Beyond the playground: repurposing urban spaces
Cardiff, United Kingdom
Best practice - Play & leisure
In 2023, Cardiff became the first UNICEF Child Friendly City in the UK. During its journey to recognition, Cardiff Council prioritised play by running its play street scheme, closing residential streets to traffic for a few hours a month to allow children to play close to home.
Yet with children suddenly restricted to the few streets around them during the pandemic, the council decided to take play streets one step further. Today they are supporting children to reclaim some of the city’s lanes – the narrow alleyways running along the back of rows of terraced houses, which have often been linked to anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping.
The council, Cardiff University and community group Grange Pavilion are working with children to repurpose these spaces into new green and safe spaces for outdoor play. The ideas are already flooding in; from “scootable” tarmac to vertical gardens.
‘Story Trails’ which encourage children and their families to follow stories using QR codes hidden across the city are also popping up in different areas of Cardiff – a simple way of transforming the city into an enormous urban play-space.
