Why playgrounds belong in the town centre, not the back of the park

I know the walk to the playground at the back of the park well. Down a narrow path with nobody around, past the sports fields, to a small fenced playground tucked away at the far end. On a grey February afternoon it can be the loneliest place in town.

Then I think of an evening in San Sebastian Families sat out at the cafés around the square, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, while the children played right in the middle until long after dark, in full view of everyone. There was no fence, and no need for one.

Above: A photograph that I took of the playground in the town centre of San Sebastian, Spain. (I have used an AI assisted renderer to replace people for privacy reasons).

Nobody sets out to hide children away. Playgrounds often end up on leftover land, then come the worries about noise, dogs and liability, then the fences, catalogue equipment and rubber surfacing. Landscape researcher Helen Woolley calls this the "Kit, Fence, Carpet" approach.

When play sits at the heart of town, everything changes. Parents feel less alone, children are seen as part of public life, cafés and shops get busier, and more eyes on the square make it safer for everyone. Aldo van Eyck proved this in post-war Amsterdam, slotting hundreds of small playgrounds into everyday streets and squares.

How you can make a difference

• Use your town square: take a ball, chalk or a scooter on an ordinary afternoon.

• Organise a pop-up play day with other families.

• Respond to town centre consultations and ask for play to be part of the plan.

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Safer, kinder schools: why visibility matters in school design

Every morning, parents hand their children over at the school gate and walk away. What happens on the other side, we mostly have to imagine.

I've spent years designing schools, and I've come to believe that what a building lets us see matters enormously. Where adults can't naturally see, children who dominate or exclude others have room to do it. Hidden corners, dead-end corridors and the far side of the playground are where problems tend to grow.

The urbanist Jane Jacobs called the answer "eyes on the street": places feel safer when ordinary people are naturally looking on, not because of guards or cameras. Schools work the same way. When children play within view of everyday life, adults can step back and give them more freedom.

Above: Our design for a school in central Auckland, adding new learning spaces and a library while retaining play space and a visual connection through to the sports fields beyond.

This isn't about watching children all the time. They need dens and hideaways too. The difference is between being watched and being held in view. On public projects such as Te Manawa in Auckland, I've worked with CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) specialists who study how people actually use a space before and after it's built. Schools deserve the same care.

What to look for when choosing a school

• Can you see into the playground and classrooms, or is everything behind walls and fences?

• Are there corners where no adult would naturally see children?

• Does the school welcome parents in at handover, or keep families at the gate?

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