Key Takeaways
- Play is a fundamental part of human nature. It is not only for children. Older adults across the globe already play in diverse ways.
- Practitioners and decision-makers must reconsider social infrastructure to include play for older adults.
- ‘Play’ produces measurable benefits that directly address health, social and cognitive risks of later life.
Summary
- Reframing Aging:
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- Conversations around aging usually focus on health issues, healthcare costs, caregiving burdens, dementia, depression, etc. However, there is much more to later life than challenges.
- Social constructions of age and play limit acceptable older adult play to stoic, passive, safe, and largely sedentary ‘leisure activities’.
- Dr Hartt’s research shows that older adults across the globe already play in diverse ways, but the design, policy and research needed to amplify such activities are missing.
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- Benefits of incorporating ‘play’ in the city’s social and physical fabric:
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- Play improves physical fitness, mental well-being, and community relations.
- It decreases the risks of heart disease and diabetes.
- For older adults, ‘play’ is not just an activity. It is an expression of self and freedom.
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- Design principles:
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- Practical, low-cost, and spatial design tactics can make public and private environments more inviting for later-life play.
- Design thresholds and edges between uses. People value the in-between spaces for watching activities and spontaneous interactions.
- Play should be equitable. Removing structural barriers for low-income and underrepresented groups needs targeted research and programming.
- Mainstreaming play into planning, health, and aging policy requires cross-sector coalitions.
- Examples of playful interventions include:
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- Purposeful, whimsical landmarks in the public realm, such as playful bollards, public pianos, book benches, big stair slides;
- Expanding the ideas of playfulness to private space and making boundaries permeable;
- Private / front-yard activation.
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How can Cities apply these learnings?
- Integrate play into age-friendly policy and health plans.
- Require play considerations in public-realm design guidelines, health promotion strategies and community grants.
- Install a pop-up playful feature for days/weeks. Pair with place activation and basic monitoring (observations, short intercept surveys). Use before-after results for scaling ideas.
- Launch inclusive programming and outreach in low-income neighbourhoods to identify structural barriers and opportunities for equitable play.
Ideas for further reading
- Aging Playfully: Reimagining the Possibilities of Age-Friendly Community Planning – Book by Maxwell D. Hartt
- Global Aging Playfully Society. https://globalagingplayfullysociety.com/
Ideas for further research
- Measure older adults’ physical activity, cognitive function, social connectedness and healthcare utilization pre/post implementation of ‘playful urban interventions’ in select neighbourhoods.
- Measure benefits vs. adverse events related to ‘risky play’ and refine safety-risk tradeoffs for older adults.