people, or circular forms, this open area was created to form areas of calm, but also to encourage communication among the users.
In Denmark, our delayed train pulled into the border crossing at Padborg station just as Pilates on the platform began. As we prepared for the onward journey to Copenhagen, it seemed natural that the railside tarmac had become a fitness studio.
The promotion of good health and prevention through play in public space was evident throughout Copenhagen. Even the official tourism organisation for the region state that they take having fun very seriously! This became apparent from the first bounce on the public trampolines at Havnegade Promenade, the screams of joy coming from Tivoli Gardens, and witnessing junior cyclists learn about road safety at the Fælledparken Children’s Traffic Playground.
Thankfully for us, more age-appropriate forms of exercise and play were also available in Copenhagen with a guided kayak tour offering a unique perspective of the changing waterfront, including a behind the scenes view of the impressive Papirøen (Paper Island) development. The tour operators, Kayak Republic also offer the ingenious Green Kayak initiative that provides a free kayak and equipment to collect waste and keep the water clear of rubbish (The look of absolute incomprehension from our kayak guide as we explained the state of the UK’s waterways was not unexpected!)
Only a half hour cycle away, after kayaking, it was time to head to the Carlsberg City District redevelopment. Hopping on our bike from Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider of choice, Donkey Republic, the impressive granite elephants flanking the gate welcome you to the original site of the Carlsberg Breweries. A new neighbourhood is forming here with residential development wrapping around shared greenspaces, educational institutions and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) features that feel integrated into the public realm. There are swales with seating areas and active sunken football pitches operating as drainage attenuation basins.
It is easy to focus on examples from just within Copenhagen, but the Danes look at how they create sustainable places and make liveable places outside of the capital as well. So, after a ferry and a bus to reach Jutland, Denmark’s fourth biggest city, Aalborg was next on the list. With an industrial history, the city has recently reinvented itself as a cultural hub for the region, with impressive architecture along the waterfront and new student accommodation to support its status as a thriving cultural university city.
Pastries
Of course, a place cannot truly form without social spaces that people want to come back to, which can often be helped by providing good coffee and a pastry or two. Thankfully, Denmark has plenty of such places. Finally, we went south to reach our friend in Aarhus.
Like many cities that previously required their waterfront for industrial use the Aarhus Docklands has been reclaimed for city living.
Tipped as being the coolest neighbourhood in Denmark’s second city, Aarhus dockland offers wakeboarding, harbour baths, greenhouse dining and an artificial beach, all within a 15-minute walk of your jagged roof Iceberg apartment block or the dockside container based tiny house. With the port and wider industrial uses still in the distance, the sheer scale of this brownfield redevelopment is just as impressive as the architectural design of this newly forming neighbourhood.
Not without a final pastry from La Cabra, it was time for a bus to Billund, a flight back to Manchester and a couple more trains for a much-needed stop at home. So 202,977 steps, 10 trains, three bikes, two buses, two taxis, one ferry, one flight, one kayak and two very exhausted travellers later, our whistlestop tour of pertinent placemaking projects came to an end.
Privilege
Returning to the UK, reflecting on the commonalities between exemplary places that I had seen, it was clear the places that felt the healthiest were those where play felt open-ended, there was presence of children and when careful consideration had been taken to naturally engrain play into the place.
These spaces were largely within high-density urban environments that have prioritised quality active travel infrastructure and seem to have instilled a sense of civic pride within the places that doesn’t just create respect for the physical surroundings, but for those that want the freedom to explore, learn and play within them.
Of course, I must acknowledge the fourth and final “P” in this piece, privilege. Not everyone is in the position to travel in the manner explained in this article and have the luxury of time to spend on attaining these perspectives. But making the journey itself part of the holiday certainly helps understand more about the people and places visited.
So, whatever means you choose to get to a place, make sure there is plenty of play and an ample number of pastries when you get there!
As the Festival of Place approaches, conversations like these serve as a reminder that placemaking is about shaping healthier, more inclusive environments where play, wellbeing and connection are embedded in daily life. BWB is proud to be part of this dialogue, working with partners and communities to help design places that support thriving futures.
We look forward to joining peers at Boxpark to share insights, learn, and continue championing the role of play in the places we create.
Details of the trip for those looking to do something similar:
Home – London (Train), London – Brussels (Train), Brussels – Cologne (Train), Cologne – Hamburg (Train), Hamburg – Copenhagen (Train), Copenhagen – Aalborg (Bus & Ferry), Aalborg – Skagen (Train), Skagen – Aalborg (Train), Aalborg – Aarhus (Train), Aarhus – Billund (Bus), Billund – Manchester Airport (Flight), Manchester Airport – Manchester Piccadilly (Train), Manchester Piccadilly – Home (Train).
Place projects for your list:
Rhine Garden (Cologne), HafenCity (Hamburg), Papirøen (Copenhagen), Carlsberg City District (Copenhagen), Aalborg Harbourfront (Aalborg), Aarhus Docklands (Aarhus)
Thoughts within this article have been inspired by the following:
Tänkepauser – Thought Breaks – Play (Marc Malmdorf Andersen) & Happiness (Christian Bjørnskov)
The Danish Way of Parenting (Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Dissing Sandahl)
A year of living Danishly (Helen Russell)