There is a growing recognition of the role of colonisation in perpetuating a singular worldview that propagates racial and spatial injustices in the design of the built environment. As an academic and founder of a social enterprise that advocates for play4all, decolonisation was an area I had little knowledge of when as a PhD student The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL in 2020 or before founding Dream Networks C.I.C in 2016. However, over time decolonisation has become my critical friend and helped me to understand why the design of play spaces need to be more plural (diverse) and inclusive.
Decolonising play recognises that Eurocentric aesthetics, materialities and polices have dominated how play spaces have been produced and designed. In doing so it has oppressed and in some cases alienated indigenous and Afro-descendent play ideologies and cultures.
A Eurocentric or western world view has created a homogeneous image of an African child playing footfall barefoot, without celebrating the richness the land around them affords to play or the diversity of play that exists interact with each other and their environment.
Instead, international development organisations as post-colonial powers, have promoted a singular view of a poor African, Indian, Native American or Aborigine child playing in the dirt. They have devalued their play, their sensory experiences, and culture. Moreover, they have sought to provide Western remedies to the problems they perceived, many of which have been unsustainable and further advanced inequities.
Decolonising play may feel complex and interwoven, and well it is.
However, as a community member, parent, property developer, policy maker, architect, urban designer, and more you can contribute towards decolonising play by tacking injustice and making space for more plural ways of seeing, producing and designing play spaces.
Below I have shared some background and 5 strategies to help you to decolonise play and produce a more equitable world of play.
Five strategies towards Decolonising Play
So let's start by what I mean by decolonising play and plurality.
1) To decolonise play is to consider what systems of oppression, racism, patriarchy (Hirmer et al., 2017) inform
What play spaces constitute
How they are provided
How they are produced
How they are regulated
2) Decolonising play recentres children’s ways of playing and local culture in how play spaces are designed. It recognises that knowledge of the design of play should be obtained in a plural manner, and not based on a Western or Eurocentric understanding of the world, (Santos,2017). It includes more diverse, plural ways of seeing how play spaces are formed. Pluralism values and includes individuals and groups that have previously been oppressed by the singular worldview that colonisation advances and capitalism promotes today. For example, indigenous communities, afro-descendent, and a wider range of previously colonised groups.
It makes space for the local people and environment, as human and non-human actors to participate in the way play spaces are designed and produced.
3) Decolonising play involves the voices, opinions, and culture of previously colonised communities in all the 4 areas mentioned above. Decolonising play spaces breaks down power structures, decentralises play production, and recentres local cultures and colonial ways of producing play. It addresses the spatial, economic, and racial injustices that have prevented local people from shaping their play spaces and makes way for more plural, inclusive, and diverse play spaces.
4) Decolonial play theory acknowledges the role colonial powers have had in perpetuating inequalities in play through advancing colonial social-political systems, cultures, and play theory based on the experiences of colonisers (Trammell, 2022).
It seeks to understand and elevate how indigenous, afro-descendent and other previosult colonised communities cultivate play. It preserves their cultural identities, while also making space for new ways of thinking in terms of how play is produced. In doing so, it seeks to dismantle systems of oppression and make way for alternative epistemologies(Khan et al., 2022).
Why do we need to decolonise play spaces?
Colonial legacies and power structures, still influence how play spaces are designed and provided in countries that have been colonised, as well as in marginalised Afro-descendant and indigenous communities across the world. They have contributed towards the marketisation of play spaces, spatial factors that prevent children from freely playing in everyday spaces, the reduction in common land, and a reliance on government policy to produce spaces for play.
Colonialism promoted state power and individual financial wealth building over the community, communing, and empathy for others, which are three key components of play. To some degree, the aims of Colonialism are interwoven into the drivers for neoliberalism and capitalism, which has contributed to the privatisation of land and the reduction in spaces for children to play freely. In urban areas within Kenya, a biodiverse country in Africa, both rich in culture and language, playgrounds are increasingly marketed. The previous English colony adopted growth plans that deprioritised common land, and spaces for simply playing and prioritised economic development. In addition, by embodying top-down governance that mirrored its English coloniser, the previous communal culture was suppressed, leaving community members reliant on policies they had little role in shaping.
Why does this matter?
These decisions have had a snowball effect on how play spaces are produced. For example, the decision to privatise previously communal land in the Athi River has significantly reduced the public land available. The appropriation of public land has had a similar effect on reducing the land available in the UK and limiting safe spaces to play. However, in Kenya, the decision to focus on economic growth and trade post-independence has also contributed to the privatisation of playgrounds and the exclusion of the majority of children who cannot afford to attend. It has propagated racial discrimination within the limited public spaces that are available. Lastly, it has left children to play in plots of land owned by businesses and individuals, spaces they are not allowed to play in. Empty plots of land, underutilised, waiting for development, spaces that could have been activated as spaces for play.
Play has left its roots in intrinsic motivation, belonging, and joy, and instead has been attributed to productivity values. However, the root of play is not productivity. Yes, Play does support physical and mental development. Yes, children learn through play (BRAC, 2019)and play helps children to manage trauma, self-regulate, and grow in confidence. Play helps people to socially integrate, build social capital, and heal.
These are great benefits of play(Lester & Russell, 2010; Whitebread et al., 2012), and many of them are indicators of economic development and productivity. However, when the decision whether to invest in play is based on these economic measures and productivity, we are shifting away from the essence of play. Play that is diverse, non-singular and joyful.
We exclude the aspects of play that are less valued within our increasingly capitalist or neo-liberal societies and tend to rely on western ideologies of what play should constitute.
So what can we do as designers, planners, and developers?
To decolonise play we need to shift away from Eurocentric views of a playground. For centuries, both children and adults have been making spaces for play, outside of formal playgrounds. They have played without designated play equipment, they have swung without the need of a metal frame, and they have sung and danced with friends, knowing that within the unison of their chorus, they were playing. Play is defined by an intrinsic motivation to experience joy and not by play equipment. Play equipment and features facilitate play, they do not define what play constitutes. Play is diverse, unbounded, and plural.
To decolonise play, ensure children and local communities have an active role in producing play spaces.
For us at Dream Networks we do this co-designing with them, amplifying nature as a non-human actors, designing to engage with senses, and working with powerful businesses, schools, and community groups to make children’s play spaces a reality. In doing so we hope to amplify and celebrate more plural worlds of play.
You can check out some examples of the work we do at Dream Networks here www.dreamnetworks.co.uk
Lobby Government to create policies that decentralises the design of play spaces and transfer power to local communities, with lived experiences in their environment to create spaces of play(Gill, 2024).
However, we do not have rely on governments, remember community members can activate spaces for play through collaboration with others and an appreciation of playful elements they already have around them.
Check out 5 strategies below and my linked in page for posts on each strategy that included case studies that demonstrate how these strategies work in action.
Bibliography
BRAC. (2019). Humanitarian Play Labs: Helping Rohingya children heal and learn through play. http://www.brac.net/latest-news/item/1213-humanitarian-play-labs-helping-rohingya-children-heal-and-learn-through-play
Gill, T. (2024). Three pathways towards child-friendly cities. Cities4Children. https://cities4children.org/blog/three-pathways-towards-child-friendly-cities/
Hirmer, M., Istratii, R., & Lim, I. (2017). THE PRAXIS OF DECOLONISATION. The SOAS Journal of Postgraduate Research, 11, 10–15.
Khan, M., Ruszczyk, H. A., Rahman, M. F., & Huq, S. (2022). Epistemological freedom: activating co-learning and co-production to decolonise knowledge production. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 31(3), 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-03-2021-0070
Lester, S., & Russell, W. (2010). Children’s Right to Play: An Examination of the Importance of Play in the Lives of Children (Issue January 2010). www.greenink.co.uk
Santos, Boaventura de Sousa. Epistemologies of the South : Justice against Epistemicide. Boulder :Paradigm Publishers, 2014
Trammell, A. (2022). Decolonizing play. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 39(3), 239–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2022.2080844
Whitebread, D., Marisol Basilio, W., Kuvalja, M., & Verma, M. (2012). The Importance of Play. http://www.importanceofplay.eu/IMG/pdf/dr_david_whitebread_-_the_importance_of_play.pdf
How to Decolonise Play by Liberating Plural Worlds
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