Making room for fun

We need to look beyond the ubiquitous parks and playgrounds, to creative spaces that offer both sanctuary and stimulation for children.

In most cities children have only one refuge— the urban park — and this is in reality quite wanting when it comes to the actual design. It offers a limited range of experiences, has no safety norms, and is also compounded by poor maintenance. Most important, they are rarely ‘inclusive’ — we rarely see children who are physically challenged in these parks.

A sense of inclusion 
Bangalore is, in fact, the first city in the country which now has a series of ‘inclusive parks’ thanks to the efforts of Kilikili, a civil society initiative. Kilikili’s stated aim is to “...create play spaces that will be accessible to all children, regardless of their ability and in so doing, lay the foundations of a more inclusive society, that does not discriminate or exclude on the basis of ability”. They have partnered with the municipality to create two parks through a participatory process. and three more are on the way.

Welcome alternatives
It s not that we do not have enough open space. Many schools, for instance, still have playgrounds. But have you ever heard of a school that opens up its grounds to serve the community after school hours? Kids’ Foundation in Imphal, does just that.

An alternative space for kids, it is a small oasis of hope in this strife-torn city, unusually conceived and executed. Apart from being a school, it serves as a multi-use facility space for children that indulges their senses and satiates their curiosity through design and programmes. It has a playspace that has everything a child would enjoy —sand, grass, tunnel, bridge, waterfall, stream, even birds in a cage. It also has an art gallery and an artist-in-residence. Perhaps more school grounds could follow this example and become stimulating public spaces for children.

Play is not all that children need. Providing the child with “an alternative source of leisure and learning, interaction and introspection” is what Saptaparni in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, has set out to do. A private house and its grounds have been sensitively remodeled to house a bookshop, and classrooms for music and dance. Children learn traditional arts such as music and dance and the emphasis here is to provide the urban child a chance to reconnect with their cultural roots — be it the arts or language. Saptaparni has an open-air amphitheatre for lectures, discussions and presentations which are usually well attended.

Music and dance are finally an extension of play. But even an activity like reading can be a source of great fun and learning is what a children’s library in Panaji, Goa proves. Bookworm is a children’s library with a difference. Apart from a wonderful collection of children’s books, it also has an activity centre where books inspire a puppet-show or a small ‘theatre’ performance. Other activities too are often based on books. For instance, on some days, children draw illustrations for stories that are read out by resource people. In the process, they learn to love books while having fun.

Museums matter
Museums are another potential space for a child to explore and be stimulated in different ways. However, unlike in the Western world we rarely have museums for children that are also fun places to be in. But in India, we are fortunate to still have a chance of encountering ‘living traditions’ all around us. The Crafts Museum in Delhi and Dakshin Chitra near Chennai allow children to connect with our craft traditions in a more formalised setting. Important as places like parks, libraries and museums are for children, they are individual spaces existing within the city fabric. But the city as a whole could itself be a space of learning and exploration.

Educative environment
This aspect of the Indian city is perhaps more important today than ever before. With the increase in gated enclaves, the affluent urban child is increasingly living in artificial environments divorced from reality. Poorer children, meanwhile, are increasingly exposed to the worst of the urban experience- crowding, pollution, little or no safe play areas. Safe and unsupervised ‘free play’ is central to the all-round development of the child. Neighbourhoods around homes are the natural setting for this. and can be upgraded with small interventions to address this need.

At the policy level, if walking, cycling and public transport are given precedence over the private automobile, public spaces would be closer to becoming safer and more stimulating for the child. Details matter too. Clean, safe, and child-friendly public toilets are important but missing pieces that must be put back into the puzzle.

Natural exposure
The educative city must also make space for nature, largely absent from the daily routine of the city child, apart from chance encounters with straggling trees or patches of manicured lawns. Trees, streams and lakes that exist in our cities, these can be a major resource for children. In Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon river which had become little more than a sewer capped by a six lane motorway was restored by tearing down the motorway to create an 8km-long, 400-hectare urban park which serves as its central public space. Our city managers can learn from this. In the process, the city might itself become more sustainable, ecologically speaking. This points to an important conclusion — cities oriented towards all children are much more likely to be safe, sustainable and stimulating for everyone.