To Play or Not to Play: Mapping Unequal Provision of Children’s Playgrounds

Paul Brindley (), Yueshan Ma, Rui Wang, Michael Martin and Helen Woolley
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Paul Brindley: School of Architecture and Landscape, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Yueshan Ma: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471000, China
Rui Wang: School of Architecture and Landscape, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Michael Martin: School of Geography and Planning, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7ND, UK
Helen Woolley: School of Architecture and Landscape, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-30

Abstract: Children’s playgrounds are an important component providing opportunities for children’s play. Few studies, however, have explored the unequal geographic provision of these valuable spaces. This work addressed this research gap by identifying the key data and methods required to analyse children’s playground provision at both global and national geographic scales. The aims of the paper were twofold: It firstly explored the potential for mapping children’s playground provision at a global scale and validated such an approach using finer spatial scales. Secondly, the unequal provision of playgrounds was investigated at a national scale in England, UK using open data sources. Relationships with the size of the settlement and deprivation were also explored. The work used a range of secondary datasets through applying quantitative GIS and statistical approaches. The results demonstrated that, due to data quality issues, a world approach to map playground provision was not currently viable. At a national scale, results highlighted substantial inequality in provision, with some settlements in England experiencing five times the number of children per playground, despite being broadly comparable in terms of population. Deprived settlements in England tended to have fewer, smaller, and further-away playgrounds. The patterns were most stark in the largest settlements. London, however, was consistently an exception to these patterns, where deprived areas tended to have more and closer playgrounds. Acknowledging the numerous competing different metrics to measure provision of children’s playgrounds, the research generated a framework for bringing together a wide range of interrelated data into a condensed form for comparison. Thus, the approach facilitated the identification of interventions within different contexts in order to reduce inequalities in playground provision and bolster children’s democratic right to the city for play.

Keywords: children’s playgrounds; equality; reducing inequalities; play; urban environment; mapping playground provision; geographic information systems (GIS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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