CABE calls for end to 'KFC' play spaces

Our new guidance for local authorities encourages them to design exciting new playgrounds to encourage imaginative play

A playground in London. Photo by Michael Harding

Bland playgrounds are restricting children's creativity, with too many local authorities relying on an identical KFC (kit, fence and carpet) approach to design.

Playgrounds look much like each other no matter where they are in the country, with uniform kit of swings and slide, fencing, and vast expanse of safety carpet.

Over-sensitivity to risk is blocking the creation of rich and stimulating play spaces.

CABE has published Designing and planning for play to provoke a different approach to playground design. Over the next three years, the government is making an unprecedented investment in children's play: £235m to upgrade 3,500 playgrounds.

Sarah Gaventa, director of CABE Space, says that this represents an incredible opportunity. "It is a massive investment and it is essential that local authorities use it to create exciting new spaces."

Local authorities need to stop relying on the catalogues of a small number of manufacturers who usually 'design' the play spaces as well as produce the kit of parts. Natural play design, which uses landform and vegetation as well as elements such as wood and stone, encourages imaginative play.

Children should be able to clamber on logs and boulders, play in sand, run down grassy slopes, swing on ropes and experiment with water fountains. A natural environment often makes it easier for children of different ages and abilities to play together.

Play spaces should also allow children to take risks to learn their boundaries. "We must all stop obsessing about risk and trying to wrap our children in cotton wool, and instead create spaces that allow them to use their imagination," says Gaventa.

The report points out that artworks specially designed for play space often offer better play value than standard equipment. Every space should have a strong local identity, and one of the best ways to achieve this is to develop a distinctive design through asking the experts (the children) what they want, and using local craftspeople and local materials.