"A city that moves at the pace of its people rather than its cars is a city that understands progress." - Catherine Conlon, Senior Medical Officer, HSE, Cork. Former Director of Human Health and Nutrition at safefood. www.echolive.ie/corkviews/ar...

"Too often when we think about play in a planning context, we default to thinking about structured activity and providing spaces that are designated and equipped. - Gemma Hyde, Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) 1 of 2

🎉A DAY FOR PLAY! 🎉 Wishing our 362 communities running Playful Streets across the globe 🇮🇪🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦🇿🇦🇵🇰🇲🇽🇩🇰🌍 a very ✨Happy International Day of Play✨ Thanks to ChangeX & The LEGO Foundation for their incredible support 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 are now in ‣ 9 countries 🇮🇪🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦🇿🇦🇵🇰🇲🇽🇩🇰🇻🇳 ‣ 362 communities ‣ 5 languages 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇻🇳🇪🇸🇩🇰

✨Befores → Afters✨ of The Gaps, Sallynoggin, May 2025. "What makes this project truly unique is that it is entirely community led." - Frank Curran, Chief Executive, DRLCC In partnership with @dlrcc.bsky.social @aplayfulcity.bsky.social & the National Transport Authority

Trial a Strand Road cycle path for 12 months Dublin City Council won its legal case after years of Court battles. We cannot listen to those who are trying to block quick action on climate change, road safety, and increasing mobility options. Please sign and share!

Why is it that road safety campaigns so often emphasise high-vis & helmets, yet rarely directly address the dangerous design of vehicles — especially the height & bluntness of "SUV" bonnets that put pedestrians, particularly children, at far greater risk? www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...

We are adding more and more vehicles, of increasing size, into a finite physical space that was designed for fewer, and smaller, vehicles. In Ireland, we went from approx.700,000 cars in 1985 (for a pop of 3.5m) to 2.5m cars in 2023 (pop. 5million).

What if a tree could talk—and not just talk, but share its experience of the world around it? The Talking Tree project by Droga5 Dublin & Accenture Song brings a 150-year-old horse chestnut tree to life using localized AI & real-time environmental data. www.rte.ie/news/2025/04...

The OECD "Cities for All Ages" report provides a structured & evidence-based approach for governments to cultivate urban environments that are inclusive & supportive for residents of all ages. The full report: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

"Design Justice begins with a simple premise: the built environment is never neutral. Cities are designed, & design is power. Who gets to shape a city? Who benefits from its architecture, its transport, its housing? Who is displaced, erased, pushed to the margins?" www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

"The objective is therefore not to create specific facilities for children, but to consider the place of young people in order to improve public spaces for the benefit of all." theconversation.com/pourquoi-les...

🚀👏 A collaborative project between #NationalTransportAuthority, #dlrCC & @aplayfulcity.bsky.social bringing local community in Sallynoggin together to reimagine an underutilised laneway as a beautiful and meaningful space for all those who live, work & play there. www.dlrcoco.ie/news/general...

Situations like these are among the key reasons why A Playful City was founded! R.Kikuo Johnson’s "Upstairs, Downstairs" cover for The New Yorker captures a reality that too many parents and caregivers face: cities are not always designed with young children—or those pushing strollers—in mind.

Which came first: the chicken (deadly driving) or the egg (a culture that normalizes it)?

Every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity generates over £4 for the English economy and society. www.sportengland.org/news-and-ins...

"66% of you voted "in favor" of greening and pedestrianizing 500 new streets across all neighborhoods. In the coming weeks, a consultation will be held to define the list of streets and begin the city's transformation!"

Streets designed for play, not just car drivers! There's a vision for a 1km-long ‘play link’ for families, offering a dedicated space for recreation. It's all about putting people first & creating a truly liveable and playful community... www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

"a new narrative is key to how we might reimagine the future, given that some 60% of us live in towns. In this I turned to Cathal Mulry, director at A Playful City and UCC lecturer in urban design futures ..." www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

This is the exact opposite of what should be happening if we want children to be outside, moving, healthy and happy! We and allies will be strongly opposing this change.

I keep seeing the same common theme: the impossible standards placed on anyone advocating changes to our transport system. Question car dependency and you're expected to address every inequality and injustice at the same time; but support car dependency and you'll never be challenged on these issues

What makes a street exciting, relaxing, or stressful to walk on? A new study presents a systematic way to analyse how urban design shapes emotions. ✨ Lively streets excite 🎭 🌿 Green spaces relax 🍃 🏢 Monotony bores 🚗 Traffic stress 😨 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

"Time spent playing outdoors has declined by 50% in a generation & fewer than three in ten children say that they play out on the street." www.centreforyounglives.org.uk/news-centre/...

"Active by day and dream-like at dusk, it glows like a lantern. In contrast to the austere monuments that populate the parks, it reminds us we should never take ourselves too seriously." www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/peter-c...

HOT RESEARCH NEWS! Motonormativity ("car brain") is a bias that stops people making rational judgements about driving en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motonor... Our new study shows where this bias comes from AND how it makes people think they're odd for supporting changes to the transport system 🧵

"Whether we're active or sedentary really plays a profound role in our health status... the evidence suggests your environment can have big implications for your social & emotional wellbeing too." www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

AN URBAN ALLEGORY A beautiful child's eye vision of the city in all its (extra)ordinariness from director Alice Rohrwacher (LA CHIMERA) & renowned street artist JR. Worth the watch 📽️ youtu.be/5XpztZXCP_U?...

"Ignoring children’s needs doesn’t just make streets unsafe for them, this also affects their independence/health and access to education/extracurricular activities. When kids can’t safely walk or bike, they miss out on opportunities to be active, explore and play.", americawalks.org/better-stree...

Children's independent mobility is not just a matter of individual choices, but a product of the environments we create. Shift the focus from simply mitigating risks for children in dangerous environments to creating environments that are safe & supportive of children's independence.

Good street planning & design has a multitude of benefits including: 💨less energy use and fewer emissions 🤝 better community connections ❤️ better health outcomes 🌻 improved amenity 🤫 less noise 🙂improved transport affordability 🔄 reduced traffic congestion 🛍️ benefits to local businesses 1 of 2

This 35-page bureaucratic document redefined the use of America’s streets, tailoring them to the benefit of the automotive industry. www.fastcompany.com/91267013/100...

"The social sustainability of an environment can be studied using two sets of indicators: the perceived quality of the living environment and the accessibility of everyday services." -Marketta Kyttä helda.helsinki.fi/items/0355d4...

Heavier vehicles —> more particles More vehicles —> more particles Mode shift on short trips —> fewer particles

In an article in Nature in January, Canadian & Norwegian researchers pointed out the benefits of risky – but not outright dangerous – play, particularly outside, in helping children build transferable risk-management skills. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The prompt is: "He is a boy. He’s from here, and you are responsible for him." 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴—on display at NCAD until 17th February— goes beyond stereotypes, showing that young men are more than how they’re often perceived. www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...

"Urban planners...will no longer consider green spaces as expendable. Instead, nature will be seen as part of the critical infrastructure of a healthy city" If we can’t get to the forest, the forest must come to us, in the form of cities designed around green spaces. www.wired.com/story/health...

The answer (in part) = “Dutch drivers pay far more tax if they have a heavier car. The idea is to penalise those vehicles which most contribute to causing the potholes to help pay for the roads.”

Boissy-le-Chatel (77) A skateable work of art 🛹 - Constructo Skatepark + Inout Concept (design) / MBL Architectes + bureau David Apheceix (architects) / Camille Fréchou (landscaper) / Vulcano Skatepark (construction) 2019 www.constructo.fr/boissy-le-ch...

Two of the most popular articles I've written in the past couple of years were short pieces about play streets. I noticed that a lot of the people commenting talked about how it reminded them of the autonomy and independence they enjoyed in their childhood.

A new UK group is suggesting a five-point manifesto to address the rise of SUVs www.suv-alliance.org.uk

Outdoor time for children benefits both physical and mental health: 🌱 Fosters curiosity, independence & creativity 🏃‍♂️ Promotes movement & physical health www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

"Are city streets places for pedestrians to hang out, or are they routes to be traversed as quickly as possible?" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“We need to think about big cars in the same way that we think about cigarettes: Affecting not just the user, but everyone around the user.” - Robert Proctor www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Let's play and connect! Here is a starter pack for knowledge exchange between everyone interested in children's #outdoorplay in #publicspaces. Including @alisonstenning.bsky.social, @aplayfulcity.bsky.social, @makespaceforgirls.bsky.social, etc Let me know if I'm missing anyone. go.bsky.app/QY6MWe8

A lambastinly good tongue in cheek video essay critique of the (alpha) "alpha bro doomsday vehicle" / "meme" from Adam Something is worth the watch... www.youtube.com/watch?si=MWg...

"Importantly, risk is not the same as danger. Danger is something a child isn’t equipped to notice or deal with... Risk changes with age & doesn’t always include things that look risky to adults." www.nature.com/articles/d41...

To make our public spaces more family-friendly, we need some clear changes in how we design our communities and how we think about children in public. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Creating Health & Wellbeing" A guide for local authorities linking between planning, design & public health. Advocating a shift from treating illness to fostering health through evidence-led planning & design in cities, towns & villages by addressing health inequalities proactively. 🧵1 of 2

🎉 2024 marked the 1st 🇺🇳 UN International Day of Play on June 11! A Playful City's Playful Streets were 1 of 4 projects as part of the International Day of Play Community Fund to invite communities across the world to host Playful Streets in their communities. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2u6... 🧵

Retail boss reports buoyant Christmas trade in Dublin City Centre. A short 🧵 (journey) back through news headlines from 2024 ... www.businesspost.ie/news/electri...

The threshold effect of car dependency: "using a car just sometimes increases life satisfaction but if you have to drive much more than this people start reporting lower levels of happiness... to the point that the downsides outweigh the benefits.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...