exploration of an innovative Canadian approach to early childhood
landscape design - the 7Cs - by looking at context and connectivity.
This series of four articles examines the '7Cs' approach to the design and resourcing of early childhood landscapes, and showcases examples of how the theory works in practice.
A five-year research programme, led by Professor Susan Herrington at the University of British Columbia in 16 Vancouver settings, resulted in a guidance document aimed at landscape designers and setting managers. It provides a coherent and realistic set of design values that contribute to high-quality outdoor spaces for young children.
The first article (Nursery World, 7 April) introduced the 7Cs writing team and explained the research project that led to the guidance booklet. We also looked at the first C, 'character'. This article moves on to 'context' and 'connectivity'.
CONTEXT
What does it mean?
Context is a concept that can be overlooked in the redevelopment of early years outdoor spaces, yet it can play a significant part in creating a purposeful, vibrant atmosphere in a setting.
Ms Herrington, Chandra Lesmeister and the 7Cs team describe context as a reference to the 'small' world of the setting itself, the 'larger landscape' of the surrounding neighbourhood and, importantly, how these two interact.
Elements
Elements such as views in and out of the space are important, as is an understanding of the effect of environmental variables such as microclimate, weather and seasonal change.
- A space that is overexposed to sun, lacks shelter from rain or wind, or harbours puddles for just that little bit longer than is 'fun', becomes a space that adults and children alike will avoid occupying.
- Sufficient space for the number of children and adults occupying the outdoor area is critical. While even the tiniest of spaces can be rich with outdoor play opportunities, this ceases to be the case when too many children attempt to experience the space at the same time.
- A space dominated by fixed play equipment (and its inevitable rubberised 'fall zone') leaves little flexibility for children to shape the space to suit current fascinations; anxiety and aggression can be the consequence of competition for 'free' space to play.
- Play spaces for young children should speak to and of their community. High walls, opaque fencing and thick hedges combine to create an atmosphere of enclosure and sometimes even fear. Security is, of course, of paramount importance, but it is rarely necessary to block out all contact with the wider world - and yet that is a repeated reality of outdoor play spaces for young children.
Seeing and being seen helps foster and sustain bonds between settings and local communities. On visiting a Bolton children's centre, I was struck by the amount of time children (noticeably boys) spent observing the residential streets bordering the setting's semi-permeable fencing. Pausing in their circuits of the bike and trike track, they enjoyed peering through the fence, saying hello to passers-by. Much of their conversation was between themselves, and speculating about what might be happening beyond the fence ('My Gran lives on that street'; 'That dog lives next door to me'; 'That's the man from the sweet shop').
Inspire and nurture
Sense of place has long been understood to have an impact on children's well-being. Practitioners know that an enabling environment - the context for children's learning - can inspire, motivate, reinforce and nurture. Or it can have the opposite effect.
We go to great lengths to reflect children's interests and work indoors at the setting; wall displays, resource sets, books and the scale of the fixtures and fittings all combine to provide children with a sense of belonging and continuity. Temperature, ambient smells and lighting affect the comfort levels of children and adults. Where we aspire to continuous provision across a whole site (and, of course, we should aspire to this), these elements must be equally well thought out outdoors.
CONNECTIVITY
What does it mean?
Connectivity describes the elements that unify a space. Primarily, these are the entrances and exits, and the pathways and informal routes that help children circulate around the space.
The physical landscape aspects of connectivity dominate, but the 7Cs research team also emphasises the role of cognitive connectivity, stating that 'a hierarchy of pathways can orchestrate movement in a play space and helps children understand that space'.
Dominant pathways tend to be direct and facilitate smooth, easy movement, particularly for younger children and those less mobile. Subordinate pathways loop and curl, incorporate level changes and encourage children to explore and move at a pace that suits their current play focus.
Pathways need to reflect the 'desire' of children to explore and occupy a space. Those worn-out grassy patches between popular features in a garden? They have a name - 'desire lines'. And they clearly indicate that the consumers of a space disagree with its designer over the most convenient way to move around.
Circulation systems
In practice, we aim to provide several circulation systems between key features and there are any number of choices: hard paved pathways, stepping stones, multi-textured paths, mown grass routes, steps and gravel. These all allow children to make choices about how they transport themselves and their play resources to places they value. Interestingly, the 7Cs research team found that:
- 'play was characterised by aggressive tricycle riding and "channel surfing" play (flitting between activities) at centres that had no defined pathways. In one example, asphalt constituted 80 per cent of the ground plane, causing children without wheeled vehicles to retreat to the margins of the play space.'
Evidence from my own observations repeatedly confirms that where there is no defined space, wheeled toys will dominate. It is intriguing to note that the lack of defined pathways can have a similar effect.
Entrances and exits
Entrances and exits are crucial indicators of connectivity and two design interventions can have a significant impact on the choices children make about outdoor play.
Free-flow curtains are long, overlapping flaps of industrial-quality transparent PVC.
Invented for use in cold stores, on the external doors of early years settings they enable children to see into the play space and as an added bonus they prevent cold drafts and insects from entering the building even when the door is open. Free-flow curtains are inexpensive, high impact features.
- Entrance canopies provide shelter and shade and a 'neutral' transition space between indoors and outdoors. Often used as informal teaching or overflow areas, these 'surveillance' spaces provide an important connection between indoors and out. Handled carefully, canopied transition zones help build the confidence of timid children and provide peace for those seeking refuge from a busy garden.
Permeability
Permeability also contributes to the quality of a space's connectivity and its links to its context. Semi-permeable boundaries and barriers - where children can see through in places - help children feel part of a wider community.
Clever examples include stiles as well as standard gates, peephole shapes cut out of fencing or punched through brick walls and periscopes that allow surveillance of otherwise hidden places. Level changes, steps and strategically located play equipment or trees also provide children with opportunities to raise their eyes above their everyday 'altitude' and connect with the wider context around them.
INNOVATING OUTDOORS
Landscape architect Felicity Robinson of Play Learning Life works with schools and settings around the UK and notes that as pressure on development space increases, schools are seeking alternative ways to provide outdoor experiences - including regular trips to the park and creating rooftop play spaces.
While rooftops provide exciting places to play and are common in European cities, they bring with them their own set of complex design dilemmas - desiccation (where a prevailing wind robs moisture from planting), exposure, rapidly varying microclimates and the balance between safety and enclosure. A physical connection with the neighbouring streets is not possible, but the skyline views of the neighbourhood itself can be stunning.
A collaboration with Indigo Landscape Architects is exploring 'interactive' boundaries between early years and KS1 playgrounds at a London school.
Currently at the design stage, Felicity hopes the boundary will skew the standard perspective offered to young children by proposing high vantage points over the neighbouring playground and incorporating storage units, physical challenge opportunities and imaginative play potential.
CASE STUDY: CROWLANDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
At Crowlands Primary School in Romford, an overhaul of the Foundation Phase outdoor play space included detailed examinations of how children used the existing space and how they would like to play (note: 'how', not 'with what'). Staff undertook this research themselves, setting action research queries and taking several weeks to repeat and record observations using techniques from 'the Mosaic Approach' to prompt children's thoughts.
The outcomes from the action research projects, along with my own playspace observations and early discussions with staff about how they wanted to be able to use the outdoor space, combined to inform the design brief for the new space. Context and connectivity turned out to be key drivers of change.
World of the street
Part of the perimeter of the Foundation Phase play space bordered the busy main road through Romford. Impenetrable hedging ran along most of this length, meaning children had no view into the fascinating world of the street, and neighbours passing by couldn't see into the school grounds.
While researching options for this area, we acknowledged that 'permeability' was an important element for us - we wanted children to see the neighbourhood they were in, and feel connected to it.
Equally, as the writer and advocate for better childhoods Tim Gill has noted, the sight of children playing outdoors is a sign of a 'civilised society' and should be actively encouraged, so the brief included grubbing out short lengths of hedge, creating green 'peep holes' so that children could see out and the world could see into our micro-community.
Senior staff recognised that this part of the playground afforded a 'shop window' for the school and thus it had to present a positive, purposeful and exciting snapshot of life in the whole school. The area alongside the hedge was renamed Crowlands Town Centre, with the design reflecting the context beyond the school - a multi-textured roadway for wheely toys, with road markings, portable resources (street signs and cones, for example) and opportunities for 'real-life' play scenarios using loose parts the setting already owned, such as hollow wooden blocks.
A coherent experience
As is often the case when a play space is developed over a number of years and without an overriding vision, there was little in the way of connectivity at Crowlands. We remedied this by reviewing how children moved around the space, but also by considering the materials, scale and colour palette of the new and refurbished elements and using these to link features and routes.
We concentrated on creating a space that flowed from one area to the next and offered a coherent experience. We were able to do this because staff agreed to a convincing vision for outdoor play - one which the they can continue to use as they refine and shape their space to suit the changing needs of future cohorts of children; we'll look at the role of 'Change' in creating high-quality outdoor spaces is in the next 7Cs article.
MORE INFORMATION
- Listening to Young Children: the Mosaic Approach by Alison Clark and Peter Moss (2011). Offers practical techniques for listening to young children's viewpoints along with the theory behind why they work.
- Rethinking Childhood blog by Tim Gill, www.rethinkingchildhood.com, includes a post outlining his own 'Seven design principles'. These are quite different to the 7Cs, being less focused on design principles and more on the process of creating high-quality outdoor play spaces, but the two approaches are neatly complementary and this post offers a thought-provoking alternative view.
CONTEXT AND CONNECTIVITY: WHAT NEXT FOR YOUR SETTING?
- Download the 7Cs guide, www.wstcoast.org/playspaces/outsidecriteria/7Cs.pdf.
- Each article in this series is accompanied by a guidance note aimed at helping settings apply the 7Cs principles to their own circumstances. The guidance for this article focuses on helping you consider the context and connectivity of your outdoor space. Download the guidance note