Cities offer opportunities to better realise the potential to learn through playful experiences, by harnessing children’s innate curiosity through play, learn and practice the relational skills that enable our communities and society to be adaptable, sustainable and flourishing. The Reclaiming Play in Cities initiative, by Arup and the LEGO Foundation, aims to help city leaders identify practical solutions around learning through play and exploring the impact of urban environments on children’s access to play and their well-being.

As part of the Reclaiming Play in Cities Initiative by Arup and the LEGO Foundation, an intensive play assessment of the Rogoredo neighbourhood in Milan was carried out by Arup, in collaboration with the city of Milan and local stakeholders. The purpose of this initiative was to gain relevant insights into variables that hinder and enable play, and to aslo identify opportunities for inclusive and creative play spaces in Rogoredo.

Play is an essential component of healthy communities. For this reason, Arup and the LEGO Foundation partnered with the South African NGO Ikhayalami to activate play in the informal settlement of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. They used the Urban Play Framework to better understand challenges and opportunities for play, and to co-design with children and caregivers, a safer, more varied and stimulating environment for play.

In collaboration with the Royal Town Planning Institute, the LEGO Foundation and local stakeholders, Arup used the Urban Play Framework to undertake a comprehensive play assessment in the Burnt Oak borough of London, to understand the factors hindering and enabling play, and to identify opportunities to creatively plan for play spaces, strengthen peoples’ connections to one another and support the neighbourhood’s future evolution.

The Playful Cities Toolkit developed by Arup and the LEGO Foundation in partnership with the Real Play Coalition, provides a range of resources to understand the complexity of play in cities, to guide the design of play-based interventions, and to measure their impact. Filled with practical tips from leading practitioners worldwide, this toolkit will arm you with the knowledge, tools and inspiration to create playful cities where children of all ages can explore, experiment and express themselves.