Go Play Outside: Bruno Taylor Makes Cities Fun
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 08.20.08
Bruno Taylor, completing his Masters in Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins in the University of the Arts in London, writes:
“71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?"
"This project is a study into different ways of bringing play back into public space. It focuses on ways of incorporating incidental play in the public realm by not so much as having separate play equipment that dictates the users but by using existing furniture and architectural elements that indicate playful behaviour for all.
It asks us to question the current framework for public space and whether it is sufficient while also giving permission for young people to play in public."
Bruno also designed this cool bouncing bench.
via ::Designboom, Wooster Collective and pixelsumo
TreeHugger on Go Play Outside:
Go Play Outside ; Nobody Else is
New Study: Kids Need the Adventure of "Risky" Play
Get Outside and Play
Where Wiffle Ball’s a Crime There May Be No Child Left Outside
Wretched Excess Dept: Mega-Rec-Rooms to Keep Kids Inside
TreeHugger on Taking Back the Streets and making cities fun:
Taking Back the Streets : Caravan by Kevin Van Braak : TreeHugger
Taking Back the Streets : International Pillow Fight Day : TreeHugger
Taking Back the Streets : P (LOT) : TreeHugger
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
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Fun art project! I would definitely use the swing if I saw it at a bus station. It's great to see unexpected things during your daily commute.
That is sheer and utter genius
For some odd reason that is beyond my comprehension I can't but help to think that putting a swing set at a curbside bus stop would be a disaster waiting to happen.
I think part of it is that we've been raised now to assume that every time a child walks out the door they're going to be met by a molester or be kidnapped. I'm not sure where that's come from but I know I played outside for hours unsupervised as a child and now if I mention letting my kids out, in front of out house, to shoot some baskets without me being next to them people freak out. Just one opinion.
I would love to have a swing at the bus stop!
More transit stops should be somewhat fun. Sometimes parents have kids and they don't want to lug around toys while they're trying to catch the bus or whatnot.
Oh my. I think Omega has a point.
I like the idea, though. Nobody even has porch swings anymore, much less the fun kind.
Have your video camera waiting for youtube!
it's interesting that the people who used the swing were (apparently) all female. are adult males scared to play in public? or just more suspicious?
Jane Jacob's Life and Death of Great American
Cities has a good chapter on the interaction of children and the city and especially the importance of sidewalks as a space of unstructed play
The swing looks great! Except...what about people walking from the other side of the sign who can't see the person swinging, or the person reading and walking, or the person talking on the cell phone and WHAM! Or...the swinger who goes too far forward into traffic?
But, it's a cool idea and I still want it to work!
Good creativity, good fun, but bad idea
as the previous comment suggest, simply too dangerous!
MTSK
Colors of Swallowtail
Good creativity, good fun, but bad idea
as the previous comment mention, it is simply too dangerous!
MTSK
I love this. It is these kind of fun, quirky ideas which make being a designer so great its about trying to make the everyday more interesting through clever design.
People have become too serious and 'politically correct'. I think this is reflected in the 'dangerous' comments here. Just appreciate and enjoy the concept!
A friend of mine did something similar as a project at UF.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=08vElF-SxkI
Sadly she passed away recently. We need more people with this type of "get off your rear" vision.
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2009/04/10/news/campus/090410_starr.txt
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/columnists/mark_woods/2009-03-18/story/her_impact_was_clear_in_the_end