Solano Playlot: A New Model
Re-thinking Urban Playgrounds for Children Age 0-5
Prospectus
May 2007
Prepared by:
Toody Maher
2604 Roosevelt Avenue
Richmond, CA 94804-1623
(510) 215-5500 V
(510) 590-1716 C
toodym@pacbell.net
A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS IN THIS DOCUMENT
Rapid brain
development
in infants
The critical role
of play in brain
development
Where do the
children play?
In the 1990’s, technological advances in brain imagery techniques allowed neuroscientists to see -- for the first time, and in exquisite detail -- exactly how the brain develops. What they found, startled and suprised them. They found that the brain of a baby
develops faster than anyone thought or imagined possible. All the wiring that creates
the neural pathways that govern a child’s entire cognitive, linguistic, social, and physical
development is formed between the ages of 0-5. But here’s the critical point: the best
possible way to wire the brain for healthy development, the very wiring that will enable a child to reach his fullest potential, is through play.
Oftentimes, when people think of “play,” they mistakenly think only of physical play:
running, swinging, jumping. Playgrounds all over this country have been designed to
foster “physical” play. In fact, there are other types of play: collaborative play (when
kids play with others), creative play (when kids create or transform something), fantasy
play (when kids play make-believe). Recently, experts in education and child development say that children must engage in varied play during the critical 0-5 years in order
to develop to their potential.
Middle class families, anxious to provide the type of rich and varied play opportunities
experts say their kids need, have swarmed to “pay-for-play” options such as zoos,
amusement parks, discovery museums, summer camps, art and music classes. However,
for low-income families, oftentimes the only play option is the playground in their
church, school, or public park. And the playground they will find there will not provide the type of “meaningful” (i.e. rich and varied) play experts say that their children
need. So their children are at a disadvantage early on.
In fact, the playgrounds they will find in America today will, most likely, lack those essential elements children need to develop, grow, and thrive. This is certainly true of the
majority of the eight public “playlots” in Richmond. The majority of Richmond’s
playlots are seldom used, littered with debris, and tagged with graffiti. Their energy is
moribund and static. In Richmond, a struggling city grappling with big problems such
as violent crime, erosion of its manufacturing base, lack of jobs, pollution, and an infrastructure and public morale decimated by (but recovering from) a period of financial duress, there is debate about what to do first, where to put the city’s resources.
Revitalize parks,
revitalize
communities
Meanwhile, there is a growing body of research that suggests that an effective way to
revitalize a community is to revitalize their parks. There are so many societal benefits
to great parks: they improve property values, attract and retain businesses and residents,
provide environmental benefits, allow neighbors to experience a sense of community,
and reduce crime.
The situation we face here in Richmond is similar to the predicament cities face all
over the country: namely, that playgrounds, especially in inner-city neighborhoods, do
not provide meaningful play opportunities for its youngest children.
I would like to do something about this.
1
MY PROPOSAL
My goal is to start a nonprofit that would assume the operational responsibilities
and stewardship of the Solano playlot in Richmond. By this, I mean: our nonprofit would oversee the park, staff it, and take care of it with heart and soul. With
community input at every step, I would re-think, re-design, and build a new
playground that reflects and applies the latest and best thinking from experts in
child development, education, environmental and playground design. My goal is
to create a new park designed specifically for infants and toddlers age 0-5, run it,
tinker with what works and doesn’t work, and create a model. This model could
then be replicated in other playlots in Richmond and in other urban neighborhoods around the country.
THE DESIGN VISION OF THE SOLANO PLAYLOT
First, I would design the park with fixed and varied elements. By fixed, I envision
the playlot would include basic equipment such as slides, swings, sandbox, trike
path, and something to climb. Additionally, I would like to create something
whimsical, such as a child-scale, “global village” made up of sample houses from
around the world: a tee pee, yurt, log cabin, mud hut, or igloo.
By varied, I envision organizing activities that come and go, with the season,
weather, or mood. For example, I’ve found that kids love it when I take them to
my friend, Peter Rudy the arborist’s work yard. There, they can play, for hours, in
one gigantic hill of mulch (cut up shards of pine, walnut, eucalyptus and maple
trees). They climb up the hill, roll down it. They take shovels and dig in it. They
put mulch in buckets and pour it into another pile. The list is endless. But this,
along with things like costumes, art supplies, storytime, and malleable materials,
give a sense of the kind of “varied” element that would be featured in the playlot
from time to time.
Second, the park would have a paid, full-time “Park Host:” someone who is always there. The park host has two roles. First, to watch over the park, like a parent
watches over a child. He or she ensures that the bathroom is always clean, the
trashcans are emptied, and the grounds are kept up. Second, to function as a
“Play Leader” (very popular in over 1,000 parks in Europe where it is a full-time
profession!). The play leader’s role is to create opportunities for children to engage in varied play. This might mean scheduling a storytime, arranging for a delivery of a pile of mulch or, if it was hot, turning on the drip faucet.
Third, the park could be a place to link the community to other city services and
programs. For instance, a librarian from the Richmond library could be scheduled on pre-arranged days to sit in the special storyteller chair and read a book.
Or the library’s bookmobile could come to the park each Friday from 2-6 pm.
Or we could partner with Kaiser and have a doctor or nurse practioner come to
the park on certain days to provide basic medical services like vaccinations. We
could work with the city’s paratransit services to shuttle senior citizens to and
from the park, where they could volunteer to read or draw with the children, or
just be there and pass the day amongst the delightful sounds of children playing.
2
Fourth, I would erect a tall and beautiful fence around the park with a single entrance/exit gate that the park host opens in the morning and locks at night. All
loose materials could be stored in a locked shed.
Fifth, I would provide basic amenities for adults: comfortable seating with shade,
benches, running water, healthy snacks and a clean bathroom.
COST OF THE PROJECT
We will need a $150,000 seed grant to start the nonprofit, conduct a survey of city
residents, begin preliminary design and planning work and cover basic operational
costs. Once the plans are set, we estimate that it will cost around $200,000-$300,000
annually to run the nonprofit and an additional $100,000-$150,000 to build each
new park.
BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE
My name is Toody Maher. I live in Richmond and I am a designer, inventor, and
entrepreneur. I graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1983 and, along with my brother,
secured the distribution rights to Swatch Watch in the 11 Western States. In 1983, I
helped to pioneer the product launch of Swatch, set up the regional office. In three
years, sales went from $0 in 1993 to $30 million in my region. Afterward, I started
another company, Fun Products, that created the world’s first clear telephone with
lights which was named Fortune Magazine’s “Product of the Year” in 1990. I was also
named Inc. Magazine’s 1990 “Entrepreneur of the Year.”
After Fun Products, I became a director at a San Francisco nonprofit called Juma
Ventures, where I created a series of “social enterprise” businesses including Ben &
Jerry’s ice cream stores and a Ben & Jerry’s/Tully’s coffee concession at Candlestick
and PacBell Park. The businesses provided jobs and job training for 200 “at-risk”
youth ages 14-21, primarily from San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunter’s Point and Mission districts.
For the past five years, I have invented, developed, and patented different products
and either sold or licensed them to other companies. I also worked as a consultant
on a very interesting project for a research institute at UCLA, helping them translate
their scientific finding into formats that people could actually use. It was during this
tenure, when I was working on how to increase overall health and well-being in
communities, that I realized how invaluable parks could be to children, families and
their communities if only the parks were designed correctly.
My specialty is to take an idea and manifest it. I’ve had 25 years experience in building and growing a business. I’m excellent at systems: designing and creating an infrastructure to ensure that all part work together. I’m a good communicator; I can talk
across disciplines--legal, graphic design, accounting, operations, human resources.
3
I have built a network of incredible, talented, able, knowledgeable people in virtually
every realm: engineers, graphic designers, architects, artists, writers, photographers,
poets, lawyers, accountants, illustrators, industrial designers, public relations specialists,
insurance agents, web designers, researchers, journalists, film and television producers,
directors, private investigators, doctors, teachers, electricians, plumbers, painters, architects, jewelry designers, cartoonists, draftsmen, general contractors. Whenever I need
an answer, I know where to go. I’m an excellent project manager: I have an ability to
see how pieces fit into the whole, and then how to motivate people to help get things
done.
More than anything, this project has absolutely captivated me. It could allow me to
use my skills to benefit the community in which I live, and could prove to be the
most creative, challenging and fulfilling project of my life.
4
BACKGROUND
Neuroscientists called the 1990’s the “Decade of the Brain” because
technological advances in brain imagery techniques (MRI, PET-scan,
CAT-scan etc.) allowed scientists to see––for the first time, and in
exquisite detail––exactly how the brain develops. What they found,
startled and surprised them:
FIRST, scientists found that babies are born with some neurons already hard-wired into the brain circuits that regulate breathing, control the heart-beat, maintain body temperature, or produce reflexes.
But the majority of the trillions upon trillions of neurons in babies’
brains at birth are pure potentiality: in other words, they are not yet
connected or programmed to do anything and are waiting to be
“woven into the tapestry of the mind.”1
MRI image
SECOND, scientists found – to their surprise – that neurons are
“woven” or hard-wired into the brain by two things: use and experience. It is a child’s own experience interacting with the world, not
his genetic make-up (as previously thought), that causes neurons to
connect and neural pathways to be formed. The entire organization
of the brain is based on experience. And the type and quality of experiences form the neural pathways that organize and govern the
four foundational pillars of brain development: cognitive, linguistic,
physical and social.
“It is the early experiences of childhood, determining which neurons are used, that wire the circuits of the brain as surely as a programmer with a keyboard reconfigures the circuits in a computer.
Which keys are typed, which experiences a child has, determines
whether the child grows up to be intelligent or dull, fearful or selfassured, articulate or tongue-tied.” 2
Use and experience spur
neurons to connect and
form sysnapses
THIRD, scientists discovered that the brain of an infant developed
faster than they’d ever thought, or imagined, possible. “Normal early
development is so rapid that the PET scan of a one-year-old more
closely resembles an adult’s brain than a newborn’s. By age two the
number of synapses reaches adult levels.” 3
CAT-scan of a brain
5
FOURTH, scientists found that brain development is a “use it or lose
it” process. “Billions of other neurons are ready to be connected to
other neurons, but they must be used in order for connections to be
made and circuitry to be formed. Unused, neurons do not survive, the
potential trillions of synapses or connections are not formed, and the
child never reaches his potential.” 4
The pathways that are repeatedly activated or used are hard-wired into
the brain and retained into adulthood. Furthermore, the window of opportunity to hard-wire the neural pathways of the brain is open widest
during age 0-2, but narrows with each passing year and appears to close
between ages 8 and 10. 5
Synapses join together to
form the neural pathways
that establish the basis
for all cognitive, linguistic, social and physical
development
BEST WAY TO WIRE THE BRAIN: PLAY
And what does any of this have to do with playlots in Richmond?
By unearthing the findings about brain development outlined above,
educators and child development experts discovered that the best way
to hard-wire the brain for healthy development is through play.
Children, like all healthy, young mammals play.6 Play is how they learn.
Playing provides perhaps the premiere venue for children to practice,
over and over, the full range of skills they will need to survive. Through
play, when children share or resolve disputes, they are, in fact, building
their social development. When they swing, slide or jump, they are, in
fact, building their physical development. When they play hide-andseek, they are, in fact, building their cognitive development, and so
forth. No other activity provides children with the kind of rich, meaningful, super-charged opportunity to practice those very skills that form
the basis of their entire development that, in turn, will chart their
course for life.
All healthy mammals play in
order to learn
The casual observer might not grasp the profound relationships between achievement and the endless games that the very young play––
patty-cake, peek-a-boo, and sing-song rhythms are in reality storehouses
or machines for programming the brain for language, art, music, math,
science, kinesthetic, and interpersonal abilities and intelligence.7
Experts in child development and education stress that play is perhaps
the best vehicle to build the foundational pillars of a child’s cognitive,
linguistic, social and physical development. As such, educators today
stress the need to provide children with “meaningful” play opportunities: meaning that children must engage in a variety of types of play (as
opposed to “physical” play alone) in order to grow and develop to their
potential.
6
Simple games like peek-a-boo
help a baby’s brain get wired to
acquire music, math and social
skills
These different types of play include:
PHYSICAL PLAY: engaging in active movement such as swinging,
sliding, running, hanging, spinning or climbing
IMAGINATIVE PLAY: pretending, fantasizing, making-believe, and
acting out things that are not real
COLLABORATIVE PLAY: joining with others to play, such as ball
games, see-saw, dolls, house, or hide-and-seek
CREATIVE PLAY: making, assembling, manipulating, building and
creating things
QUIET PLAY: listening to a story, stringing beads, solving puzzles,
coloring
Storytelling is a good example of
quiet play
WHERE DO THE CHILDREN PLAY?
Pay-for-Play
The need for meaningful play spaces has spawned a myriad of “payfor-play” options across the country that include children’s discovery
museums, water parks, zoos, private lessons, summer camps, organized
sports, amusement parks, music, dance and art classes. These private
venues are magnets for middle class families, who willingly pay whatever entrance fee is necessary in order to provide their children with
the tools for creativity, exploration, discovery, and intrigue they need
to practice over and over in order to develop and grow.
However, for low-income families, who cannot afford these alternatives, the only play option outside the home is the playground in their
school, church or neighborhood park.
Playgrounds
“Existing American playgrounds are a disaster” 8
- Dr. Susan Solomon
“The current state of playground design is a tragic failure” 9
- Landscape architect Richard Haag
“The history of playgrounds is a history of bad ideas” 10
- Playground designer Rusty Keeler
What exists today in the vast majority of American playgrounds is directly opposite from what experts in education and child development
say that children need. Current playgrounds do not stimulate children.
They do not provide the opportunity for children to engage in multiple types of play. They do not function as a hub of community life.
7
Private park in Pittsburg
They do not attract a variety of participants over the course of a single day. For all the millions of acres of land and the millions of dollars
spent on play equipment, playgrounds have, bang-for-the-buck, very
little play value. Why?
To follow is a snapshot of what landscape architects, playground designers, environmental designers, and experts in education and child
development say is wrong with playground design today in America,
culled from newspaper articles, books and scientific journals:
Playgrounds Only Provide Opportunity for Physical
Play, Not Other, Equally Important Types of Play
Most every playground in this country features equipment designed,
primarily, for physical play. In virtually every American playground,
there’s the ubiquitous swing, slide and some sort of climbing apparatus. There’s nothing else there to spur a different kind of play: a stage,
for instance, or dress-up clothes to spark fantasy play. Or crayons, colored paper and glitter to encourage creative play. Or even a game
that requires two or more people in order for it to work, to foster
collaborative play.
Playgrounds Contain Only Pre-Fabricated Equipment
Prefabricated equipment has nothing to do with the way kids really
learn: by exploring materials and acting on their own. Instead, America’s cookie-cutter, standardized plastic, “post-and-platform,” play
structures control the experience of children by pre-determining
their use: kids can go up or down steps, run across decks, go down
slides. Sometimes an additional low climbing apparatus is attached to
a deck. That’s about it.11 Kids don’t create their own way of doing
things, get to make choices, resolve conflicts, or change anything in
their environment.
Prefabricated equipment suffers the tyrany of unrelenting sameness,
rarely blends in with the surrounding area, giving them an unsightly,
unnatural aura. Author Susan Solomon describes them as “hulking,
sterile, bizarrely-colored monsters.”
Playgrounds Are Static
“Ideally, a child’s play space should never be finished, it should be in a
constant state of change.”
- Susan Goltsman, a landscape architect who has designed dozens of
parks.
Most playgrounds are static: as a main attraction, they feature prefabricated equipment that was installed once and has remained bolted to
the ground for years, unchanged. Children, ruthless in exploiting
every possible inch of play value in this fixed equipment and quickly
master every nuance they offer; the playground, then, becomes dull to
them and they abandon it.
8
Playgrounds Do Not Have “Play Leaders”
To ensure their children have rich, challenging, ever-changing environments for play, other countries employ full-time “Play Leaders” or
“Play Workers” who act as caretakers of their public parks and whose
role is to create a dynamic, ever-changing play environment for its
children.
In America during the ‘70’s, we had something similar: full-time people staffing the recreation departments of playgrounds all over the
country. They ensured that the parks ran smoothly and organized
classes and activities. But with budget cuts reduced funding for recreation departments, these positions were eliminated.
Playgrounds must have a steward, a guardian, whose job is to ensure
that children have rich, challenging, ever-changing environments for
play. Other countries recognize this. In the United Kingdom, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Australia, parks
are staffed by certified “Play Leaders” or “Play Workers.” In these
countries, a Play Leader is an esteemed, nationally recognized profession. What a concept!
Playgrounds Are Too Safe
“Risk is necessary in play, and children will instinctively seek it out in unsafe and life-threatening places if it is not offered in safe ones. Growth simply demands the making and overcoming of mistakes. On the other hand,
not being allowed to take chances causes a debilitating timidity and fearfulness in later life.” 12
One of the ways children learn is to take reasonable risks. Children
must take risks and suffer consequences in order to hone skills of
judgment and learn from their mistakes. Children need practice in
risk-taking if they are ever to become the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs.
Fearing lawsuits brought on by playground accidents, equipment
manufacturers have essentially “dumbed-down” play equipment to the
point where many manufacturers are reluctant to market monkey
bars, sliding poles or climbers for the age range 2 to 5 years. Consequently, many children become bored and turn to nonequipment
forms of play or use equipment in unintended ways.
Several educators have argued that the draconian safety measures imposed by insurance companies on cities have resulted in making playgrounds overly safe, and strips away the important elements necessary
for meaningful play: variety, complexity, challenge, risk, flexibility and
adaptability. Because the design of so many playgrounds are void of
equipment deemed “risky” by insurance companies, the playground
poses few challenges and is dull to children. Dr. Joe Frost calls playgrounds today, “an administrator’s heaven and a child’s hell.”
9
Play leaders provide the tools kids needs
and serve as the grand masters of play
Playgrounds Are Too Tame
“Few child development professionals are skillful in design, and few designers are skillful in child development.”13
- Dr. Joe Frost, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, visionary
expert on play and playground design
Rather than slick, technologically-inspired, manufactured structures, children need wild places. Rather than neat and tidy, standardized playgrounds, they need play spaces that are magical, special
and enchanting in quality that can unleash their sense of wonder.
They need places to dig holes, build sandcastles, watch ladybugs,
hide in a secret cave, morph into a prince or princess, and get dirty.
As the guidelines/safety standards apply only to manufactured
equipment, there is little guidance for communities on how to effectively integrate less expensive natural materials like sand, water,
and dirt into playgrounds. Many purchasers assume that such materials and activities are hazardous, too much trouble, or a waste of
time.
Children need wild places to unleash their sense of wonder
Child development experts agree
that sand is essential!
In contrast, Roger Hart, co-director of the Children’s Environments Research Groups, has said that “sand enables children, at relatively low cost, to create their own environment.”15 Sand allows
kids to work together or solo to mold, dig, and sift. They can explore, destroy, or create. They can get dirty!16
Playgrounds Do Not Connect with Nature
“We are not just building playgrounds.We are creating children’s experiences––their memories, their childhood.What kind of memories will they
have of rubber and steel and asphalt?” 17
A growing body of research shows that contact with the natural
world improves physical and psychological health.18 Using nature as
a backdrop for play results in an outdoor, sensory-rich, learning environment that provides a variety of play opportunities. Playgrounds with natural elements are chock-full of loose parts (sticks,
dirt, stones) that allow children to manipulate the environment to
create and build whatever they wish. Being and playing in nature
also connects children with the seasons, the cycles of life, and other
organisms that live with us on the planet.
10
Nature offers children amazing
sensory experiences and a chance
to explore
Playgrounds Do Not Provide Play Opportunities for
Children Age 0-2
Typically, playgrounds are designed for two age groups: 2-5 and 5-12. Studies suggest that play activity during infancy is much more important than
previously thought, and is especially important for an infant to develop and
master motor skills. Consequently, playground designers have begun to create outdoor play spaces specifically for infants and toddlers.
Playground designers also stress the importance of having all children together in a playground to achieve a “playground culture.” It’s a way for the
young children to watch and learn from the older children and for the
older children to guide, interact, and play with the very young.
However, to avoid the multiple safety risks created when infants crawl
around in a playground designed for older kids, designers now advocate
creating a “playground within a playground” – meaning that they build an
exclusive space for infants that is separated from, though accessible to, the
bigger playground.
Playgrounds Do Not Convey a “Sense of Place”
Playground designers are
creating toddler-only
spaces inside playgrounds
There is widespread interdependence between the insurance industry and
standardized equipment manufacturers. Whenever other parties besides big
manufacturers get involved with playground design, liability issues pop up.
Consequently, unique, custom-designed, site-specific, play spaces have lost
ground to playgrounds furnished with prefabricated equipment ordered by
phone, out of a catalog.
Consequently, cities, churches and schools are forced to purchase prefabricated equipment that is completely divorced from its natural surroundings
and does not reflect the unique spirit of a particular community. The resulting playgrounds are not special; a playground in Alaska looks identical
to the playground in Arizona. They don’t foster either a sense that the playground is unique or has a sacred “sense of place” which has been described
as “the feeling that exists between people and the environments in which
they live.” 19
Playgrounds Are Not a Focus of Community Life
“Parks and gardens also provide an opportunity for community health, where
neighbors can come together and commune on happy and neutral ground.The
impact of a community garden or playground for a neighborhood where families
have no outdoor place to play is enormous.There is a magic that happens on a
park bench under a shade tree or on a grassy lawn where people visit, read, listen
to bird song, or just sit. A different magic happens when we get our hands into
the dirt of a garden plot turning or planting or harvesting or weeding.These are
values that are hard to quantify but which on the margin, help make life wonderful. Communities and neighborhoods need places like these to come together and
relate.There are no good substitutes.” 20
11
Cookie-cutter equipment fails to
blend in with environment and
lacks soul.
Playgrounds can become a vital
hub of community life
In countries all over the world, public playgrounds are a central hub,
a vital gathering place for children and their families. As such, when
playgrounds are designed, the needs of both the children and their
adult caretakers are taken into consideration. In Europe, for instance,
many neighborhood parks offer a place for children to play along
with basic amenities for adults: things like shade, comfortable seating,
snacks and restrooms. Parks are designed in ways that foster interaction and communication between families.
In the United States, there are rare instances where we design playgrounds spaces to make everyone comfortable. From the perspective
of this writer, if the adults supervising the children were more comfortable in parks, they would remain longer and the children would
play longer.
Parks Are Not at the Top of Our Agenda
Unlike in the United States, where most playgrounds are basically
standardized, limited in play function, and either unstaffed or staffed
by “supervisors” or “baby-sitters,” playgrounds in Denmark and some
other countries “are recognized as so important they are provided by
law.” 21
In Europe and many countries in Asia, parks are viewed as necessities;
generally in America, we view parks as amenities. We plop equipment
into an empty space and then expect it to satisfy all the play and development needs of our children. Meanwhile, “A generation of children is growing up indoors, locked into a deadened life of television
and video games, alienated from the natural world and its life-affirming benefits.”22
WHERE DO THE CHILDREN PLAY - RICHMOND
Approximately 8,000 children, age 0-5, live in Richmond. Approximately 75% of these children are African-American or Latino; the
majority from working class or families who are immigrants or underemployed. Thirty-four percent of African-American children under
age five live below the poverty line.23 Many children live in neighborhoods that have been identified as the most dangerous in the
country. For many Latino children, English is their second language.
And when these children become old enough to attend public
schools, the public schools that await them are among the poorestperforming, lowest ranked, in the state.
When our young Richmond children, age 0-5, go to a park to play,
there are eight“playlots” that are specifically designed for them. A
quick review of each:
12
Caretakers stay cool watching their children
in a Parisian park
ELM PLAYLOT
8th & Elm
Entrance sign to Elm playlot tagged
with graffiti
-
in the heart of the Iron Triangle
one pre-fabricated sliding structure, covered with graffiti
one swing set
six beautiful, mature liquid amber trees
landscape littered with debris. On a visit to this location, I
spoke with children living directly across the street from the
playlot who told me that, in order to make the playground
ready for a birthday party, they recently collected from the
grounds two buckets of glass and shell casings from a shotgun.
CLINTON PLAYLOT
Clinton & 42nd
- dirt and sand ground
- one play structure: a swing
- in between primary school and
fire station
- used solely as a spot by parents
to pick up their children after
school
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HUNTINGTON PLAYLOT
Huntington & Carlson
- a renovated playground
- two playgrounds (one for toddlers, the other for older children)
- big sand box
- picnic tables
- benches
- clean
HUMPHREY PLAYLOT
Humphrey & 26th
- newly installed play equipment
- no place to sit, no drinking water
- play equipment is constantly being tagged
Neighbors living in close proximity to the Humphrey playlot
say that the park is used by young children and families only
on weekends; during the week, however, it is a frequent gathering spot for young teenagers, something I witnessed during
10+ trips to Humphrey playlot during weekdays
14
MENDOCINO PLAYLOT
Mendocino & Burlingame
- renovated playlot
- popular with families in the evenings
- people leave equipment in the playground
to share with others
- good community feel
MONTEREY PLAYLOT
Monterey & Carl
- renovated playlot
- barren feel; rarely used (on 10+ visits I witnessed
children there only once
- large sandbox
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SOLANO PLAYLOT
Solano & 38th
-
decaying, old metal play structure
one set of swings
litter often in park and surrounding streets
bench, picnic table and play equipment consistently tagged and is painted over by
Randy, who who lives across the street and doesn’t want his three-year-old daughter to
read the tags
- cars often abandoned on street side next to park
POINT RICHMOND PLAYLOT
Washington & Nicholl
- created by the will of the residents of Pt. Richmond
- only playlot that is all sand
- well-kept, cared for, loved with great community vibe
- this playlot is not included in the list of playlots on the city’s website
16
Playlots in Richmond: A Call for Action
Despite Richmond’s 55 parks and eight playlots, young children, age 0-5,
have no meaningful place to play. Even Richmond’s recently renovated
playlots––Humphrey, Mendocino, Monterey and Huntington––fail to
provide an environment where kids can really play. In light of the new
findings that connect free play to critical childhood development, it is
imperative that we quickly intervene and provide thoughtful, magical,
and meaningful play spaces for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
City Parks + Playlots: Comparing Richmond to Berkeley
When looking at parks and recreational facilities, it is interesting to compare the city of Richmond to the city of Berkeley. Both have virtually
identical total population (around 100,000) and both project similar tax
revenues for 2007 ($313 million for Richmond; $310 million for Berkeley). However, Berkeley plans to spend $11 million more on their parks
than Richmond does. Berkeley will spend an average of $426,000 per
park; Richmond will spend $218,000.
Moreover, Berkeley’s public park system includes nine dedicated “totlots”
– that is, those designed for their 4,000 children age 5 and under. By
comparison, Richmond’s park system has only eight dedicated playlots in
our park system to service 8,000 children age 0-5, twice the number of
Berkeley. A snapshot:
City Budget 2007
Parks + Recreation Budget
% of City Budget
Parks
Total Acreage
Playgrounds for Children 2-12
Playlots for Children 0-5
Children 0-5
$ Spent Per Park
Berkeley
$310 million
$23 million
7.4%
Richmond
$313 million
$12 million
3.8%
54
240
28
9
4,000
55
334
48
8
8,000
$426,000
$218,000
Compared to Berkeley, Richmond children face an inequity in the
number and quality of play spaces available for young infants and
toddlers, age 0-5.
17
HOW TO BRIDGE THE GAP / WHAT TO DO
New Model: City and Local Nonprofit Work Together to
Revitalize Public Parks
In order to forge new ways to rejuvenate city parks to meet the developmental needs of children and communities, cities are entering into
partnerships with nonprofit agencies to help them build, renovate, and
operate urban parks.
“Public-private partnerships for parks are proliferating across the
country––and generating much excitement and interest. One reason is
that they work. Parks partnerships are successfully combining the assets of the public and private sectors in novel ways to create new and
refurbished parks, greenways, trains, and other community assets in our
cities––often in the face of municipal budget constraints.” 24
Cities are finding that they can more effectively build, renovate and
maintain parks when they partner with local nonprofit agencies. The
partnership allows the city to leverage public assets to attract resources
and expertise to revive and sustain parks and playgrounds. With many
cities under budget constraints, it is advantageous to join with a nonprofit that can then tap into funding sources that are unavailable for
public agencies, such as individual donations, corporations and private
foundations.
(Available with this prospectus is a “reader” that includes a study entitled, “Partnership for Parks,” a report that examines the partnerships
between public agencies and nonprofit groups. In this report, there are
several examples of successful partnership across the country between
cities and nonprofit groups and a discussion of the emerging lessons to
date.)
Additionally, there are several nonprofits that specialize in assisting
local community groups who partner with cities to create, restore or
revive urban parks. These nonprofits include The Trust for Public
Land, The Urban Institute, and The Project for Public Spaces.
Revitalize a Park, Revitalize a Community
In Richmond, a struggling city grappling with big problems (such as
violent crime, erosion of its manufacturing base, lack of jobs, pollution, and an infrastructure and public morale decimated by but recovering from a period of financial duress), there is debate about what to
do first, where to put the city’s resources. Urban planners, designers
and community developers are finding that an effective way to inject
new life into, and revitalize a community is to revitalize its parks and
playgrounds.
18
Parks and playgrounds are the heart and soul of community life, a vital
gathering place, and provide enormous social, economic and health
benefits for all its citizens. Extensive research on parks and recreation
shows that parks:
1)
2)
3)
4)
increase property values of nearby homes and businesses;
attract and retain businesses and residents;
provide environmental benefits;
make cities more livable and provide a place where neighbors can
experience a sense of community;
5) reduce crime and provide recreational opportunities for citizens.25
Perhaps most importantly, the quality of a park is a direct reflection of
how the city values the health and well-being of its children and families. It is the responsibility of each community to create safe and supportive environments, and provide the tools and opportunities for
children to grow and develop through play.
How Much Money Will We Need
We will need to immediately raise a seed grant of approximately
$150,000 to cover operational, planning and preliminary design costs
in the first year and also pay for the cost to set up our 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. Thereafter, we will need to secure the funding to
cover operations, design and construction expenses which will range
from $250,000-$400,000 annually thereafter, depending on the number of playlots we re-create.
Where We Can Secure Funding?
Re-designing, re-imagining, and reinventing the playlots in Richmond creates a nexus of funding opportunities for foundations that
are interested in supporting efforts in Richmmond to:
* re-dress the inequities of play opportunities for children
* develop healthy opportunities for children to grow, learn and thrive
* strengthen and improve communities
* revitalize urban neighborhoods
* create green space for low-income families
* provide a sanctuary for families and children to engage in healthy
behaviors
19
A review of the local, regional and national foundations that are likely
to be interested in supporting a project include:
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Bernard & Alba Witkin Charitable Trust
Bernard Osher Foundation
California Endownment
California Wellness Foundation
Civil Society Institute
Clorox
David B. Gold Foundation
Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream
East Bay Community Foundation
Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund
James Irvine Foundation
Koret Foundation
Kresge Foundation
Lawrence Weissberg Foundation
Lesher Foundation
Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health
McKesson Foundation
MetLife Foundation
Miriam & Peter Haas Fund
Richard & Rhonda Goldman Fund
PG&E Foundation
Robert Woods Johnson Foundation
Salesforce.com
San Francisco Foundation
Skoll Foundation
Stuart Foundations
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
The Kaiser Foundation
Thomas J. Long Foundation
Trio Foundation
United Way of the Bay Area
UPS Foundation
Vodafone-US Foundation
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
Whole Foods
William Randolph Hearst Foundation
Y & H Soda Foundation
Additionally, it is possible to tap into funding from local, state and federal re-development agencies and private donations as well as generate
revenue from a social-purpose venture.
20
WHAT COULD BE: IDEAS FROM OTHER PARKS
“Good play environments have magical qualities that transcend the here and now,
the humdrum, and the typical.They have flow qualities––qualities that take the
child to other places and other times.They are permeated with awe and wonder,
both in reality and in imaginative qualities. Bad play environments are stark and
immutable, controlled by adults, lacking resiliency and enchantment. Few dreams
can be spun there, and few instincts can be played out.The wonders of nature, the
joys of imagery, the delights of creating are all but lost for children restricted to
such play places.Those who create play environments for children have a choice,
no matter what the context––small town, city, or megalopolis.The difference lies
in how we value children’s play, what we are willing to do, and how much energy
we are willing to expend.” 26
The following is a compendium of images of inspiring play spaces, elements, environments, and equipment from around the world. The images
are in no means a blueprint for a new park design; this must be done with
the full support and participation of the community in which the playlot is
located.
The sole purpose of these images is to inspire us. To get us thinking and
dreaming of what could be, setting the bar high for what is possible, for
what can be done here in Richmond.
21
Burling Slip Playground
New York City
This figure-8 shaped park, to be built on a parking lot in Manhattan is a bold experiment that integrates multiple perspectives
of experts in child development, education and environmental
design. The goal in creating this new playground is to create the
most forward-thinking play space for children designed in this
country to date. The Burling Slip playground is being created by
a $2 million public-private partnership between the city and a
nonprofit. The park features:
* A storehouse that contains loose materials and parts such as
sand, foam blocks, tubing, shovels, and wagons that children can
manipulate and use on their own.
* A staff of “play workers” who are trained in child development
and act as the guardians of the park and the grand masters of play.
The job of a play worker is to create opportunities for children
to engage in multi-dimensional play: fantasy, social, physical.
* A dynamic environment: play workers vary play opportunities
daily in response to the weather, time of year or the desires of
the children.
* Built-in seating in the play area for adults and scattered
benches and tables.
22
Adventure Playgrounds
1,000+ in Europe
In 1943, a Danish landscape architect, CT Sorenson, noted the excitement and energy of children who
played daily in an abandoned, dirt lot that was located next door to his office. Based on his observation
that children find things to do with scrap materials found in construction sites, vacant lots and natural
areas, he invented the concept of “Adventure Playgrounds,” also knows as “building” or “junk” playgrounds, where the playground is essentially a place to build things using scrap materials the children
find. A typical Adventure Playground is fenced in and staffed with a trained “play leader,” and the children are free to do and play any way they choose.
(Note: in some European countries, being a “play leader” is a profession.)
Getting any of this type of facility to catch on in America has been a great struggle because of safety
concerns in spite of the fact that the rate of accidents proved less than in traditional playgrounds.27
23
Children’s Center
New York State
Here, the designers masterfully interweave the play equipment with a sense of openness in the natural
world.
24
Jardins de Luxembourg
Paris
* fence surrounds the playground
* basic amenities for adults: comfortable seating and shade
* a variety of challenging activities
25
Kiba & Asukayama Parks
Tokyo
* Water as a central play element
* A streaming river with moveable rocks
26
Children’s Discovery Museum
Sausalito
* chalkboard underneath a shaded hut for quiet play
* magical structures
* biodiverse terrain: hills, tunnels
* a stage for make-up games
* water element for play
27
Natural Playscapes
Varying locations
28
Visionary Play Areas
Noguchi’s Playscapes was built in Piedmont Park,
Atlanta in 1976
Renowned sculptor Isamu Noguchi designed
this slide for a park in Tokyo
Designer M. Paul Friedberg’s “vest pocket”
parks transformed abandoned urban lots
“Gopher Holes” cut into cement with sand bottom
in Palo Alto park
Children find tons to do with only tires and trikes on
a Manhattan rooftop
Playing for hours in a warped tree
29
FOOTNOTES
1, 2
3
Newsweek, cover “Your Child’s Brain” 1996
Frost, “Neuroscience, Play and Child Development,” paper presented at the IPA/USA Triennial National Conference 1998
4, 5, 7
Frost, “Neuroscience, Play and Child Development,” paper presented at the IPA/USA Triennial National Conference 1998
6
Frost, Wortham, Reifel, “Play and Child Development” 2001
8
Solomon, “American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space” p.1, 2005
9
Solomon, “American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space” p.85, letter to the author, 2005
10
Keeler, “Environments for the Soul” article in Landscape Architect and Specifier News, March 2001
11
Solomon, “American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space” p. 84, 2005
12
Frost and Talbot, article published in “Childhood Education,” Fall 1989
13
Frost, Wortham, Reifel, “Play and Child Development.” p. 431. 2001
14
Nabhan & Trimble, “The Geography of Childhood:Why Children Need Wild Places,” 1994
15
Brown, “In City Parks: A Childhood Joy is Now a Rarity,” New York Times, May 11, 1995
16
Solomon, “American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space.” p.81, 2005
17
Keeler, “Environments for the Soul” article in Landscape Architect and Specifier News, March 2001
18
Sherer, “The Benefit of Parks,” 2003 Trust for Public Land
19
Moore and Wong: “Natural Learning: Creating Environments for Rediscovering Nature’s Ways of Teaching” 1997
20
Will Rogers, Executive Director of Trust for Public Land in text of his speech to Cleveland Parks Symposium, September 2005
21
Lambert, “Adventure Playgrounds: A Book for Play Leaders” 1992
22
Sherer, “The Benefit of Parks,” 2003 Trust for Public Land
23
2000 Census
24
Wallace, “Partnership for Parks,” report published by the Urban Institute, April 1999
25
Sherer, “The Benefit of Parks,” 2003 Trust for Public Land
26
Frost, Wortham, Reifel, “Play and Child Development.” p. 455-6, 2005
27
Bengtsson, Adventure Playgrounds, 149
30