Playground as Politics

The Origins of Playgrounds

The Merriam-Webster definition for playground is as follows, “a piece of land used for and usually equipped with facilities for recreation especially by children.” For the purposes of the present discussion, structured games that take place on specific fields, such as baseball, will be considered separate from playgrounds. When discussing the playground, it is important to think about the relationship the structure has with the natural environment in which it is embedded. The playground can be piece of ground that contains permanent structures such as a swing set and seesaw, or it can be an open space or natural environment for children to run free and construct their own activities. These outdoor spaces have typically been enclosed and are often next to school buildings or in public parks with the hope to productively engage children. Throughout history, playground designs have developed, each equipped with different structures and materials to enhance various forms of playground play. The emergence of what we today recognize as playgrounds came largely as a response to changing population trends in the United States toward the end of the 19th century. Whereas only 10 million Americans lived in cities in 1870, the number had climbed to 54 million by 1920 according to U.S. census data. With the growing concentration of people rising more quickly than the cities' ability to update infrastructure, the living conditions of working class people began to deteriorate. Some policy makers and private citizens became worried about the affect that cramped and unclean living conditions would have on poor urban children, as well [Page 544]as the effect that thousands of poor children playing out on the streets would have on business. This first concern was addressed by a number of different organizations, but the second and less noble concern was a contributing factor for the mass expansion of playgrounds throughout the country.

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