Playgrounds

Ben Highmore is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex. He is the author of The Art of Brutalism: Rescuing Hope from Catastrophe in 1950s Britain (2017) and Lifestyle Revolution: How Taste Changed Class in Late 20th-Century Britain (2023).

In the decades following the Second World War, playgrounds developed into radical sites for childhood experimentation. Ben Highmore has wonderfully recaptured that history in this richly detailed, highly readable, and beautifully illustrated account. In our era of worrying about housebound children, the book could not be more timely. - Mathew Thomson, Professor of History, Warwick University, and author of Lost Freedom: The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War SettlementPlaygrounds are essential for developing a sense of the world while shaping a meaningful social experience of equality, mutuality, and self-organizational practices amongst younger people. Ben Highmore shares an exquisitely written, hopeful narrative on the innovative qualities and progressive principals found in the post-war urban experimental playground movement. Relevant and incredibly pertinent, Playgrounds is a lesson for today’s risk-averse society where indoor screentime often replaces outdoor playtime. Rather than bemoan a lost past, Highmore’s book dares to imagine the future of public play spaces designed to ensure that young people thrive. - Raiford Guins, Professor and Chair in the Media School at Indiana University, BloomingtonFrom the junkyard to the city farm, Playgrounds tells a rich and inspiring story that marries design, politics, and social change. A profoundly useable history, the book shows us why experimental spaces for children mattered in the last century, and why they still matter today. - Professor Claire Langhamer, Director of the Institute of Historical Research[An] intriguing and readable book . . . This history is succinct and wide-ranging, with several specific case studies, and plenty of photographs . . . Highmore is optimistically adamant that we need to reconsider play and its relationship to growing up, and Playgrounds provides plenty of evidence and discussion to back up his argument. - International TimesPlay is at the heart of all creativity, and adult designers have tried, with varied success, to assist this natural process. Ben Highmore brings unusual insight to the recent history of designed play spaces and the principles on which they are based. - Alan Powers, architectural historian and professor at the London School of ArchitectureWhere does someone . . . play now? The metaverse would boot him out for violating the terms of service. You can guess how experimental playgrounds fell out of favor. It’s the likes of Reagan and Thatcher scissoring through the social safety net . . . Highmore takes playgrounds very seriously . . . with the passion of one who’s been too long at the monkey bars. - Harper's Magazine

• Introduction: Not All Swings and Roundabouts1 The Early Playground Movement2 The Junk Playground3 Adventure Playgrounds4 Busy Roads and High-Rise Living5 A World of Loose Parts6 Aesthetics and Playscapes7 Inclusive Playgrounds8 Playgrounds and Politics9 Repairing the FutureReferencesSelected and Further ReadingAcknowledgementsPhoto AcknowledgementsIndex