Playgrounds: danger or risk? Do you know the difference?
A top priority for those of us who create industry-leading playground safety surfacing is minimizing the risk of injury. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t understand the importance of active, adventurous playtime that allows kids...Read more
10 features of the playful city
In this final part of his article on the importance of government policy for children’s play, Adrian Voce sets out ten changes that could be achieved by the cross-departmental, multi-level approach, embodied by the short-lived...Read more
Children’s right to play demands a national strategy
In this fourth part of his presentation to the Child in the City conference in London last November, Adrian Voce considers how the UK government responded to children’s right to play with an ambitious national...Read more
Policy for play needs a long-term approach
In this second part of an adaptation of his presentation to the Child in the City international seminar in London last month, Adrian Voce suggests that creating optimum conditions for children to play as their...Read more
The London Plan is just the start
Does the new London Plan, published last week by Mayor Sadiq Khan, herald a renewal of the UK capital’s commitments to become a genuinely child friendly city? Holly Weir, who worked on the plan for...Read more
New London Plan aims for more play and mobility for children
The draft of the new London Plan, the long-term spatial development strategy for the UK capital, published yesterday for public consultation, includes a revised policy for children’s play and informal recreation. Adrian Voce reports. The new...Read more
Why children’s play should be a policy priority
In the first part of this adaptation of his keynote presentation to the recent Child in the City International Seminar in London, Adrian Voce recalls the work of Dr. Stuart Lester (1951-2017) and his colleague,...Read more
Raising awareness the key to investment in play
Like so many parts of the public and voluntary sectors, children’s play services – in the UK and elsewhere – have endured severe funding cuts over the decade since the financial crash. In this interview with...Read more
Children’s need to play demands a long term strategy
Ahead of the Child in the City international seminar on children’s play to be held in London on 6-7 November, we feature the third and final part of an adapted extract from Policy for Play by Adrian...Read more
Space for children’s play must be central to a vision for the public realm
Ahead of the forthcoming Child in the City event on Children’s Play in the Urban Environment, in this second of a three-part essay adapted from his book, Policy for Play (2015), Adrian Voce sets out the rationale...Read more
Policymakers should look again at children’s play
Looking forward to the International Seminar on Children’s Play in the Urban Environment, to be held in London on 6-7 November, in this first of a three-part essay adapted from his 2015 book Policy for...Read more
Children’s play is not a springboard, it is the water
In this second part of his comment piece about a national project to ‘use play as a springboard into sport’, Adrian Voce suggests that policymakers would serve children better, including the desired aim of increasing...Read more
For children, playing is the adventure
A new pilot project in England, funded by the government sponsored national sports agency, aims to use ‘play as a springboard into sport’. In this first of a two-part blog, Adrian Voce explains why such...Read more
Play policy push in South Africa
On 31 May 2017, the national play advocacy body, A Chance to Play Southern Africa (ACTPSA) launched its new campaigning document, The Child’s Right to Play: a policy brief for South Africa, in Johannesburg. Adrian Voce reports on...Read more