A Future Vision of Play

Part of

Empower

Speculative Design's Power to Inspire

MA 2023

Keywords

Play, Speculative, Future, Research, Inspiration

Overview

Play is under attack. Despite being an essential part of childhood (and even adulthood), there is less Time to play, fewer play Spaces, restrictions on Freedom of play, and a decrease in Funding for play. A New Perspective on Play is a speculative design project that aims to inspire our project partners and champion the child’s perspective on play over the typical adult perspective.

Our intervention is set in the not-so-distant future of 2032, where a fictitious Ministry of Play is formed in response to the surfacing of deep cracks in educational and social systems.

Under the umbrella of the Ministry of Play, we explore a future where play is integrated into the daily lives of children. Here, in addition to being used as a way to explore the practical implications of their learning, play serves as a tool for children to deepen their connection to each other, their surroundings, and themselves.

Collaboration

This project was made possible thanks to our partnership with LondonPlay. We would like to thank them for their trust and support.

LondonPlay is a charity that wants every child in London to have high quality, free play opportunities, near to where they live. They run playgrounds and adventure playgrounds and have many initiatives to create a welcoming environment for play.

SECTION ONE SECTION TWO STATEMENT SECTION THREE SECTION FOUR

Introduction

The Playground is a modern invention.

The playground is a relatively new addition to our urban landscape. It is a modern invention made to address the specific needs and problems of the times and society, as the London Underground made around the same time. After their first appearance just over 150 years ago, playgrounds have quickly spread around the world while largely preserving their shape and design.

Society is changing, but playgrounds haven’t adapted.

Society has changed significantly since the first playground opened in Manchester in 1859. As playgrounds are man-made structures addressing a particular social need, they are expected to evolve in accordance with the shifting demands of a given culture and society.

OUR APPROACH

Rationale for employing Speculative Design

For wider society, the attacks on play affect a small part of most of our lives, but if left unchecked, irreversible damage may be inflicted on children and their relationship with their surroundings, their peers and themselves. Speculative design helps us imagine a world where these changes have occurred, and backcast a way to design positive futures.

A speculative design project would help many businesses, including LondonPlay, step back from their day-to-day challenges and see the bigger picture: they are not just creators and maintainers of playgrounds, but an extension of children’s rooms, a home away from home, and a vital community service for many families.

Speculative Design isn’t future forecasting, it depicts a future in an attempt to shape the current conversation.

Speculative design identifies and debates crucial issues that might happen in the future by building a product or service within a future context. Neither a utopia nor a dystopia, the future in question is a blend of both to ensure credibility. Within this context, the aim is not to present commercially driven design solutions but to present design proposals that identify and debate crucial issues that might happen in the future.

Speculative design helps to provoke public debate and discussions about the future, which in turn can generate new ideas, spark conversations, and create a more engaging narrative appealing to a wider range of stakeholders.

How can we integrate Speculative Design into a Holistic design process and thinking?

Problem

Now: Play is Under Attack.

Play is an essential part of life, and this is even more true for children – play is the lens through which they understand and interact with the people and the world around them. However, now, play is under attack. LondonPlay and the RCA Future Services Lab have identified four main threats to play and play culture: Space, Freedom, Time and Funding.

Future : Children lack shared experiences, where they learn and build relationships.

The keywords that will cut across all areas of future society are extreme efficiency and personalisation. Advances in technology represented by AI, automation, big data, and hyper-connectivity will change our society in unprecedented ways across all areas.

What does this mean for children and play?

Discovery & INsights

The real value of the playground is not in the facilities, but in the strong and original relationships and bonds built there.

Observing play through the lens of an adult, we come away with the impression that all children want to do is to burn off energy running around. However, a shift in perspective reveals play as something more complex than just children engaging with equipment.

For children, play is not simply about swings and slides, but is social life itself. Play equipment, such as seesaws and climbing frames, are mediums through which children socialise with their peers. They are mediums through which they socialise with their group. The playground is a space where children can focus on their social lives, form deep bonds with their friends, and grow.

Envisioning the Future

In a future society focused on extreme efficiency and personalised experiences, how might we

leverage advances in technology to create a play environment that can bring meaningful shared experiences to strengthen children’s relationships with their friends, society, nature and themselves?

Our intervention is set in the not-so-distant future of 2032, where a fictitious Ministry of Play is formed in response to the surfacing of deep cracks in educational and social systems.

Under the umbrella of the Ministry of Play, we explore a future where play is integrated into the daily lives of children. Here, in addition to being used as a way to explore the practical implications of their learning, play serves as a tool for children to deepen their connection with each other, their surroundings, and with themselves.

Introducing the Ministry of Play

In the not-so-distant future of 2032, a fictitious Ministry of Play is formed in response to the surfacing of deep cracks in educational and social systems.

The Ministry of Play has 2 main responsibilities: oversee the implementation of the Open Play Curriculum and ensure the continuous evolution of their PlayWorkers.

Open Play Curriculum

The Open Play Curriculum is the 21st century way of learning: it leverages advancements in technology to cover the checkbox tasks, leaving more time for children to naturally and holistically explore the subjects they are taught, the environment they are in and the relationships they form with others and with themselves.

The Open Play curriculum is a joint effort between the Ministry of Play and the Ministry of Education. It is a play service and system that is fully integrated into the existing school curriculum. Play is a way of learning and living. Our goal has always been to expand play beyond the playground, and into every aspect of a child’s life.

PlayWorkers

The PlayWorkers offer play-related guidance and companionship throughout every aspects of one’s childhood. They act as an essential support for raising children and ensuring a high standard of children’s growth and wellbeing.

PlayWorkers are central to delivering the Ministry of Play’s vision and objectives. They act as a connecting thread between the various components that constitute a child’s life. PlayWorkers act as a support hub for the child and family, from prenatal to when the child is over 15 years of age. There are three types of PlayWorkers: PlayCoaches, PlayPals and PlayMentors.