Play Opportunities Through
Environmental Design
POpTED
Table of Contents
What is POpTED?
Play Opportunities Through Environmental Design (POpTED) is a multidisciplinary approach to embedding play into city planning and design. It was named by Hadon Westerby and developed by Damien while working with Sport Waikato, Hamilton City Council, and Invercargill City Council as their subject matter expert for play.
POpTED has been crafted to be embedded within all levels of municipal documentation, from district plans and technical regulations to strategies and policies, to management plans and design guides.
The model can therefore be applied across project timelines, from planning to detailed design, and professional boundaries, from local government to landscape architecture.
Ultimately, POpTED is a tool to take play beyond the playground* into every corner of the city.
*NOTE: POpTED is not an excuse to ignore the value of or discontinue the planning and design of child-specific spaces like playgrounds.
Background
Traditionally, the provision of play (especially for children) has been limited to specific zones of participation, such as parks, playgrounds, and sports facilities. But these are not the only places people play, nor always the preferred places.
There is a growing awareness of the need to better provide the time, space, and permission for play. Ultimately with the intent to adopt the child’s view of the world and turn our cities into urban playgrounds where play is an everywhere activity.
There are many examples of playful and playable designs beyond the playground in cities throughout the world. Unfortunately, there is a lack of permanency in these approaches as the concepts they draw on and the goals they are seeking are not embedded into the processes of local government.
With this in mind, local government, planners, developers, designers, and their partners need a tool at their disposal to understand how play can be enabled in non-traditional locations through a range of projects that wouldn’t have considered play before. POpTED is that tool.
At the start of the play development process, POpTED draws attention to the child’s right to play. Throughout the process, it provides important people-centered considerations to maximise urban design function and participation. At the end of the process, POpTED is the measuring stick to see what has been achieved for play.
The POpTED Principles
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Multipurpose Design
Items and areas are adaptable and responsive to changing needs by encouraging informal play through multi-functional design.
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Permission
Play is encouraged by providing implicit or explicit invitations to explore via intentional design choices and wayfinding.
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Journey
Design choices increase the overall network of easily accessible and playable spaces and encourage playful active travel.
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Context
Play opportunities are relevant to their environment and offer seamless integration across settings.
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People
The play needs of as many users as appropriate are considered and social inclusivity between groups is promoted.
Multipurpose Design
Description
Items and areas are adaptable and responsive to changing needs by encouraging informal play through multi-functional design.
Cities should not just be functional, but also adaptable and invite opportunities for informal play. This approach can be achieved by designing multifunctional spaces and assets that can be used for several activities depending on need and desire. This could include street furniture and landscaping arranged to enable play, designed using materials that can withstand regular interactive use or other novel layouts and features applied to traditional infrastructure.
POpTED is based on this principle, with the other four principles about maximising participation. By adding play as one of the possible functions of things we plan for, design, and build, we can make more things multipurpose. This kind of design is not exclusively play and doesn’t prevent the core functionality from remaining.
Unfortunately, play is not always palatable to everyone. By considering play as only one of several potential functions of the kinds of things we already design and build in our cities, from suburbs down to individual pieces of street furniture, we can find ways to meet children’s needs and make a fun and playable city with less chance of offending various city stakeholders, including other council staff, elected members, developers, businesses, and members of the public.
The Status Quo
Wasted Space: We’re failing to design for multipurpose use, resulting in underutilised spaces, leading to inefficient land use.
Limited Community Interaction: Single-purpose design is failing to attract diverse user groups, limiting social interaction and community-building opportunities.
Inflexibility: Without multipurpose design, cities are struggling to meet residents' evolving needs, missing opportunities to improve quality of life and address emerging challenges.
"Why sit when you can play?" - an example of a multipurpose playable bench by The Urban Conga.
Using POpTED
Resource Efficiency: Designing urban spaces with multipurpose functionality ensures efficient use of resources, reducing the need for multiple dedicated spaces and optimizing land utilisation.
Community Engagement: Multi-functional spaces encourage community engagement and interaction, fostering a sense of ownership and inclusivity that strengthens community bonds.
Adaptability to Change: Multipurpose design allows cities to adapt to evolving community needs without extensive redevelopment, enhancing the city's resilience and responsiveness.
Image by Lea Kuttkat.
Small
Tables with inlaid game boards.
Examples
Medium
Intentional arrangement of street furniture that could be used for parkour or as an obstacle course.
Large
An entire sculpture garden where everything is purposely interactive.
Permission
Description
Play is encouraged by providing implicit or explicit invitations to explore via intentional design choices and wayfinding.
One of the issues we face when we have a desire or allowance for a space to be multipurpose, social norms and conflicting interpretations can undermine that intent. That means we need to design permission to play into our work.
The permission to play should be given by making implicit and/or explicit invitations through design choices. Implicit examples could include obvious and inviting landscape features that promote playful interaction. Explicit examples could include signage that informs users of the area’s playable nature or wayfinding that invites users to choose ways to engage at their discretion.
The Status Quo
Exclusivity: Without clear invitations or permissions, some individuals and groups feel excluded or unwelcome in public spaces, contributing to feelings of social isolation and reduced community cohesion. Even worse is when play is expressively forbidden.
Children's Rights Neglected: Lack of guidance is depriving children of their right to play in a safe and inclusive environment. Without clear boundaries and information, children are unable to fully exercise their right to engage in activities without unnecessary risks, limiting their opportunities for safe and enjoyable play.
Underutilised Spaces: A consequence of the lack of clear permission to play is underutilised spaces as people are hesitant to play due to uncertainty about whether they are the appropriate end user or fear of getting in trouble.
These stepping stones in Sydney Park provide implicit play permission (Image by Paul Patterson and the City of Sydney).
Using POpTED
Inclusivity: Explicit or implicit invitations to play create an inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels welcome to explore and engage with the urban environment.
Encouraging Exploration: Permission-based design encourages people to explore their surroundings, promoting physical activity, curiosity, and discovery, which are essential for personal growth and well-being.
Guidance: Explicit permissions, like signage, provide guidance and information, reducing the risk of accidents or misunderstandings in public spaces.
Image by Lea Kuttkat.
Small
A park sign with hands that are designed and inviting to be touched.
Examples
Medium
Obvious games designed into our signalised crossings or footpaths.
Large
Suburbs using the Dutch living street (Woonerf) model ensuring the permission to dwell and play in the street is clear.
Journey
Description
Design choices increase the overall network of easily accessible and playable spaces and encourage playful active travel.
Destination spaces like homes, work, and shops, and leisure spaces like playgrounds, parks, and sports facilities already exist, some attention then needs to be given to how the journey between these spaces can be more fun and better connected.
The proximity of the area to other playable areas in the vicinity should be considered to grow the size and proximity of the play network, beyond and between specific play spaces. Design choices should support active travel connectivity between existing play spaces. This can be achieved by creating walking and cycling paths that connect different play areas, as well as designing parks and public spaces that have multiple points of entry and exit. These routes should not only increase access (and efficiency of movement in some cases) but also be made more fun.
The Status Quo
No Play Network: Play areas are scattered without well-defined connections, reducing the overall accessibility of play opportunities for many residents.
Missed Health Benefits: Without connected spaces, city opportunities are being missed to promote active lifestyles and reduce health issues associated with sedentary behaviour and car dependency.
Neglected Opportunities: Existing play areas receive the focus for renewals and upgrades, while efforts to create new play options and improve connectivity to encourage wider use is neglected.
Image by Chris Davidson.
These ‘rollers’ beside a shared path in Hamilton, New Zealand are an example of play embedded into the journey.
Using POpTED
Filling Network Gaps: Connecting play areas strategically addresses gaps within the play network, ensuring that pathways and routes facilitate interactions between different spaces.
Active Travel: Encouraging active travel between play spaces supports physical health by promoting walking and cycling, reducing reliance on cars, and decreasing traffic congestion and pollution.
Independence: Creating playable connections between play areas makes our in-between areas playful and child-focused. We can expect to see more children and young out in these areas when they’ve been designed this way.
Small
Designing play into our journeys could involve creating fun alternate routes to our bike paths.
Examples
Medium
Linear pocket parks that lead to schools, like the school streets movement.
Large
An off-road trail system that connects the city’s greenspaces.
Context
Description
Play opportunities are relevant to their environment and offer seamless integration across settings.
Consider the place-based context of our play designs. The type of play offering matters and should change based on its proximity to schools, shops, universities, retirement villages, museums, etc. This ensures that play opportunities are relevant to the local community.
As play can occur in a variety of settings, including indoor and outdoor, private, and public spaces, the integration of these spaces can create a seamless and engaging environment as people transition between them, promoting a culture of play.
The Status Quo
Underutilisation: Many play opportunities are generic and do not align with the local context leading to underutilised space, wasted resources, and missed opportunities for community engagement and well-being.
Loss of Identity: Generic play spaces do not reflect the unique identity of the local context, contributing to a loss of local neighbourhood identity, and diminishing appeal and character.
Missed Educational Opportunities: Play opportunities are not integrated effectively with nearby institutions, such as schools or universities, missing opportunities for valuable, place-based learning experiences and collaborations between play spaces and educational programmes.
The Dutch ‘Woonerf’, or living street, is an example of context (families) built into the subdivision design. Image by Streetfilms.
Using POpTED
Relevance to Local Context: Integration ensures that play opportunities are relevant to the specific needs and characteristics of the local community, enhancing the city's identity and creating a stronger sense of place that resonates with residents.
Play Proximity: POpTED reminds us to make play relevant to the community, which means we bring play to where people are.
Community Ownership: Integrated play spaces encourage community ownership and responsibility, fostering a sense of pride and care among residents.
Image by Lea Kuttkat.
Small
A 3D interactive Minecraft area located outside a video game store.
Examples
Medium
An urban street beside a university that is designed as mixed use for regular closure for city and university events.
Large
A whole transit-oriented development built around the needs of families.
People
Description
The play needs of as many users as appropriate are considered and social inclusivity between groups is promoted.
The last principle is all about the user demographics. Who might use the space and what are their needs? Things like age, sex, culture, and physical abilities influence play needs and desires. We’re also talking about the important stories that need to be told in our designs so people feel welcome, different play types to suit different preferences (such as more challenging play for youth and young adults), or supporting users and their caregivers with amenities like shade, water, and toilets so everyone can stay for longer. Ultimately, the recommendation here is to consider as many users as appropriate, but not necessarily everyone.
POpTED promotes community cohesion, intergenerational play, and reduced segregation of opportunities. However, care must be taken not to undermine an inclusive approach by lack of thoughtfulness. For example, if, in our attempt to provide for all ages, we create a playable space that becomes very attractive to adults, we may marginalise children and their play experience. In play, children should always be the priority because their voice is the most absent from city planning and design and they have very little ability to exercise control over what opportunities they can access.
The Status Quo
Exclusion and Discrimination: Lack of inclusive play practices is causing exclusion and marginalisation of certain groups, perpetuating social inequalities and reinforcing stereotypes.
Segregated Opportunities: Many play opportunities are segregated, with separate spaces or activities for different groups, resulting in limited interaction between diverse communities and missed chances to promote social inclusivity and unity.
Fragmented Communities: Individuals and groups whose play appetites aren’t fostered feel disconnected from the larger community, contributing to social isolation, disengagement, and sometimes vandalism of play spaces themselves.
A play example that has been designed with various people in mind is this Adaptive Obstacle Course by Caitlin Pontrella and The Movement Creative.
Using POpTED
Social Equity: Ensures that play spaces are as accessible and welcoming as necessary to enable participation and a sense of belonging for a wide range of users.
Diverse Perspectives: The diverse needs and preferences of residents have been considered, enriching the urban environment with a variety of perspectives, activities, and experiences.
Community Building: Interaction is encouraged between different groups, fostering social cohesion and a sense of community that transcends differences.
Image by Chris Davidson.
Small
In an area where mums and babies are the prominent public transport users a musical bus shelter brings fun while waiting.
Examples
Medium
An intergenerational community garden with raised beds enabling older persons and people in wheelchairs to access the beds, while providing sensory activities for children.
Large
An entire park and plaza are designed to tell the history of the land pre-colonisation, and all of the storytelling elements have interactive components and prompts.
Summary
Key Points
Children’s voices are often underrepresented in Local Government. To set their futures up for success, we must embed their needs—especially play—into our processes from start to finish.
Traditional play, recreation, and sports facilities are a great starting point, but they cannot be the endpoint for play in our cities.
Many inspiring examples of play-friendly, multipurpose designs already exist worldwide, many of which also address challenges covered by the other four POpTED principles.
While these innovative approaches are valuable case studies and even best practices, they are too infrequently utilised. POpTED consolidates these ideas into a practical model.
Maintaining the status quo, despite knowing what’s possible and necessary, does not showcase our knowledge and creativity nor meet public needs.
In tough economic times, we must find clever solutions so we can prioritise wellbeing without compromises.
A growing number of resources demonstrate how to make cities more playable and child-friendly, yet few directly influence planning in a way that embeds play across all local government layers.
Our district plans and technical regulations must specifically mention play to take children’s rights and wellbeing seriously.
Municipal departments often work in silos, and collaborating with landscape architects, suppliers, and contractors adds complexity. POpTED bridges these gaps, spanning project stages and professional boundaries.
POpTED equips us within planning and design to ensure our cities meet play needs now and in the future.
POpTED can be applied to any municipal or private development. While enhancing traditional infrastructure and public spaces with play, it also applies to playground design.
Special Thanks
Although most of the work on POpTED can be accredited to Damien, it would not have been possible without the contributions and support of the following people and organisations:
Version 1 - Hadon Westerby (Sport Waikato), Hamilton City Council
Version 2 - Cohort 1 of the Local Play Advocate Workforce (Sport NZ), Fleur Martin-Austin and Ali Pulham (ARUP)
Version 3 - Invercargill City Council, Lea Kuttkat (landscape architecture student from Munich Technical University), and Aynsley Cisaria (Boffa Miskell)
Version 4 - Presentations and feedback received at the New Zealand Planning Institute conference and the Green Pavlova (Recreation Aotearoa) conference
Applying POpTED
Policy and Planning: Adopting POpTED as a design approach can be one way for local governments to meet community wellbeing goals (such as the four wellbeings in New Zealand’s Local Government Act). To achieve this, it should be incorporated into municipal documentation including within policies, objectives, or assessment criteria within district plans, and referenced in technical regulations for development. Any policies or strategies focused on or including play and urban design should also reference POpTED.
Project Management and Design: The POpTED principles can be applied at any stage of design and can support project managers, architects, landscape architects, and designers to ensure these important play topics have been addressed. It will not always be possible or perhaps even necessary to incorporate all POpTED principles to achieve a great play opportunity, but consideration must be given to them at the beginning of a project, regularly addressed throughout, and justifications given if they cannot be achieved.
Project Reflection Questions
Multipurpose Design
Are there multifunctional spaces and/or assets incorporated into the design?
Have design choices considered how elements can invite opportunities for informal play?
Have opportunities been identified to make the project adaptable and responsive to changing play needs?
Permission
Are there design elements that explicitly or implicitly grant permission for people to engage in play?
Is there signage or wayfinding that communicates the project's playful nature?
Have design choices ensured that exploration and curiosity are encouraged?
Journey
Is the project well-connected to other playable spaces in the surrounding area?
Have walking and cycling paths been incorporated to promote active travel and connectivity between play areas?
Are there multiple points of entry and exit to encourage different routes and more enjoyable movement?
Context
Have we considered how the play opportunities fit within the local context of the project?
Does the design prioritise relevance to the unique characteristics and needs of the local community?
Are there elements that seamlessly integrate play opportunities across different settings (e.g. indoors/outdoors, public/private, etc.) within the project?
People
Have we assessed the design for accessibility and relevance to people of all appropriate ages, abilities, and backgrounds?
Is there a focus on reflecting relevant culture(s) and stories in the project's play opportunities?
Have we considered 'challenge by choice' elements that allow individuals to engage in self-directed play at their comfort level?
Usage Rights
Play Opportunities Through Environmental Design (POpTED) by Dr Damien Puddle is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 
Under this Creative Commons license you can share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and apply POpTED and its principles to your work, with the following stipulations:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Non Commercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
No Derivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No Additional Restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Under ‘Fair dealing’ in the Copyright Act you can also use POpTED as part of research or private study, criticism or review, or reporting current events.
Get in Touch
For support in understanding POpTED, help with integrating it into municipal planning, design, and measurement, and to collaborate on improving the model, please use the form below.