Play biotopes put into practice Creating synergies between children and nature

Sammanfattning

1. Global urbanisation reduces greenery and species richness (biodiversity) and lim-its opportunities for most children to gain experiences of nature. Disconnectingchildren from nature has implications for their play, health, well-being, and com-prehension of ecological systems, as well as their engagement with the environ-ment as adults.

2. In the competition for land for built infrastructure, the preservation of remaininggreenery is essential to fulfill multiple functions. One way forward is to look forsynergies between conservation of biodiversity and children's need for outdoorenvironments of high quality.

3. In this paper, we synthesize the existing literature on how to understand the manyinterfaces between children and nature, suggesting perspectives and tools for themanagement and design of nature-based play settings. We frame this transdis-ciplinary perspective using ‘play biotopes‘, as a conceptual framework in whichboth children's play and species are taken into account.

4. We exemplify how the play biotope framework can be put into practice as part of(1) an overall approach to landscapes made more useful to both children and otherspecies, (2) affordances for play in nature such as branches from dead wood, and(3) a design process of a playground by giving input to nature-based solutions.

5. A conclusion is that play biotopes as a conceptual framework within nature-basedsolutions can help increase play and biodiversity by promoting structures forclimbing, making huts and biotopes otherwise overlooked in urban planning.

Nyckelord

children's play; environmental psychology; health promotion; landscape architecture; landscape ecology; nature conservation; nature-based solution; outdoor education

Publicerad i

People and Nature
2024, volym: 6, nummer: 5, sidor: 2046-2059

SLU författare

• Hedblom, Marcus

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Mårtensson, Fredrika

  • Institutionen för människa och samhälle, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Ode Sang, Åsa

  • Institutionen för landskapsarkitektur, planering och förvaltning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Wiström, Björn

  • Institutionen för landskapsarkitektur, planering och förvaltning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Litsmark, Anna

  • Lunds Universitet

UKÄ forskningsämne

Landskapsarkitektur

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10708

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/131283