Beyond Playgrounds and Skate Parks focuses on promoting better outcomes in the built environment for children and young people in cities. The principal aim of this book is to cultivate champions for children and young people amongst those professions that commission, create and construct the built environment. It presents an interdisciplinary, cross-sectorial discussion which spans the whole process associated with developing the built environment. Its journey moves through how we think about children in the built environment, frame the task and legislate for it, and ultimately how we design for them and with them. The book’s interdisciplinary approach is a point of difference and reflects both the nature of the problems in contemporary urban planning and design and the nature of the solutions required.
The book aims to build bridges and understanding between different players, providing a resource for policy makers, social planners, design practitioners and students in these fields and this is reflected in the international and interdisciplinary group of authors. Ultimately Beyond Skate Parks and Playgrounds aims to bring about change to policy, planning and design practice in the developed world and is distinguished by its focus on the design process rather than product; through its emphasis on evidence-based design and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for better problem solving.
