Urban Playground | Tag

Urban Revitalization Through Motion: 9 Public Swings That Invite Play

November 06, 2024

In the productivity-driven dynamics of contemporary cities, playful interventions in public spaces offer an innovative way to reclaim urban environments. These interventions encourage new ways of thinking and acting, temporarily breaking the monotony of everyday life and redefining the concept of play. Once confined to childhood and separate from daily activities, play has begun to intertwine with routine paths, becoming an integral part of urban life even outside traditional leisure times. In this way, reintroducing the swing—the most iconic children's toy—becomes particularly significant. As a symbol of childhood, pleasure, and joy, the swing contrasts sharply with the rigid appropriations of most public spaces, inviting a more relaxed and playful engagement with the urban environment.

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World Architecture Day 2024: Mobilizing the Next Generation for Urban Transformation

October 07, 2024

On the first Monday of October, World Architecture Day offers an opportunity to reflect on the role that architecture plays in shaping our world and our communities. Established by the International Union of Architects (UIA) in 1986, this day was designated as a basis for the ongoing discussions on innovations in architectural practice, new approaches to the ever-changing role of architects and designers, and the varied responses to emerging concerns.

As in previous editions, UIA sets a central yearly theme to guide these conversations. This year, the theme of World Architecture Day 2024, "Empowering the Next Generation to Participate in Urban Design," opens up multiple interpretations, contemplating the impact of urban design on the next generation, as well as highlighting the impact and contributions of young architects in shaping the cities of tomorrow. This year's event aims to address crucial challenges faced by the urban environments and their impact on the next generations. The focus is on creating cities that are not only greener and more environmentally friendly but also inclusive, catering to the diverse needs of various groups in society.

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Ephemeral Architectures: Engaging Communities through Temporary Structures

August 16, 2024

Ephemeral architectures, characterized by their temporary and flexible nature, have emerged as powerful tools for revitalizing urban spaces and fostering architectural creativity. These transient installations transform public areas, engaging communities, and prompting reflections on the potential futures of our cities. By temporarily transforming environments, ephemeral architectures encourage both architects and the public to reimagine the possibilities of urban living. This dynamic interplay, between the temporary and the permanent, challenges traditional architectural practices and opens up new avenues for sustainable and inclusive urban development.

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Revitalizing Urban Spaces: 10 Interventions for Transforming Unused Areas

June 28, 2024

Cities constantly undergo infinite changes, leaving many spaces within the urban fabric forgotten and unused. Historic buildings are refurbished, and adaptive reuse explores new possibilities, but what happens with public spaces? Small interventions using simple resources and innovative solutions are the perfect way to bring these neglected alleys, plazas, and highways back to life and reincorporate them into the city.

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Affordable Play: 4 Examples of Low-Budget Community Playgrounds

March 29, 2024

The idea of a community or public playground is about creating an accessible recreational space for all. However, in many cases, initiating a playground project might fail due to insufficient funds or regulations/restrictions. The first challenge is largely to set the project in motion and, most importantly, get the community’s positive reception and, if possible, its involvement, thus ensuring the project's success and sustainability.

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ArchDaily Curator's Picks 2023: Global Projects our Curators Highlighted Through the Year

December 15, 2023

The ArchDaily projects library is managed by our curators who constantly seek to populate our stream with the most interesting global works, showcasing evolving focuses and criteria. While we usually share our reader’s top 100 favorites, this year, we also decided to initiate our editor’s picks on the ArchDaily Instagram account, where our curators highlight some projects that include interesting themes and unique traits.

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Bamboo Playground / Blue Temple

August 12, 2021

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Architects: Blue Temple
Area: 95 m²
Year: 2019

Alun-alun Kejaksan Square / SHAU Indonesia

June 29, 2021

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Architects: SHAU Indonesia
Area: 12000 m²
Year: 2021
Professionals: PT Inti Cipta Sejati, PT Dinamis Sarana Utama

Public Spaces and the Challenges of Covid-19: UN-Habitat’s Small-Scale Urban Responses in Vietnam, Bangladesh and India

February 24, 2021

The Un-Habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, centered on the active participation of the community. ArchDaily has teamed up with UN-Habitat to bring you weekly news, article, and interviews that highlight this work, with content straight from the source, developed by our editors.

“During this pandemic, public spaces have played a vital role in the health and sustainability of urban communities around the world” states James Delaney, Block by Block chair. In fact, people need to go outside, now more than ever. In order to equip these public spaces to face the challenges of Covid-19, UN-Habitat with the Block by Block Foundation has been supporting ten cities, throughout this past year. With the help of local governments and the community, the initiatives helped covid-proof open urban entities, especially in poor neighborhoods, where there are few shared and green spaces. From creating mobile pop-up playgrounds for children in Hanoi, Vietnam, improving livelihood for street vendors in Dhaka and Khulna, Bangladesh to Covid Proofing of Public Spaces in Bhopal informal settlements, India, these responses have provided help to those who need it the most.

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The Challenges and Opportunities of Urban Regeneration in Gentrified Areas of China

September 03, 2020

Since the 1990s, copious amounts of cities in China have been undergoing urban renewal. Prompted by this state-facilitated urban redevelopment, skyscrapers are being built rapidly in major cities to attract affluent middle-classes, resulting in countless relocation and displacement of the working-class population. Such process is known as “gentrification”.

As cities and neighborhoods are being gentrified thoroughly to meet middle-class taste and boost economic growth, urban land resources are being treated in ways to increase business potential, leaving little room for the development of urban street life. Among rows of concrete and steel constructions, nowadays, urbanites are struggling to find a place to sit, rest, and play during leisure time. Analyzing five architectural practices creating livable urban public spaces, this article discusses the challenges and opportunities of urban revitalization in China under the phenomenon of gentrification.

Amsterdam's Seventeen Playgrounds: Aldo van Eyck's Neglected Legacy

May 13, 2016

The Dutch Structuralist architect Aldo van Eyck left his mark in Amsterdam – not only in the form of buildings but also, perhaps surprisingly, in the form of urban playgrounds. Over the course of his career he created a network of more than 700 playgrounds throughout the capital. Today, only a handful of these remain intact. A special publication, compiled by Denisa Kollarova and Anna van Lingen, revisits the seventeen remaining Van Eyck playgrounds in Amsterdam’s city centre. The following extract from the book seeks to introduce the project, and describe its urgency.

We live in an era in which there are not many carefully constructed playgrounds. We don’t like what we see. Have we—city decision makers, architects, designers, parents, friends —forgotten to be critical?

Get Swinging in Boston on these Glowing LED Hoops

September 21, 2014

In Boston, playgrounds are no longer just for kids. Twenty LED-lit circular swings have been installed outdoors as a part of "Swing Time," Boston's first interactive sculpture installation. The hanging, glowing orbs are a twist on traditional rubber-and-rope swings, dangling from a minimal steel structure similar to those used in conventional playgrounds. LED lights embedded in the swings activate and change color as each swing moves, returning to a dim white light when static. The piece is designed to blend Boston's design community with its expanding technology sector while playfully engaging residents.

Take a seat in "Swing Time" with more photos and info after the break.

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Playfully Reimagining Madrid's Urban Realm

March 20, 2014

How often are spontaneous, primitive, radical actions implemented in large urban centres? Siempre Fiesta (or Always Party) by Andrés Carretero and Carolina Klocker was recently voted by the We-Traders community as their favourite in the recent Open Call Madrid competition. Viewing the city through children's eyes, where the order of the day is primarily playing or making, and using the concept of "free movement of our body in space" as a key driver, Carretero and Klocker developed a playful scheme that proposed filling a niche in Madrid's urban grid with sand as a way of managing the environment to create "comfortable space."

Lighthouse for the Dutchman / Urban Playground

October 01, 2012

Designed by Urban Playground, the ‘Lighthouse for the Dutchman’ project was proposed for the chapel at the entry of the Los Dutchman State Park in Phoenix, Arizona. Through a rearrangement of an embryological, mathematical reference known as “Shrek’s Surface”, spatial varieties are derived as a way to alter the combined experiences of both the spiritual and natural environment in the Arizona desert. The prototypical, curved surface is morphed and manipulated, creating contextual and functional relationships that are then translated into a series of parameters for the building’s morphology. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Urban Playground: The Latest Architecture and News