We need to stop concentrating our energies on hazard-proofing playgrounds, and worry instead about how our buildings and environments could be better suited to children, says Phineas Harper in this Opinion column.

How often have you seen a child scolded for attempting to climb up the ramp of a playground slide, rather than descending demurely down it" Take a second glance at the objects in most playgrounds and you'll clock the extent to which they are totally prescriptive, designed to be used in a single way: a roundabout for spinning on, a swing for swinging on.
Now consider your home and the many activities that take place within, say, your bed alone ? sleeping, reading, working, watching films, maybe yoga, maybe eating and, of course, sex. Play can be defined as freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated. It is a uniquely evolved feature of human behaviour and a critical part of social and cognitive development. As adults, our lives are enriched by finding multiple uses for single objects, but our children are constantly instructed to play in ways predetermined by adult designers.
Playgrounds are still modelled on Victorian notions of character-building gymnastic exertion
The word "play" intrinsically conjures up notions of imaginative freedom, but children are rarely permitted such liberty. Ironically they are often most controlled in playgrounds, which are still modelled on Victorian notions of character-building gymnastic exerti...