Session SS05 - Play, Renewal and Resilience in the C20th City
Coordinators: Lynn Abrams (lynn.abrams@glasgow.ac.uk), Krista Cowman (kcowman@lincoln.ac.uk)
Read Session abstractThroughout the 20th century, cities beset by depression, degeneration or conflict have presented children at play as a sign of resilience and renewal. A number of diverse representations including Carl Theodor Sørensen’s pioneering junk playground in Nazi-occupied Emdrup, Copenhagen, Shirley Baker’s photographs of children playing in slum clearance areas in Britain and New York’s play street schemes have focused on the child as a symbol of renewal, suggesting innate resilience and the ability to transform sites of destruction into ones of pleasure and excitement. A belief in the potential of play to reverse decline has had policy implications too, encouraging civic investment in a number of different developments (static playgrounds; adventure playgrounds; skateboard parks; woonerfs/home zones) with varying levels of success.
This session seeks to extend 20th century urban history by considering the history of childhood and play not as a separate field but as an integral part of urban life, and a key feature of attempts at urban renewal. We are interested in papers that open up new ways of considering the history of play as part of a wider historiography of the 20th century city. We invite papers that consider the urban, social or cultural history of play and renewal in a variety of areas. Topics may consider
• Play as protest
• Community activism and play
• Planning for play/playground design
• Traffic protest
• Representations of play
Keywords: play; community activism; children; regeneration; playground; quotidian activism
Thursday 30th August 2018
Room 11 15.30-17.00
PAPERS
'A playground is also included': children's play, play spaces and the re-newing of East London
Lucie Glasheen
Children’s Play and the Renewal of Community in Postwar Australian Cities
Kate Darian-Smith
Playgrounds (1969) by Nelson Leirner
Carolina Lisbão, Ana Carolina Carmona, Juliano Veraldo da Costa Pita
Saving the city: Child’s play
Bart Tritsmans
The Spielraum: making room for play in urban planning and design
Garyfallia Katsavounidou
Waldemar Cordeiro and the Clube Esperia’s playground: landscaping, experience and participation
Ana Carolina Carmona Ribeiro, Vitor Nascimento Oliveira
