The Design Trust has been unlocking the potential of NYC’s public space since 1995. As we approach the end of our anniversary year, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the past thirty and envision beyond the next, as we launch our 12th open call for project ideas: The Water RFP. Through a mini-series of three retrospective blog posts, we are looking back at the evolution of the Design Trust, remembering breakthrough projects that have redefined how we think about shared urban environments, and how they can inform projects centering equity and water. This week's series focuses on the theme of "play!"

How often in your life do you go to work? Most of us have no trouble answering that question. But how often do you get out and play? 

While most of our adult lives prioritize work over play, Johan Huizinga, Dutch historian famous for the 1938 book, Homo Ludens, argues that playing is a fundamental part of being human. Research continues to support this theory today, over 100 years after the publication of Homo Ludens. As adults, engaging in play lays the groundwork for greater satisfaction with life and a continued pursuit of joy. For children, play serves as a context for learning about the world while developing tools for self-control. Because of the positive impacts of play on our well being, designing for play in our shared built environments can be considered a public health initiative.

Spaces for play also enhance public safety. 100 years ago in New York City, advocacy movements for building playgrounds was based on their role in preventing childhood fatalities. In the chaotic urban landscape of the time, playgrounds were seen as essential safety infrastructure.

In 1970s New York City – a time and place marked, among many things, by high rates of violence and crime –p lay was utilized as public safety through the transformation of an abandoned section of Pearl Street street under the Brooklyn Bridge into a skatepark. Skateboarders at “Brooklyn’s Banks” activated the area, improving its conditions of safety through a consistent presence of watchful eyes, gathered for the purpose of play.

Playgrounds and skate parks are both public space design elements that encourage play, and there are infinite playful design possibilities beyond them. Designing for play is good public space design. Because feeling able to play relies on a basis of comfort and safety, when people can use a space for play, it usually means the space is also meeting other basic needs.

Designing for Play

Over thirty years of projects, the Design Trust has recognized the impacts of designing play into public space: 

• One of the earliest projects, Designing for Children in Community Gardens (1997 - 1998) sought to promote creative, social, and sensory development in kids through designing community gardens for free play and contact with nature.

• The El Space Toolkit (2019), combining research and design guidelines from Under the Elevated, revealed that community ownership and spaces for play can coexist and depend on each other.

“Most of the activities I found were organized on a community level–a block party or Saturday salsa under the Metro-North rail tracks. It was a very unexpected surprise when a local East Harlem resident told me to check out the salsa crowd near La Marqueta… They have a band or  DJ each Saturday and people from the community bring chairs and either just socialize or dance.” – 2013-2014 Photo Urbanism Fellow Krisanne Johnson, “Life Along the Elevated”

• Much of the Empowered x Design publication (2021) researched by Equitable Public Space Fellows Kimberly Mota and Jasmin Tepale, analyzed design and planning practices through the experiences of teenagers, giving us the earlier insight on skateboarding and public safety.

• Neurodiverse City (2023 - present) a project born from our Restorative City RFP, led by WIP Collaborative, Design Trust for Public Space, Verona Carpenter Architects, and a network of disability advocates, is reimagining New York City public spaces — streets, playgrounds, plazas, and more — to better support neurodiversity.

“Play is a human right – and all of New York’s kids deserve public places where they can joyfully be themselves,” – Jennifer Carpenter, AIA, Principal of Verona Carpenter Architects.

Water as play

Water features for play can serve multiple functions, from providing relief from urban heat to managing stormwater. Fortunately, water-based play infrastructure is built into the bones of NYC, and it’s not going anywhere. The City is already investing in playful infrastructure that conserves water, a preview into public space futures where water and joy coexist. The latest Design Trust RFP seeks creative ideas towards equitable water futures for New York City. In line with Huizinga’s theory of humans as inherently playful beings, we can imagine the ways water can support playful spaces where children learn about the world, where adults rediscover whimsy, and where playing strengthens our social fabric.

Stay tuned for our next installation in the series – a post written by our New York: City Designed Intern Giuliana Tepedino on how public spaces preserve culture, out next week!