Process+work

I am thinking on working on the topic "playground."


 * play·ground** [[image:http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium.gif]] [[image:http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png]][[image:http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/speaker.gif link="https://secure.reference.com/premium/login.html?rd=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fbrowse%2Fplayground"]] /ˈpleɪˌgraʊnd/ - [**pley**-ground] - –noun
 * 1. || an area used for outdoor play or recreation, esp. by children, and often containing recreational equipment such as slides and swings. ||
 * 2. || Informal. any place, environment, or facility used for recreation or amusement, as a resort: The tropical island is an international playground for the rich. ||
 * 3. || an arena of operation or activity. ||

Definition taken from dictionary.com


 * Research statement - one sentence that focuses the project in terms of context and objective
 * background - describe the public space and any relevant details
 * critical position - articulate your stance on a identified issue/concern and
 * data collection and analysis- your method of field research and documentation (link to your Flickr stream)
 * opportunities - future directions that this topic may take
 * resources-

Research Statement:
My research will focus on how to revitalize the playground so that it would fulfill its purpose as a neighborhood resource. Neighbourhood resource is defined as a place to can contribute to the social interaction, neighborhood identity, and community cohesiveness of that area.

Background
Playground is fundamental part of a community. Playground is important in facilitating play and social interaction among residents from the community. Playground is not only for children, but for adult as well. Yet we can see a decline in the usage of the playground. Because of our obsessive concern on safety, the playground now because a safe, vacant zone. Children would rather stay at home on the computer rather than sliding down on short, plastic slide. What can we do to revitalize the playground, which will in turn, revitalize our community?

Critical position:
Playground should not only be seen as a safe place for children to play, but should be understood as s an important part of our community. Its function is to bring people together, both children and parents. Our playground in Toronto is not attractive enough for people to come or to bring their children, which means that our playground is not fulfilling its function as a neighborhood resource. Something must be done to change the current situation.

To collect data for my project, I first consulted articles that are on this issue. Base on those material, I went to my own community playground, first at 11:30 am, right after the kindergarten was dismissed, and then a week later, at 6:30 pm. I made observation on the equipment and the activities that go on at the time. And I also went to a famous playground in Toronto, named Jamie Bell playground, and did some comparison between the two playgrounds to find out why one works and why the other does not.
 * Data Collection and Analysis:**

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 * Photographs that I took:**

//**My playground:**// The equipments in the playground is composed of a set of monkey bars, a bridge, and few slides. The area that 'belongs' to the playground is defined by the wooden chip on the floor. This plastic-made, bright playground are specifically made for children from 5 - 12 and meant to keep older kids out. This is achieved by making small equipment. Adults will have a difficult time just getting on the numerous stairs that made up the playground. And interesting thing to note about this playground is its bars. The whole playground is literally made up of bars - bars that let people climb up, to hang on, to slide down. I believe this is placed there to increase the challenging aspect of the playground, hoping to make the playground more interesting. I think this work to a certain extent. Yet, when the kids grow up or for the smaller kids, such bars are either no longer challenging or too difficult to play with. Also all the equipments in this playground are the same like every where else. This homogeneousness discourages creative play, lowers community pride, and is just plain boring.
 * The equipments:**

//**Jamie Bell Playground:**// This playground is mostly made up of wood. This makes the playground feel a lot more crude, natural, and organic. Kids that come to the playground feel like that are having raw material to play with instead of a finished, slick product. The whole playground is consisted of many castle towers. It spun like a maze with stairs, towers, tunnels, slide, and swing. This playground really built on a kid's imagination. It looks like it come out from a fantasy book. Kids get excited when they see the park. There aren't many monkey bars. This playground is huge and it encourages the children to explore and run around. The equipments are big enough for adults to join in. Round tables and benches are scattered inside and outside of the playground. This is usually where the parents sit and talk or watch their kids. The playground is divided into two parts, one for younger kids and the other for the older kids. There is no definite line dividing the two parts, but one can see that the equipment is bigger on the one side, and smaller on the other. This allows people of all ages to enjoy this playground. It also makes the park safer by separating the younger and older kids. Another thing to note about this playground is the many children artworks that are on the playground. These artworks make the playground looked localized and give the playground the sense of that it belong to somebody.

//**My playground:**// People do bring their kids to the playground, but not often. I can see that the main population that actually enjoy the playground is children at the age of 4 - 6. They are the perfect size for the playground. The kids usually like to be up in high places. If they come down, they quickly get back up. Height is the main attraction of the playground. The main games they played in the playground are tag and pretending games. One is about physical challenges and competition, while the other exercises imagination. these two things are key a fun attractive playground. The parents or the adult are usually not involved in the park. Parents are usually standing outside of the playground, talking among themselves. Few parents will watch their kids, and try to play with them from a distance. Grandparents usually sit on benches. Adults are really divided from the kids and are very passive in the playground. People from the age of 14 - 30 is missing in the playground scene.
 * The people:**

//**Jamie Bell Playground:**// There were many people, children from ages 1 - 14, parents, and grandparents that were in the playground. There were more than 50 of them. Kids were all running around, going up and crawling beneath the towers, sliding down from slides, playing with the equipments. Parents of the younger kids are playing with the kids inside the playground. Parents of the older kids let their children run wild while they talked among themselves around the many tables that were their. There were a lot of tables and benches. Some are far from the playground, while others are inside or just around the edges of the playground. This permits the parents to choose the distance they want to be from the kids. They could choose to participate in the active community inside the playground, or the social community outside.

In the future, I think we should think of the playground as a place for the community and not the children only. This will seriously change the kind of equipment and structure that the playground will take. Also the idea of a playground for young adults is another direction this project can take. The whole idea of the traditional playground completely neglects the teenager and young adult. They are restrained to use the fields for organized sport or the streets for nonstructural activities like roller blading, bicking, and skateboarding. Teenagers that may not want be so physically active do not have a public space that encourages them to exercise. This is another way that this project can go.
 * Future Opportunities:**

Concept Map

http://www.swansea.ca/people-jamie-bell.php This is a site on Jamie Bell Playground - a very famous, popular playground in general. It has picture of the playground. From this playground, we can learn what are the elements that make up a successful playground, a playground that encourages play and interaction.
 * Resources:**

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/000912/d000912a.htm This is a page with statistic on how many kids are playing sport and how active they are.

http://pfizerch.com/inthenews.aspx?id=1042 This is a great article discussing the role of the parents in children's play and how busy parents are preventing their children from playing in the playground and playing outdoor in general.

http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia102803nr.cfm This site contain statistic on the amount of time kids spend on electronic media vs playing outside. This information indirectly tells us how much time does kid spend on playground, which relays to the effectiveness of playground.

Spatial accessibility and equity of playgrounds in Edmonton, Canada.Karen E. Smoyer-Tomic, Jared N. Hewko and M. John Hodgson. **//The Canadian Geographer//** 48.3 (Fall 2004): p287(16). (8103 words) This article discusses playground as a neighborhood resources. It identifies all the roles that a playground plays in a neighbourhood and its significance to a community. And then it goes on evaluation the spacial accessibility of playground of a playground in Edmonton.

Ayoub, Nina C. "'American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space'." __The Chronicle of Higher Education__ 52.8 (Oct 14, 2005): NA. __CPI.Q (Canadian Periodicals)__. Gale. YORK UNIV LIBRARY (CANADA). 25 Sept. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/itx/start.do?prodId=CPI>.] This article examines the reason behind why children no longer go to playground. And the writer has placed the fault on decades of "overly intense, even obsessive focus on playground safety," in a highly litigious society. It tells us that once children are allowed with spaces and material that they can be creative on, a playground flourishes.

http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/ Very interesting website talking about neighbourhood and community. It discusses the kinds of relatioinship that made up a community, especially about **ephemeral relationship**, a very interesting concept.

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 * Visual Essay:**