No. 85 — Playing in the streets ⫶ Pop-up computing ⫶ Shelf space
Language to be hand-held
My name is Linda. I write a bi-weekly newsletter about computer science, childhood, and culture.
I'm in the last mad rush to finish all the educational materials for the Ruoholahti playground opening! If you're in Helsinki, the official opening ceremony is October 1st from 10:30 to 1 PM—no RSVP is needed, but do send me a message so I'll know to find you among the school kids. Meanwhile, here's a report that caught my eye.
In Stephanie H. Murray's Atlantic piece on playstreets, she writes about an unused resource of play: "Suddenly, the modern approach to children's play, in which parents shuttle their kids to playgrounds or other structured activities, seemed both needlessly extravagant and wholly insufficient. Kids didn't need special equipment or lessons; they just needed to be less reliant on their time-strapped parents to get outside."
Often neighbor-led and temporary, the idea of closing streets so children can play together takes many forms. Here in Paris, we have Rues aux Enfants, a movement to dedicate streets to kids. On Saturday, there will be a city-wide party to celebrate these urban spaces.
I've been thinking about balancing dedicated spaces like playgrounds and the idea of streets as learning and play spaces. One of the most generous and joyful reports I found is the result of the collaboration between Arup, the LEGO Foundation, CatalyticAction, and PlacemakingX.
The report outlines public spaces beyond streets: the stairs, train stations, cultural facilities, and how to introduce play to spaces for everyone, anywhere. The case studies span the world.
But my favorite bit is at the end of the report, a complete catalog of play ideas for imagining and embedding small-scale play elements for children, youths, and adults in city design and planning. The catalog is such creative work, and I can't wait to put these ideas into practice in the context of pop-up computing experiences.
Some other suggestions for a bibliography of playstreets
PLAYFUL CITIES DESIGN GUIDE by Arup
DESIGNING STREETS FOR KIDS by Global Designing Cities Initiative
THE REVERSE PERISCOPE also by Global Designing Cities Initiative
Linked List
Shelf space - gorgeous public libraries around the world. A selection of small, monumental, quiet, loud.
On Children, Meaning, Media, and Psychedelics - Listening to the nuanced discussion on screen time and new vocabulary around it (loved "raw, attentional capture") by Ezra Klein and Jia Tolentino. I loved the Alison Gopnik edition - would very much subscribe to an all-parenting podcast by Mr. Klein.
Language to be hand-held. I love this little composing stick.
Classroom
STEAMLab Taiwan continues to experiment. In the first picture, there is a LOVELY Scratch meets MakeyMakey meets computer building experiment. In the second picture, there is a role-playing activity about how computers work. You can find all the activities here.
