Creation of a playground in the Turjaško naselje neighbourhood
The story of Turjaško playground is the story of the transformation of an overgrown and abandoned area in the city's largest neighborhood, which was built without common areas for children and youngsters. The children's need for a place to play freely found its way first by cleaning up the area and then by bringing in some play equipment. The neighborhood argued with the local authorities with a clear need for a safely accessible public green open space and after a few years they were heard.
Local
Slovenia
{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-11-25
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Municipality of Kočevje Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local) First name of representative: Tanja Last name of representative: Štajdohar Gender: Female Nationality: Slovenia Function: senior consultant for spatial planning Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Ljubljanska cesta 26 Town: Kocevje Postal code: 1330 Country: Slovenia Direct Tel:+38618938251 E-mail:tanja.stajdohar@kocevje.si Website:https://www.kocevje.si/
This little forest with a playground was an abandoned, unkept overgrown area used for dumping organic and other waste in the largest neighborhood in Kočevje with about 1000 inhabitants. The transformation started with their campaign to first clear the waste and bushes. Under the canopies, there was a very pleasant environment for socializing and play.
The neighborhood itself had then no common (green) areas. Therefore, in 2019, they started petitioning the local community (municipality) with the need to build a playground and a common green area. At that time, the city had several existing playgrounds in smaller neighborhoods or public parks, but none of them were close and safe enough for younger residents here.
Because of the work already invested in the grove, the municipality supported the neighborhood’s wish and first carried out an online survey for residents about the area and the need for change. Only in 2021, it was possible to organize normal workshops for the children, on the site. Their input on how they see the space and their desire for ways to play affected the design of the playground renovation, which took place in the autumn of 2021.
The children's wishes shaped a space that remained woodland, a kind of natural environment with lots of indigenous planting and wooden equipment. There are corners for different groups to meet and sit, plenty of space to rest, and areas for active motor play. The play areas reflect the children's desire for activities - climbing, hanging in nets under the canopies, and imaginative play on different elements. The high groundwater level is the main feature here, which led to the construction of a dry water retention basin that occasionally becomes a pond and a willow green tunnel that will pump out excess water and grow into a natural play object. By thickly piled gravel or wood chips and planting water-loving plants, a new environment with a positive social and environmental impact has been created.
Participation with kids
Preservation of existing woodland
Natural playground
Safe accessible public green area
Rest and play in the shade
The main objectives for achieving sustainability were to conserve existing vegetation and complete the range of typical species, increase flood safety, maintain user involvement in the maintenance, use natural materials and provide a mixture of spaces for different generations and types of users so it is not just a playground for kids.
These goals were met by designing with nature after thorough analyses, including the water as a benefit, not as a danger. The usual practice would be keeping the children away from the water with fences; instead, we build a shallow retention basin, so kids can play there, adults can educate them and some responsibility is being thought.
Using wood for all elements we chose the most sustainable material as the main element. The objects are not painted or polished, so natural wood characteristics are used as a protection for lasting. Another natural element we designed is also a willow tunnel, made from willow cuttings to absorb more groundwater and grow into a natural playground element.
With the creation of a new green public space, we planted as little lawn as possible, making the floor below the trees more forest–like with wood chips. The area is mowed by habitants.
Exemplary is analyzing the micro-location and its characteristics (also through the information of the people), and working with nature from that environment, to develop it with help of nature and not against it. All with the idea to create a place that is better for people and also helps nature in the city.
The design was focused on creating a transparent but playful space where parents can feel the closeness and safety of their children from a distance or even from the balcony of their apartment. The design is simple and based on the use of natural materials and the efficient use of space. It is the choice of materials and plant species that brings a sense of familiarity and simple beauty - the wood will become grey as it ages and this is something natural to us, and the wooden playground with its upright structures made of untreated trunks look as if we have thickened an existing grove.
The floor surface comes in three forms - gravel, wood chips and a lawn, most playful on the small hills, which mark the edges of the playground and turn the space inwards by adding some relief.
The playground is bounded from the watercourse and the car park and opens towards the residential buildings. Within the playground, there are three areas for parents to sit and socialize with little distance from the play areas for children to be safely independent. Hammocks under the canopy invite young and old alike. The illuminated walkways and main play points have made a significant contribution to the safety of the site.
Exemplary is the simple, humble design with subordination to all existing quality elements. Through the area, there was an existing shortcut for pedestrians through the bushes. We kept all the trees, examined the existing use of the space and enlarged the types of use that already were there: playing with climbing, swinging, with rocks and branches, sitting and hanging out under the trees. Also using the area only as a passage is preserved in a more playful way.
The aim was also to plan the renovation together with the residents of the neighborhood, according to the needs of the children and the adults' perception of the problems and functioning of this existing area. Their contribution was substantial, we did not impose more work and maintenance on them, nor problems with the design solutions or the facilities themselves. As a result, the space was immediately adopted and is fully visited in good weather. We heard it is the most popular playground in the town, so it obviously also attracts children from more distant locations.
Accessibility has improved and, in parallel, so has security. The existing path, which cut through the bushes before, has been formalized and hardened, surrounded on both sides by spaces for play, socializing and resting. The added planting and relief (hills) limit vehicular accessibility and create a barrier against the watercourse.
The needs of the users (children and parents) were heard in a way that raised the safety of this space, preserving the main character of the space, which was an urban grove, through the choice of materials of all the objects, the floor treatment and the inter-arrangements of the programme.
We also did not want to raise the maintenance with new installations, because of the understanding of how our space works and how the inhabitants of the city work (vandalism, apathy for common good and criticism od public space), so such renovations should always be carried out in a vandal-proof way and in such a way that the planting is not luxurious and elaborate, but all the more sustainable and self-sufficient, which is also the case with this renovation.
The impact on the residents of the neighborhood targeted by the renovation is most obvious, as this modern green space is now within their 60-260 meters’ reach. The stories from the city's residents about how much they enjoy visiting the playground because of the equipment and the features of the space itself are proof that the quality and aesthetics go beyond mere utilitarianism and that the contribution of the space is so great that it attracts a wider public. Prior to construction, we also removed waste from the site, which included asbestos roofing.
The residents who first started to improve the degraded space with their work actions, to create the natural playground in their own way, were involved initially with an online questionnaire (due to Covid constraints), then with a face-to-face workshop, on site, where we mostly talked to the children; during the drafting of the plan, we met again with the children and the parents and communicated regularly during the construction process. At the end of the construction, an opening ceremony was organized with pancakes, roasted chestnuts, tea and mulled wine for the neighborhood, which was very well attended and immediately showed, with the use and enthusiasm of the children, that we had successfully completed the project.
The impact of involving the residents from the beginning is certainly a greater connection with the space, zero resistance to new designs and a greater care for the space, which is part of and owned by the whole community as it is designed and made to suit them and their needs.
Local stakeholders involved in the process were residents, playground and public space operators, storm water managers and public water supply operators.
The involvement of residents has already been explained, and the operators are always involved in a way that we manage the space in a way that does not make it difficult for them to maintain, that we take their suggestions into account and that we use durable materials. The storm water operators were involved because of the proximity of the open channel, which also contains a fecal water inflow. It is still a degraded situation which we did not want to worsen but to improve. Therefore, the site was cleared of existing waste (where hazardous waste was also present) and the retention of rainwater and groundwater rising on the site was arranged.
The water supply operators were also involved due to the desire to install a drinking fountain next to the playground, which was not possible due to the deteriorated underground water supply infrastructure at the site and will therefore require future renovation.
Regional, national and European stakeholders were not involved as this was not necessary. However, the principles of placemaking and working with children for spatial change were taken into account, especially in the participation activities.
The involvement of stakeholders has resulted in a solution that complements instead of contradicting their work and the requirements of the particular public utilities they manage. This has resulted in a solution that improves several layers of public space and allows for the possibility of further improvements in the future.
The renovation was prepared with the participation of experts in the fields of stormwater retention and drainage, the design was issued by a landscape architect who combines skills in design, horticulture, nature conservation, sustainable development, and plants, we also used our knowledge of the sociology of the place due to vandalism and the visits of users who are not in favor of children's playgrounds and use them aggressively - this influenced the building of the foundations and the selection of the elements/objects for the play area. The knowledge of the play manufacturer to design the complex for the site and to adapt the details to the high underground water level and high vandalism during construction also contributed greatly. The planting contractor, the construction contractor and the supervisory team also contributed to certain details to ensure a lasting and good product.
It is the habit of landscape architects to think multi-disciplinarily and from multiple perspectives when designing open space - to understand all the different interests that interact in a space and to coordinate them. And this is the added value of open space projects, where different knowledge is listened to and taken into account as much as possible, and compromises are made before construction, i.e. during the design process. The cooperation has been informal, through phone calls, emails, site visits and coordination, and also formal in implementation, with the supervisor's notes on the record.
The added value of such work is the suitability of the project for multiple users, the avoidance of problems due to the consistency of meeting the conditions of all the planning authorities and, last but not least, the success due to the added value of designing and improving the place with the quality of the user experience in mind.
The project has permanently transformed a previously overgrown, contaminated, degraded and hard-to-pass-through area, which was intended as a playground in the neighbourhood's spatial plan. Residents have expressed loudly that immediate improvement is essential for normal living in the neighbourhood. The result is a high-quality, beautiful, sustainable shared green space.
Taking into account environmental conditions and degradation, the space has been cleaned, improved, and biodiversity has been increased by several water-loving species of trees and shrubs that did not grow here before and will contribute to water retention, increased transpiration of rainwater and stabilisation of the surface. Natural materials have been used for the equipment and the ground coverings, which do not introduce an unnatural appearance or undesirable influences into the environment (all walking surfaces are permeable and made of natural materials), and the playground elements and urban furniture are made of wood. After the first years, when the vegetation has grown, the impact on the microclimate of the site will also be evident, with reduced weather extremes, thus improving both the peripheral ecosystem and the living conditions in the neighbourhood.
During the preparation of the plan, the children and parents who initiated the landscaping were already involved and have so far maintained the area and used it as much as possible for socialising and playing. The redesign promoted social inclusion, as everyone was working towards a common goal, to renew the living environment for the whole community. The green area, which was already a community connector when it was untended, has been landscaped, but now people find it easier and more comfortable to gather around games, benches and tables, and hammocks in the shade of the canopy. With the tangible need for a quality park for all, the community now has a well-organised area where they can continue and expand their socialising.
The innovative approaches were certainly the pre-planning surveys, the delivery of all the workshops with the children, the community feedback on the renovation plan, and the design of the forest playground using water instead of removing it; from a safety point of view, we may be a little on the edge, but we have implemented a more ecosystemically and educationally impactful and important area, where we are landscaping together with nature and letting it take its course.
Given that the aim was to create a playground, what has emerged is much more than a collection of games, rather a playful park in a multi-user grove that has turned the limitations of its given environment to the advantage of its design and image.
The project methodology was typical of a landscape-architectural design approach:
1. obtaining site information, opinions and conditions from all spatial planning authorities (a process defined by law)
2. gathering information from users, first through an online survey (due to covid constraints), then through an on-site workshop
3. spatial analysis
4. preparation of a draft spatial design, discussion with spatial planners on how to address challenges and trade-offs for the good of the space and users
5. workshop with users to propose the layout and selected furnishings
6. construction, planting, landscaping, and opening ceremony for the neighborhood
Throughout the project, from the first workshop onwards, the playground project was also promoted through public communication.
The overall methodology is easily transferable. The main lessons we took away from the project were very sociological; the majority of the neighbourhood was publicly very critical before the decision of the renovation was taken. When we announced the redevelopment, and immediately invited residents to contribute, with ideas, expressing their perceived environmental problems and suggestions for improvement (not only environmentally, but also socially), they were very scarce with constructive suggestions. They were even more reluctant when we tried to involve them in the process of physical renovation and further maintenance, i.e. community management of the places they use.
The children were much more constructive, showing their views on the existing benefits of the space and expressing their wishes for ways to play, move around, socialize and feel safe and free.
The process itself can thus be translated into other contexts, of course with customized questions and readings of the space; but the process of involving the inhabitants is unique to each neighborhood, and it is impossible to predict the reactions and the way of work, since it is more and more necessary to ask and motivate people, to form a community and a common ground. But where there is a very vibrant community, it is easier to support and develop it.
The challenge of disconnected, apathetic communities who only criticize but are not willing to contribute their time in thought or action - the attempt to solve this was to involve the whole neighborhood from the very beginning of the process, empowering them to participate in the long term.
The challenge of immobile, obese and dependent children - the renovation offered different levels of difficulty in movement games and skill challenges in a safe environment to develop these skills.
The problem of common playgrounds that are fenced, plastic, only meet safety requirements and do not provide any motor, sensory, ecological and aesthetic value - we have designed an environment that prioritizes well-being and safety, but is still beautiful and naturally landscaped.
Urban stormwater and groundwater management - we have addressed this by creating spill areas, high permeable soils (using woodchips and gravel), and planting plants that will retain water, and grow out of that. The aim was to actually improve the environment and the public space, not just to satisfy the desire for a new playground but to intertwine the selection of plants and materials with solutions for living with nature (e.g. willow tunnel, dry detention pond). This is all in favor of addressing microclimatic change by actively adapting the urban environment for positive change - by keeping the green space free of paving and building, by planting additional trees, taking in all the functions of existing greenery and adding new ones.
