Central Park's Adventure-Style Playgrounds (Paperback)

Marie Warsh

ISBN 10: 0807172014 / ISBN 13: 9780807172018

Published by Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 2019

About this Item

Paperback. In New York's Central Park, some of the playgrounds constructed as part of the midcentury experimental ""playground revolution"" still remain. In Central Park's Adventure-Style Playgrounds, Marie Warsh tells the engrossing history of these playscapes built in the 1960s and 1970s, exploring their connections to the art, recreational design, urbanism, grassroots movements, and child-development theories of the period. She further details the Central Park Conservancy's efforts decades later to preserve and renew these playgrounds.So-called adventure-style playgrounds featured interconnected forms including pyramids, mounds, and steps, and basic materials such as water and sand, encouraging new levels of creativity and interaction. By the end of the 1970s, ten of Central Park's twenty-two existing playgrounds, formerly paved, sterile, standard-equipment-filled lots dating to the 1930s, had been transformed according to the new design ideals. With time, deterioration prompted concerns about safety, and much of the equipment was removed. However, community interest led the Central Park Conservancy to update and preserve the playgrounds that remained in the park.Building on successful aspects of the playgrounds, designers incorporated new technologies, materials, and equipment that reflect contemporary ideas about children's play and approaches to urban park management. They also developed strategies to better integrate them into the landscapes of the park. Today, Central Park's adventure-style playgrounds represent significant works of renewed modern landscape architecture as well as models for new thinking about playground design. In New York's Central Park, some of the playgrounds constructed as part of the midcentury experimental playground revolution still remain. Marie Warsh tells the history of these playscapes built in the 1960s and 70s, exploring their connections to the art, recreational design, urbanism, and child-development theories of the period. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780807172018

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Central Park's Adventure-Style Playgrounds (Paperback)
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807172014
• ISBN 13: 9780807172018
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

In New York’s Central Park, some of the playgrounds constructed as part of the midcentury experimental “playground revolution” still remain. In Central Park's Adventure-Style Playgrounds, Marie Warsh tells the engrossing history of these playscapes built in the 1960s and 1970s, exploring their connections to the art, recreational design, urbanism, grassroots movements, and child-development theories of the period. She further details the Central Park Conservancy’s efforts decades later to preserve and renew these playgrounds.

So-called adventure-style playgrounds featured interconnected forms including pyramids, mounds, and steps, and basic materials such as water and sand, encouraging new levels of creativity and interaction. By the end of the 1970s, ten of Central Park’s twenty-two existing playgrounds―formerly paved, sterile, standard-equipment-filled lots dating to the 1930s―had been transformed according to the new design ideals. With time, deterioration prompted concerns about safety, and much of the equipment was removed. However, community interest led the Central Park Conservancy to update and preserve the playgrounds that remained in the park.

Building on successful aspects of the playgrounds, designers incorporated new technologies, materials, and equipment that reflect contemporary ideas about children’s play and approaches to urban park management. They also developed strategies to better integrate them into the landscapes of the park. Today, Central Park’s adventure-style playgrounds represent significant works of renewed modern landscape architecture as well as models for new thinking about playground design.

About the Author

Marie Warsh is the historian for the Central Park Conservancy.

Renowned for his design of urban play environments, plazas, malls, and parks, M. Paul Friedberg, FASLA, also founded the urban landscape architecture program at City University of New York.