Build Create Play
The re- design and implementation of a new playground with and for hyper local families in Radford, Nottingham
With Primary, Nottingham City Council and the Toy Library
https://www.weareprimary.org/projects-archive/build-create-play
Photos: Charlotte Tupper, Ismail Khokon and Freddie Griffiths
Ronald Street Playground is a dilapidated and neglected playground opposite artist studios Primary in Radford
Through play, a series of family and school consultations enable the future of the playground and it’s surrounding area to be shaped by local residents who live directly around the park
From 2019 these sessions provided play provision through the school holidays, and helped us to understand how children currently use the playground and imagine ways it could be improved in the future
We recorded children’s and family’s ideas through art making and conversations. We constructed big ideas using tape, cardboard, fabric and foam noodles. And we discussed the smaller details through play-doh, craft kits and clay.
Children were given a hand held video camera to record their views on the playground and document how they were interacting in the space.
We worked with a local primary school, sharing the project and inviting children to discuss how they play in public spaces through art making.
The next steps of the project involve working with the City Council to share the ideas and information gathered to inform their funding bid for the new playground.
This has shifted some of the aims of the project to that of a campaign and protest with a focus on Spatial Justice.
The project has provided a space to bring families together; highlighting Ronald Street Playground as the bridge to building relationships with local residents, in a highly populated student area of the city
