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Ben Highmore, "Playgrounds: The Experimental Years" (Reaktion, 2024)
Episode 503

Ben Highmore, "Playgrounds: The Experimental Years" (Reaktion, 2024)

An interview with Ben Highmore

New Books in Urban Studies

December 27, 202445m 6s

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Show Notes

After World War II, a new kind of playground emerged in Northern Europe and North America. Rather than slides, swings, and roundabouts, these new playgrounds encouraged children to build shacks and invent their own entertainment. 

Playgrounds: The Experimental Years (Reaktion, 2024) tells the story of how waste grounds and bombsites were transformed into hives of activity by children and progressive educators. It shows how a belief in the imaginative capacity of children shaped a new kind of playground and how designers reimagined what playgrounds could be. Ben Highmore tells a compelling story about pioneers, designers, and charities--and above all--about the value of play.

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