Description (EN): Playful Paradigm increases the capabilities of cities to answer global challenges including those emerged during covid
19. It promotes inclusion, intergenerational solidarity, SDGs, resilience, healthy lifestyles. PLAY IS A SERIOUS MATTER AND CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE for a better urban future of cities. The Playful paradigm helps to re-think the community welfare and it is replicable adaptable to other urban contexts, since play is a universal principle, naturally practiced by every human being.
Read more Achievements (EN): Playful Innovations for cities
Considering the experience of the first project edition and the long experience of Udine, the second wave of Playful Paradigm followed on four dimension of the play approach aiming at further enhancing Playful Paradigm by fostering the inclusion of marginalised communities and promoting the gender based approach to re-think public spaces. That are:
PLAY FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN REGENERATION analyses the possibility offered by play to re-think urban public spaces. Starting from the Ludobus initiative and the play placemaking experiences, it addresses the gender sensitive approaches about public spaces and playgrounds and the intergenerational approach to include older people and adolescents in city life.
PLAY FOR INCLUSION & PARTICIPATION seeks to develop a new concept for Toy Libraries looking at novel opportunities to transform them into inclusive living labs.
PLAY FOR EDUCATION focuses the attention on the innovative approach in education by providing playful experiences both in formal and informal learning environments.
PLAY FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING promotes an integrated approach – social, economic and environmental - through the “WHO Healthy Cities” philosophy, involving Project Partners in a co-creation of novel solutions to foster health and wellbeing in local communities.
Among them, two innovations in promoting play have been followed up by Playful Paradigm second wave: the Gender sensitive playgrounds & Urban Public spaces & the Toy Libraries as living labs.
The re-design of play places like “school yards, playgrounds and recreational spaces” through a gender sensitive approach can provide an important contribution to deconstruct gender stereotypes and the inequalities starting from early age. The redesign of play places should prioritise gender neutral colours and multiple play ‘worlds’, as opposed to one central, that promote interaction between girls and boys and versatile space uses. It should foster creativity and engage with nature, as well as sports and active games. In this way, children can choose the way they play without the pressure of conforming to stereotypes.
Toy Libraries are key within new innovative and more dynamic urban policies reflecting the huge demographic change happening in societies. Toy Library helps meeting different objectives: promoting play, educating children but also supporting families. In deprived neighbourhoods when the street means the only option kids have to socialize, Toy libraries can help families keep kids away from the dangerous exposure to petty crimes or drugs.
The Playful Paradigm promotes the concept of Toy libraries as hands-on public spaces addressing novel opportunities of participation, equality, and intergenerational learning.
They can be improved by Local Administrations and transformed in truly “inclusive living labs” to engage with all citizens, families, boys and girls, elderly people, children, and adults, taking care to leave no one behind. Toy Library-Living Lab can be a new home for families positioned in the centred the needs of children, girls and boys and their parents, with a special attention to those in the fringe.
Playful Paradigm Alliances!
Playful Paradigm has been promoting the collaboration between cities not just at the transnational project level but also at local and national level. Thanks to Playful Paradigm local alliances were boosted, aimed at promoting play urban policies. In Catalunya, Igualada (2nd Wave), Esplugues de Llobregat (1st Wave) and Barcelona started to collaborate to share play approaches and co-design city play plans. In Ireland, the city of Cork has been leading a network focused on play as cascade effect of Playful Paradigm. Jelgava Local Municipality in Latvia and the Municipality of Klaipeda in Lithuania have shared a play strategy to promote the “Play for Education”approach in schools.
Moreover, the Playful Paradigm cities has been collaborating with other cities and international organisations, such as: UN agencies, EU partners, Private organisations, Arup, LEGO, etc.
Read more
