"It gives children a place to be free and happy and playful. That's how Rezina Chowdhury, a city council member in the London borough of Lambeth, describes a school play street around one of the biggest cricket stadiums in the British capital. Thanks to kid-first planning, about half of the perimeter of space surrounding the 27,000-seat stadium has been set aside as play streets for two schools."
"With little more than planters, the borough created "a child-friendly space ... where children can play with their friends and their mums and their parents can sit and chat," said Chowdhury. "Cars have dominated our space. [The play street] is so transformative because it's just so calm." Now, we're not saying that such things don't exist in New York - the 34th Avenue "Paseo Park" is a great example of car-light spaces where kids can be kids - but we simply don't have enough of them."
Rezina Chowdhury, a Lambeth city council member, says a school play street around a major London cricket stadium gives children space to be free, happy and playful. Kid-first planning allocated about half of the stadium's perimeter as play streets serving two schools. Minimal interventions such as planters created a child-friendly area where children play with friends while parents sit and chat. The conversion removed car dominance and produced a calm, transformative public space. New York has some car-light examples like the 34th Avenue Paseo Park, but such child-centered public spaces remain insufficient. A film by Clarence Eckerson Jr. documents the project.
Read at Streetsblog
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