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Plan for Play in public

spaces, 2030 horizon in

Barcelona

In collaboration with:

Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 3

2. PROCESS OF DRAFTING THE CROSS-CUTTING, PARTICIPATORY PLAN ........................................ 6

3. FRAMEWORKS AND REASONS .................................................................................................. 11

3.1 FRAMEwORKS: LEGISLATION, COMMITMENTS, PLANS AND STRATEGIES ............................................................ 11

3.2 REASONS: WHY AN OUTDOOR PLAY PLAN FOR THE CITY OF BARCELONA? ............................................... 15

4. PARADIGM SHIFT: 3 LAYERS AND 7 CRITERIA FOR A PLAYABLE CITY ........................................ 21

4.1 THE COLLECTIVE BENEFITS OF PLAY ..................................................................................................................... 21

4.2 THE 3 LAYERS FOR RETHINKING AND PROMOTING MORE AND BETTER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES IN PUBLIC SPACES 22

4.3 QUALITY CRITERIA FOR MOVING TOWARDS A PLAYABLE CITY ............................................................................. 24

5. DIAGNOSIS OF THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAY IN BARCELONA’S PUBLIC SPACES .................... 29

5.1 THE PLAYFUL INFRASTRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................... 30

5.2 PLAYFUL USES OF PUBLIC SPACE ........................................................................................................................... 51

5.3 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 59

6. 2030 HORIZON AND TARGETS: BARCELONA A PLAYABLE CITY ................................................. 62

6.1 HORIZON 2030 ........................................................................................................................ 62

6.2 Key milestones of the 2030 Plan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..64

7. OPERATIONAL CONTENTS OF THE PLAN ................................................................................... 68

7.1 STRATEGIC LINES .................................................................................................................................................. 68

7.2 GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE PLAY PLAN ............................................................................................................. 69

7.3 PUBLIC SPACE PLAY PLAN ACTIONS ...................................................................................................................... 70

7.4 LEAD PROJECTS .................................................................................................................................................... 92

7.5 ESTIMATED BUDGET FOR THE LEAD PROJECTS AND ACHIEVING THE TARGETS .................................................... 122

8. GOVERNANCE, MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF THE PLAN .............................................. 125

8.1 GOVERNANCE ................................................................................................................................................... 125

8.2 MONITORING AND EVALUATION ....................................................................................................................... 128

9. SCHEDULE .............................................................................................................................. 129

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 134

1. Introduction

The Barcelona Public Space Play Plan Horizon 2030 is the city’s first such plan, a pioneering

roadmap that puts outdoor play and physical activity among the key polices for creating a

more habitable city and improving the well-being, health and community life of its residents,

starting with children and teenagers.

As envisaged, and on the foundations laid by the Barcelona plays things right Strategy:

towards a public space play policy (presented at the Full Council meeting in February 2018),

this Plan has been drawn up in a year with a cross-cutting, participatory approach. Its

purpose is to improve and diversify the opportunities for play and physical activity in public

spaces because of its ample benefits for the development and well-being of children and

adolescents, as well as the health and social life of all citizens. The Plan is also based on the

premise that an urban environment that is more suitable for growing up and spending

childhood in is a better city for everyone.

Drafting the Play Plan, coordinated by the Barcelona Institute of Childhood and Adolescence,

has involved 400 people, including council staff, experts, social entities and ordinary citizens,

both children and adults. The initial diagnoses have produced new data and knowledge and

2030 has been agreed as the target date for achieving the playable city model, with 3 core

strategies, 14 objectives and 10 measurable targets. Criteria based on international

benchmarks have been established for Barcelona, in order to start making the changes

operational, and over 60 specific actions have been identified and planned involving many

city services and players. A start has already been made on some of these in certain

neighbourhoods which can be scaled up to a city level and others are set to get under way.

Obviously, the Public Space Plan is not starting from nothing. It catalyses lines of action by

giving shape to various aspects of other municipal plans and strategies, such as those on

greenery and sustainability, the climate, urban planning for gender and everyday life,

universal accessibility or sports facilities, as well as childhood, adolescence and ageing.

Moreover, the Plan contributes to achieving the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development

Goals for making cities safer, more inclusive and more resilient by adapting public spaces so

they are more suited to social groups with less presence there. In other words, the Plan adds

a playability layer to a city model that is committed to greening, sustainability and climate

change mitigation; to calming city streets and reclaiming them as places for people to meet

in their leisure time; to being an educating city, with healthy neighbourhoods and more

inclusive environments that encompass age, gender, background and functional diversity.

The Public Space Play Plan is the result of answering some important questions for improving

the everyday life of city residents: what does Barcelona’s urban environment offer for

outdoor play and physical activity, thinking about children first of all but also adolescents,

young adults, grown-ups and elderly people? What interventions could be promoted and

boosted to encourage this playful and physical activity alongside other citizen uses of public

spaces? What aspects of the urban model do we need to rethink if we want to diversify and

improve the playful infrastructure, going beyond the standard playgrounds and play areas?

The Play Plan has enabled the city to start answering these questions, which are relevant to

the City Council’s commitment and obligation to make progress on the rights of children and

adolescents, bearing in mind the Child-Friendly City seal of recognition it received in 2008,

renewed in 2018. Henceforth, Barcelona City Council will be held accountable – under the

requirements that the United Nations imposes on public authorities by means of the

Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comments on the right to play – for

protecting, respecting and promoting the human right of children and adolescents to play

and leisure (recognised under Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child). In fact,

4 out of 10 Barcelona residents have a direct interest in the well-being of children and

adolescents in the city (because 15% are minors and 23% are adults who live with and look

after them). Moreover, we know that people’s experiences in this stage of their lives

determine the paths they take in the future, as well as social cohesion in the city. Therefore,

the more creative, diverse, free, inclusive and shared play they take part in when they are

young, the greater will be their independence, resilience, social skills and physical and mental

health later in life.

Given this approach and commitment, Barcelona City Council has taken a qualitative step

towards a public space play policy that is based on a comprehensive, cross-cutting view and

combines urban planning actions (ranging from micro-interventions and tactical planning to

major urban development projects) and social actions (from touring animation initiatives to

new public service concepts) in order to move forward as a playable city and a city that

people play in. Thus, the three core strategies that the Plan is organised around aim to

improve and diversify playful infrastructure in the city’s urban model, as well as stimulate

outdoor playful and physical activity among everyone from 0 to 99 by reversing the play

deficit and, finally, reinforce the social importance we attach to play.

We wish to emphasise the starting point of the Plan is to promote the exercise of the right of

children and adolescents to play. However, it is also conceived to ensure young people find

more attractive possibilities for doing physical and playful activity and getting together in

public spaces, and so adults and elderly people regain a taste for play and sharing time and

places for intergenerational play. Promoting active, everyday playful habits which give rise to

social life and help to transform the social setting is an opportunity for reversing social

problems such as sedentary lifestyles, child obesity, screen addiction, a lack of autonomy or

independence, individualisation and social isolation, or the lack of contact with nature and

green spaces, the high level of environmental pollution and road accident rates.

Taking into account a city which is lived and built from a perspective of play, and the benefits

of this, enables us to focus on often forgotten everyday needs such as playing, doing sport

and getting together in public spaces. At the same time, it helps to drive specific

improvements in the urban environment, making it greener, safer and calmer so it creates

more and better opportunities for play which, in turn, generates social life on the streets. In

this task of rethinking opportunities for outdoor play, the Plan provides new useful categories

for going beyond playgrounds and play areas and including in the planning and analysis the

city, based on the concepts of playful space, playful ecosystems and playful infrastructure. It

also considers school playgrounds and school surroundings as part of this playful

infrastructure in the city.

This Plan highlights the vital, human, everyday need to play and its capacity for transforming

the city through the sum of many small actions that impact on the well-being, health and

social life of its residents. And it does so by responding to the demands of children and

adolescents themselves, as well as those of educational leisure associations and the

educational innovation and renovation sector which, historically, have asserted the

significance of play and the importance of having time and suitable places for it. Likewise,

residents’ associations have also linked demands for dignifying public spaces to the need for

places to play and meet socially in the neighbourhoods.

Finally, it is envisaged that the City Council will work on this through its various service teams

and district plans and actions in order to promote and develop this Play Plan to the

maximum. However, decisive progress towards a more playablecity and one where people

play requires co-responsibility. Apart from the local authority, it calls on other players to

develop affinities and change their habits and priorities, ranging from social bodies to

commercial enterprises, as well as educational and health professionals, even the general

public, and especially adults.

2. Process of drafting the cross-cutting,

participatory plan

The Public Space Plan is based on and is one of the main measures envisaged in the

Barcelona plays things right Strategy, presented at the Full City Council meeting in February

2018. This is a joint initiative of two City Council areas – Ecology, Urban Planning and

Mobility, and Social Rights – working together on it, listening to social entities and the public

– children, adolescents and grown-ups – in 24 face-to-face working sessions involving over

400 people between March and December 2018. The Plan is based on an agreed time-frame

and criteria for the paradigm shift while also taking technical feasibility into account.

The Barcelona Institute for Children and Adolescents, as the City Council’s instrumental body,

was the one responsible for politically and technically coordinating the process, as well as

preparing the draft, where a cross-departmental approach and public participation were key

in providing the knowledge to ensure the rigour and quality of the contents.

A participatory process: political, technical and public spheres

The Plan’s premise is the need to rethink the places and opportunities for play that the city

offers all its citizens, especially children and adolescents, for diverse and inclusive play and

physical activity outdoors, thus helping to improve community life. This reflection was the

result of participation designed to gather the various views in the city on outdoor play and

physical activity. The process was enriched by the experience of various players, so the

resulting plan takes into account the different needs expressed on outdoor play.

The participatory process for drawing up the Public Space Play Plan was designed according

to the guidelines set out in the new Citizen Participation Regulation (October 2017). As laid

down in the regulation, a participatory process monitoring committee was set up to monitor

the drafting of the Plan comprising six of the city’s social entities.

The work carried out encompasses the political, technical and public spheres.

Political sphere:

In the political sphere a reference forum was set up comprising the political heads of the

government team (council executive) jointly led by two deputy mayor’s offices and including

the commissioners of the main local policies involved:

•

Deputy Mayor’s Office for Social Rights

•

Deputy Mayor's Office for Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility

•

Commissioner for Ecology

•

Commissioner for Education, Childhood and Youth

•

Commissioner for Health and Functional Diversity

•

Commissioner for Sport

Two presentation and working sessions were also held with representatives of the municipal

political groups with City Council representation in order to present the time-frame

(horizon), process and contents of the Plan.

Technical sphere:

The technical work of municipal staff was done in five sessions covering two dimensions: one

with heads of the different City Council areas and institutes involved and the other with the

district technical representatives.



Initial exploratory sessions: with two objectives: 1) to present the conceptual

framework of the Play Plan and 2) to start identifying the key factors to be taken into

account. Some 70 service, area and district staff took part in the two sessions held.

Technical evaluation sessions: these sessions, involving some 60 professionals, were

held with the aim of measuring the feasibility and interest of the various action proposals

gradually shaping the Plan’s operational content.

Session with the Municipal Institute for Persons with Disabilities and the Citizen

Agreement for an Inclusive Barcelona’s Independent Living and Accessibility

Network.

Session with educators from Municipal Children’s Leisure and Play Centres.

Session with city district technical managers.

Public sphere:

The process in the public sphere sought the participation of entities involved in the city’s

participatory bodies, and social organisations, businesses and reference persons linked to the

play sphere and the various uses of public space, as well as individual citizens, both children

and adults. Half the working sessions of the entire process were in this sphere (11 out of 24).

Initial exploratory session: Involving some 30 representatives of social entities in the city

and experts, with two objectives: 1) to present the conceptual framework of the Play

Plan and 2) to start identifying the key factors to be taken into account.

Sessions for constructing the desired time-frame to 2030: The aspects to be considered

served as the starting point for constructing the time-frame and doing it jointly in four

working sessions involving the various consultative bodies in the city most closely linked

to the issues concerned, with some 50 people taking part.

Session with the Municipal Council for Social Welfare and the Citizen Agreement

for an Inclusive Barcelona

Session with the Municipal Sports Council

Session with the Municipal Schools' Council

Session with the Barcelona Youth Council

Face-to-face theme-based sessions: with the aim of gathering ideas and possible actions,

five sessions, each with a specific theme and open to the public, were organised. They

attracted around 100 people with a variety of profiles and links to the subject area, which

enriched the creative process and reflection on play in public spaces.

Barcelona Decidim Platform: a two-month window gave anyone interested the chance

to submit their suggestions to the digital participation platform but the level of

contributions was very low.

Children’s feedback: in order to get the benefit of children’s expertise on the lead

projects, a working session was held with some 40 fifth- and sixth-year primary school

students at Escola Pegaso. Also included were the reflections contributed by 200 children

aged 10 to 14 from five schools and an educational recreation centre over the course of

the Parc Central de Nou Barris and Parc de la Pegaso co-creation process.

A cross-cutting process: three municipal areas and the districts

The complexity and scope of the Public Space Play Plan’s objectives required an integrated,

cross-cutting working logic throughout the municipal organisation that incorporated a range

of perspectives, both those of deputy mayor’s offices as well as departments and municipal

institutes. Thus the process was led in a cross-cutting, cross-departmental fashion, on a

political as well as a technical level. The political figures and bodies mentioned above and

linked to the policies on green spaces, urban planning and mobility, social rights, health,

functional diversity, sport, education and youth. On the technical side, a cross-sectoral

committee was set up to draft the Public Space Play Plan comprising services from three

areas – Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility, Social Rights, and Citizens' Rights, Participation

and Transparency – and from the districts, all coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for

Children and Adolescents.

The Cross-sectoral Committee for Drafting the Public Space Play Plan, comprising 35 people

had 5 meetings and served as the monitoring and technical validation forum for the process

proposals and Plan contents, besides working on identifying players and actions to bear in

mind and exploring synergies to give the Plan consistency and scope. This cross-cutting work

made it possible to bring a range of expertise and perspectives together and to start from

experiences already under way in the districts, which the Play Plan highlights, redirects and

gives new meanings to or scales up to a city level.

Public presentation at the Play and City Conference

The Play and City Conference, held at the Barcelona Contemporary Culture Centre on 6

February 2019, opened a discussion on the social importance of play. It was also where the

Public Space Play Plan was publicly presented to 400 people from various spheres and

organisations: educators, architects, landscapers, companies making games and play

equipment for playgrounds and play areas, and municipal technical staff from Barcelona and

other cities.

Cross-cutting political guidance

Deputy Mayor’s Office for Social Rights

Deputy Mayor's Office for Ecology, Urban

Planning and Mobility Commissioner for

Ecology

Commissioner for Education, Childhood and

Youth Commissioner for Health and

Functional Diversity Commissioner for Sport

Cross-cutting Play Plan drafting committee

Dir. Urban Model, Dir. Environment and Urban Services, Dir. Conservation and Biodiversity, Dept. Urban

Prospective, Dir. Communication and Participation Ecology, Dir. Communication Social Rights, Dir. Children,

Youth and Elderly, Dir Community Action, Dir. Citizens' Rights and Diversity, Dir. Active Democracy, Districts,

Dept. Gender Mainstreaming, municipal institutes: IMPJ, IBE, IMPD, IMSS, IMEB, ASPB, BR, IIAB

Public Space Play Plan participatory process monitoring committee

Formed by people from social entities

Outline of the Public Space Play Plan drafting process

Play and City Conference Presentation of the Public Space Play

Plan

6 February 2019

Municipal areas and

institutes

Districts

Social entities and

experts

Municipal Social

Welfare Council and

Citizen Agreement

Municipal Sports

Council

Municipal Schools'

Council

Barcelona Youth Council

5 F2F theme-based

sessions

Sessions with

children

Decidim

Sant Andreu Neighbourhood Council

monitoring session Indústria Gardens

information session

Districts

Professional children's

play centre

Accessibility and

Independent

Living Network

Municipal political

groups

Barcelona

plays things

right

Strategy

February

2018

Sessions for

jointly

constructing the

desired scenario

consultative

and

participatory

bodies June-

September

Public

evaluation

sessions

October-

November 2018

Technical

evaluation

sessions

September-

December

2018

Initial

exploratory

sessions

March-May

2018

Political

evaluation

sessions

July

2018

January

2019

3. Frameworks and reasons

3.1 Frameworks: legislation, commitment,

plans and strategies

The Public Space Play Plan - Horizon 2030 arose from the need to establish a new vision of

play in the city and interacts with a number of earlier frameworks, which are realised in one

way or another or which it helps to catalyse. The various frameworks it intersects with,

whether legislation, commitments, plans or strategies, Catalan or international, are explained

below.

3.1.1

Starting point Barcelona Plays Things Right Strategy

The Barcelona Plays Things Right Strategy: towards a public space play policy was presented

as a government measure at the Full City Council meeting on 23 February 2018. Its purpose is

to compile actions that have already been, or are scheduled to be implemented before the

end of the term of office in six lines of action. These include producing a Barcelona Public

Space Play Plan as an instrument for identifying the core strategies and objectives, and for

planning actions in the short, medium and long term to move towards a play policy in public

spaces.

3.1.2

International agenda and legislative framework

The Play Plan is part of and takes into account both international and Catalan agendas and

benchmark legislation.

UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals

As regards the political agenda, in the international sphere the Plan contributes towards

progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by the

international community at the United Nations. There are 17 SDGs and the Play Plan works

on Goal 11, which is for cities and human settlements to be inclusive, safe, resilient and

sustainable and, especially, on the target: “By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive

and accessible, green and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons

and persons with disabilities” (11.7). And, in relation to actions linked to schools working for

the goal of “building and adapting school facilities so they meet the needs of children and

persons with disabilities, take into account gender issues, and offer safe, non-violent,

inclusive and effective learning environments for everyone” (Quality education 4.7a).

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

With regard to international treaties, this Plan is a specific application of the Convention on

the Rights of the Child, Article 31: “...the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in

play and playful activities appropriate to [their] age and to participate freely in cultural life

and the arts” (Art. 31.1). Likewise, all levels of government in States Parties “shall respect

and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall

encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic,

recreationa and leisure activity” (Art. 31.2).

The Plan’s focus and specifications are strongly inspired by and take into account the

interpretation and recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its

General Comment N. 17 (2013) which spells out the conditions for the gradual fulfilment of

the right to play and leisure embodied in Article 31.

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

With regard to children’s participation in cultural life, recreational and leisure activities and

sport, Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes

that public authorities “must ensure that children with disabilities have equal access with

other children to participation in play, recreation and leisure and sports activities, including

those activities in the school system”.

European Charter for Safeguarding Human Rights in the City

The Plan also respects the European Charter for Safeguarding Human Rights in the City,

which establishes that “local authorities shall guarantee quality leisure spaces for all children

without discrimination” (Art XXI.2).and also that “administrations have to encourage physical

and sports activities as a healthy habit” (Article 58.4).

Catalan Rights and Opportunities in Childhood and Adolescence Act

The paradigm shift with regard to citizenship and the human rights of minors, which the CRC

(Convention on the Rights of the Child) represented, is reflected in the Catalan Rights and

Opportunities in Childhood and Adolescence Act (14/2010 – LDOIA). This establishes that

“children and adolescents have a right to move around in, enjoy and socially develop in their

own urban environments”, that “ the public authorities must enable the development and

autonomy of children and adolescents in a safe environment”, and that “municipal urban

planning must plan and shape public spaces taking into account the perspective and needs of

children and adolescents” (Art. 55).

As regards areas for recreation and play, the LDOIA envisages that “urban planning must

provide for suitable public playful areas and spaces so children and adolescents can enjoy

play and leisure there (...), taking into account the diversity of play and leisure needs in the

child and adolescent age groups. When designing and deciding the layout of these spaces,

local councils must listen to the opinion and enable the active participation of children and

adolescents”(Art. 56).

Finally, it should be pointed out that the LDOIA specifies that “there has to be a guarantee

that children and adolescents who have a physical, psychological or sensory disability can

access public playful areas and spaces and enjoy them, in accordance with current legislation

on accessibility and the removal of architectural barriers.” (Art. 56).

3.1.3

City commitments, plans and strategies interlinked with

the Play Plan: a plan that catalyses

The cross-cutting nature of the Plan means it is essential to bear in mind strategies, plans and

commitments on various matters. At the same time, the Plan itself envisages actions that

reinforce and contribute to achieving two city strategies, five plans, two city and two district

government measures, and a citizen commitment that are specified below:

Barcelona Strategy for Inclusion and Reducing Social Inequalities 2017-2027

This is a working framework shared between the City Council and social entities for reducing

social inequalities and there is a link with the Play Plan in “promoting and ensuring equal,

universal access to leisure, cultural, sports and play activities, especially among children and

teenagers (Goal 2.6). Also with regard to the goal of “ensuring the city is a living space by

offering public spaces and facilities with diverse uses that encourage relations with others, as

well as positive community life and intergenerational and intercultural relations” (Goal 3.6).

Citizen Commitment to Sustainability 2012-2022

This social agreement is spelt out in Barcelona’s Agenda 21 with 10 goals and the Play Plan

contributes specifically to Goal 2: “Public space and mobility: from the street for traffic to the

street for living in” and the specific action line that proposes reclaiming the streets for

people, generating a welcoming, traffic-calmed space, encouraging a culture of shared public

space and promoting and prioritising life on the streets as places for people to meet, spend

time together and play.

Barcelona Green and Biodiversity Plan 2012-2020

This defines the challenges, goals and actions with regard to conserving green spaces and

biodiversity and how the city’s population is aware of them, enjoys them and takes care of

them. Its five goals includes Strategic Line 9: “fostering green spaces as places for health and

enjoyment as well as promoting citizen involvement in their creation and in the conservation

of biodiversity”. Among others, this line of action includes two of the main ones that the

Public Space Play Plan responds to: “Improve and diversify children’s play areas by involving

schools, associations and the community” (9.3) and “Increase and improve the number of

playful and health facilities offered in parks” (9.2).

Climate Plan 2018-2030

This plan compiles a series of action to achieve three goals: reduce CO2 emissions by 45%,

increase urban green spaces by 1.6 km2 and reduce water consumption to less than 100

litres per inhabitant per day. It also responds to the commitment the city assumed by signing

the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. Its Action Line 3 on preventing

warming includes actions such as prioritising cooling actions, generating more shaded areas

or creating water gardens (accessible fountains, lakes, swimming pools, etc.) that are

included in the Play Plan.

Child and Citizen Focus 2017-2020. Plan for growing up and living childhood and

adolescence in Barcelona

This is the framework for planning and mainstreaming the main policies that affect children

and adolescents in Barcelona. “Participation in social and community life. Participation

rights” includes Challenge 9, which says “Provide more and better opportunities for playful

and inclusive play in public spaces”. It also includes the playable city measure.

Adolescence and Youth Plan 2017-2021

This plan seeks to guarantee all the rights of young people, making adolescents and young

people the protagonists of their own lives and players in social change. The main goals that

coalesce with the Play Plan are to: Promote diversity in physical and sports activity with

regard to both the types of activity and profiles of young people (Strategic Line 3.2).

Facilitate and legitimise the use of public space by young people, and foster the co-design

and co-management of public spaces and facilities with the participation of young people

(Strategic Line 4.3).

Guarantee and Improve the Influence of Grassroot Educational Associations in the City.

One of the main aims of this government measure (May 2018) is to facilitate the presence in

and use of public spaces by educational associations, and specifically includes as one of it

actions “to incorporate steps promoted by and called for by leisure education entities in the

Public Space Play Plan, such as facilitating playful use of streets, squares and parks close to

their premises” (Action 20).

Demographic Change and Ageing Strategy: a city for every cycle of life 2018-2030

This government measure is designed to address the demographic change that is affecting

every sphere of life and people’s life cycles and explicitly refers to the Play Plan: “Foster an

intergenerational perspective in children’s play in the city. Monitor the Public Space Play Plan

to ensure the intergenerational perspective is considered when designing play spaces in the

city.

Universal Accessibility Plan 2018-2026

The goal of this Plan is to put people first and ensure they can fully exercise their rights,

irrespective of whether they have some kind of disability or functional diversity. Universal

accessibility and universal design make it possible for everyone to live in the urban setting in

equal conditions. The Plan provides for a line of analysis and proposals for public spaces, with

a specific analysis of accessibility to play areas and green spaces and, more specifically, to

carrying out a diagnosis of accessibility to public spaces in the city: streets, parks, children’s

play parks and beaches (Goal 10).

Gender Justice Plan 2016-2020

This is a tool for promoting equality between men and women and its goals that need

highlighting include combating gender roles that affect women’s health; highlighting women

and promoting their participation in sport; making progress on introducing a co-education

model in the city’s schools; driving a city model that responds to the needs and experiences

of everyday life, improving the perception of public safety and empowering women in public

spaces.

Urban Planning with a Gender Perspective

This government measure includes a package of measures for integrating a gender

perspective into all urban planning policies to achieve a fairer, more equal, safer city without

barriers. With actions that include, for example, reviewing with a gender perspective the

items that make up all the urban furniture installed in public spaces (benches, lamps, bins

etc.) as well as their layout in the places where they are located, bearing in mind people’s

needs, depending on the stage of the life cycle they are in. (Action 3.1.4)

Gràcia Squares, Public and Community Space

This Gràcia district measure includes action to liven up the squares with playful-educational

activities and the swap the leather ball for a foam ball programme in collaboration with local

retailers, inspiring actions that can be scaled up to a city level.

Let’s Fill School Surroundings with Life

This Eixample district measure is a starting point for encouraging action required across the

city, because it proposes improving school surroundings so they become habitable places,

community spaces, an extension of the school and a place for play, greenery, and

neighbourhood life and history.

3.2 Reasons: Why an outdoor play plan for the

city of Barcelona?

Four main reasons for the Public Space Play Plan

In the context we have just outlined, the City Council has decided to construct policies

around play in public spaces for four main reasons:

3.2.1

Because children have a right to play and leisure

“Rest, play and leisure are just as important to a child’s development as nutrition,

housing, health care and education”

(General Comment No. 17 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child)

As has been pointed out in the previous section, both international human rights law in the

Convention on the Rights of the Child and Catalan law in the LDOIA recognise the importance

of play in the development of children and adolescents. And this is the reason why it has

been recognised as a specific human right of this life stage since 1998. “Play has to be

understood as an essential element in the growth and maturity of children and adolescents.

(...) has to help psychomotor development at each developmental stage (LDOIA Art. 58.2)

The right to play is often referred to as one of the forgotten rights of childhood, as it is

undervalued in relation to others, despite the fact that the UN Committee on the Rights of

the Child (GC No. 17/2013) reminds us of the importance of play in achieving the maximum

development of children and adolescents. It also point out that “when there is investment in

leisure, it usually goes to organised activities, but it is just as important to create spaces and

times so children can devote themselves to exercising their right to spontaneous play, leisure

and creativity, as well as promoting social attitudes that support and foster these activities.”

Likewise, it warns of situations of poverty or inadequate living standards that can deprive

children or condition the exercise of this right, so it needs to be taken into account in housing

policies and policies on access to public spaces for children with fewer opportunities for play

and leisure at home.

As regards identifying the obstacles to moving forward on the right to play, the United

Nations identifies the following nine aspects that pose social challenges around the world

and need to be borne in mind:

Lack of awareness of the importance

of the right to play and leisure time.

Unsuitable play environments, due to

their insecurity.

Resistance to children using public

space due to the growing

commercialisation of public space and

low tolerance of their presence.

Lack of diverse community spaces for

play and leisure for all ages.

Imbalance between risk management and safety.

Lack of access to nature.

Demands of academic success.

Excessively structured and programmed timetables.

Disregard for the right to play in child development programmes.

In order to promote the progressive exercise of the right to play, this United Nations

Committee reminds us of the four governments obligations, including local governments, to:

Plan ideal environments, facilities and play and leisure spaces, bearing in mind the

best interest of the child



Availability of parks, community centres, sports facilities and safe inclusive play

areas accessible to all children and adolescents.



Creation of a safe living environment where children can play freely, designing

areas that give priority to people who are playing, walking or riding a bike.



Access to green areas, big open spaces and nature for play and leisure, with safe,

affordable and accessible transport.



Implementation of traffic-related measures such as speed limits, pollution levels,

crossings near schools and so on to guarantee the right of children to play in their

community without danger.

Pay special attention to girls, children in situations of poverty, boys and girls with a

disability or in a minority.

Offer children and adolescents opportunities to participate and be heard so their

opinions are taken into account in drawing up policies and strategies linked to play

and leisure, creating parks and designing environments suitable for children. As well

as moving forward on making children co-responsible.

Compile data, assess and carry out research on the range of public space uses in the

everyday lives of children and adolescents in order to show how public authorities

promote their rights as a whole.

Guaranteeing the right to play means looking out for children’s well-being, an important

issue for city residents because 4 out of 10 Barcelona residents have a direct interest in it,

being children or adolescents themselves (15% of the population are aged 0 to 17) or

because they live with and look after them (23% are adults with minors in their charge).

Finally, children and adolescents themselves are concerned about the possibilities of playing

in public spaces. This is shown through various participatory processes held in the city at

different times and in different formats over many years. Examples include the Barcelona

Children’s Public Hearing in 2001, the Barcelona`s Children Speak programme, Laia’s Speech

at the St Eulalia festival and their participation in Child Focus. In all of these, they have

expressed concerns and proposed improvements so the city might have an ideal and

attractive environment for play. They have called for environmental improvements, including

less traffic and more green spaces, as well as creating more pleasant and nicer

neighbourhoods with wide streets and pavements or installing attractive play features

different from the usual ones, plus more time to play and more possibilities to take part in

designing the city.

3.2.2

Because play and physical activity improve

everyone’s well-being and physical and mental

health

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we

stop playing”

G.B. Shaw.

Playing outdoors implies active play and doing a physical activity which stimulate motor skills

and abilities that are essential for good physical development and also, implicitly, healthy

psychological development, from both a personal and a social point of view. However,

although play responds to a vital need in children to explore their environment and

themselves (their body, their emotions and their limits), the situation in Barcelona is that 1

out of 4 children never play in the park or on the street, with a significant gender differential.

Moreover, increasing obesity and overweight, which affect 3 out of 10 adolescents and are

caused by screen addiction and sedentary lifestyles, among other factors, are growing

problems in today’s society. The physical inactivity indexes in the city are very high and there

are worse evaluations of the health of teenagers living in poor neighbourhoods compared to

high-income neighbourhoods (FRESC-ASPB 2016). Thus, outdoor play is not just a response to

children’s playful needs, it is also key for dealing with the challenges posed to physical health,

with special emphasis on children living in low-income neighbourhoods and young and older

girls.

Another aspect that needs highlighting is the emotional well-being that play brings, especially

when it is done with autonomy, in contact with nature and the outdoors, experimenting and

learning from managing risks and controlling emotions. In that sense, not playing or not

having the possibility to play different games affects skills such as emotional self-control or

facing and taking decisions, resilience and personal autonomy. The play deficit, especially as

regards free play, shared play and play with challenges, has negative consequences for well-

being and mental health, no small matter if we take into account that 1 out of 10 adolescents

in the city are highly likely to have mental health problems (FRESC_ASPB 2016). As the

Barcelona Mental Health Plan notes (in its priority area of childhood and adolescence), good

mental health during childhood helps the processes of learning, interpersonal and family

relationships, achieving goals and the capacity to face life’s difficulties, including the

transitions to adolescence and adult life.

In addition, the lack of autonomy in childhood due to overprotective adults means less

capacity for taking decisions, settling disputes and managing risks. Children themselves

provide data in that respect when they say they are not really satisfied with the autonomy

they have at home, at school or on the streets (EBSIB‐IIAB 2017). This loss of autonomy is

linked to the limited leeway that adults give children to enable them to develop free, self-

regulated play by themselves, thus restricting vital learning opportunities.

What we call motor play in childhood becomes physical activity in adolescence, youth and

adulthood. In Barcelona, 30% of the adult population do no physical activity, either outdoors

or in sports facilities (EBSIB‐IIAB 2018), especially people on low incomes, women, over-65s

and foreign nationals. As in the case of children, sedentary lifestyles are a reality among

adults too and that has implications in terms of worse health and quality of life. The benefits

that physical activity brings throughout our entire life cycle are clear but we must not forget

that play also brings well-being and pleasure at any age. Playing allows adults to enjoy the

moment and live in the present in the same way children do. It also means losing the fear of

looking ridiculous, putting forgotten skills to the test or trying them out again, recalling and

recovering games shared in childhood.

A playful attitude and a taste for play in young people, adults and elderly people helps them

to tackle everyday situations in a positive spirit, which is so necessary for good mental health.

Moreover, shared play develops links and affinities in a unique way in both adults and

children. The value of shared play lies in the fact that it is a unique activity for sharing, one of

the best forms of communication, a very special way of letting children know they are very

important, because we share with them what they like and need most: to play.

3.2.3

Because play brings people together and community

life is enriched

“Children playing in the street is a good indicator of the quality of community life”

Jan Gehl, urbanist

Barcelona is a densely populated city where public space is scarce and too much is given over

to motor vehicles (estimates put the figure at 60% of the urban environment), so what is left

for pedestrians and citizen uses is limited and much less. These days, the social meeting

function that streets have always had has very much been lost, having to a large extent and

almost exclusively been replaced by the travel function, for both adults and children. In other

words, there is not enough space and that needs to be improved so streets are suitable for

people to meet and play. That is how the city’s 10 to 12 year-olds put it. They are not

satisfied with the spaces for playing and enjoying themselves in their neighbourhood (EBSIB‐

IIAB 2017). The fact of having children playing on the streets not only has consequences for

the play deficit children face, it also reduces the knock-on effect of encouraging social life

around play. Because it is precisely when there are children playing in public spaces that they

become places for informal gatherings, especially, but not only, of parents accompanying

children but also of young and elderly people or other local residents.

The conditions in the play setting also determine the time that adults stay and, therefore, the

time children play, as well as whether people spend time and socially relate in a public space.

Despite all the measures being adopted, urban planning in the city is still a long way from

universal accessibility and there are few signs of a gender focus. Among other reasons, that is

due to the lack of attention to everyday needs, with urban furniture and features that make

public spaces habitable and encourage people to stay (lighting, benches, tables, play

equipment, toilets, fountains and so on). Currently less than 1 in 10 recreation spaces in the

city have table-tennis tables and only 8.5% of green spaces have public toilets.

There are many ways of experiencing public spaces. Accompanying children playing on the

streets is one, while doing physical activity or stopping to chat with neighbours are others.

Community life in the city requires recognition of the various uses of public spaces but

conflicting uses are a reality. To move forward, so these spaces do not exclude certain public

activities or groups, we need to think about making play area settings more accessible,

accommodating a social mix with people from different backgrounds and cultures in a city

where practically 1 in 4 inhabitants was born in a foreign country (Idescat 2017).

To include the different groups in community life, we also need to put the emphasis on

reducing the strong gender bias of urban spaces, as well as on the discomfort generated by

the presence of young people in public spaces and which often leads to their expulsion. For

that reason, we need to stress the importance of reclaiming public space as a place for

people to relate and socialise, facilitating access to it and legitimising the uses adolescents

and young people make of it, in harmony with the rest of the population. Public space has to

be a space for relating and shared experiences that belongs to everyone, in all their diversity

in terms of age, gender, social and cultural background and functional diversity.

Finally, a greater presence of people and more life on the streets also increases the

perception of public safety and helps to combat individualisation and social isolation,

promote personal autonomy and foster intergenerational relations.

3.2.4

Because quality play environments help to green,

calm and make the urban environment safer

Barcelona is still a city that lacks urban green spaces, despite the efforts made in recent

decades. Each city resident has 6.6 m

of green space (not counting the Collserola hills) and,

in the districts of Eixample and Gràcia, the figure is way below the city average (1.85 m

and

3.15 m respectively). In order to mitigate the effects of climate change, Barcelona has made a

commitment to increase green space by 1m

per inhabitant by 2030. This green deficit

aggravates a big problem the city faces, namely the alarmingly high level of environmental

pollution, both air and acoustic, which makes people’s health worse, especially in the case of

children and the elderly. Traffic in the city, where there are still too many private motor

vehicles, has a very negative effect on the healthy development of city residents, decreases

road safety and increases road accident rates. This situation also makes safe, independent

children’s mobility as autonomous pedestrians more difficult and, at the same time, limits

the public space available due to wheeled traffic and parking for private vehicles occupying

road space. This applies to the whole city, but especially and worryingly around leisure spaces

and schools, so the aim is to define the LDOIA’s provision regarding the obligation of local

authorities to promote “safe access for children and adolescents to schools and other centres

they frequent” (Art.55.5.c).

The scant contact with green spaces and nature takes on special significance with regard to

children’s play, as it reduces the possibilities for and benefits of play in natural surroundings.

In that regard, half of all play areas and playgrounds are not in green spaces, so there is

considerable room for improvement and a need to increase green spaces and natural

surroundings, specifically and importantly, around play areas, playgrounds and leisure

spaces, as well as school playgrounds and surroundings. In addition, moving towards a

playable city implies securing more public space for play and improving it with diverse

elimination measures, temporary road closures and traffic-calming, above all, around leisure

spaces and school surroundings.

4. Paradigm shift: 3 layers and 7 criteria for a

playable city

The vision and goals for achieving the Play Plan mean a paradigm shift in the place given to

outdoor play in the urban environment as a whole. Therefore, a conceptual framework has

been created specifically for Barcelona, to rethink the outdoor playful opportunities. This

framework is based, primarily, on the collective and interconnected benefits of play, not only

for children but for all the city’s citizens, as well as for its potential to generate community

life and provide an opportunity for improving the urban environment (see Section 3.2 for the

reasons). Secondly, the conceptual framework builds a new category of city recreation

infrastructure in three layers and, thirdly, it establishes quality criteria for play in order to

guide space design and take a more playable city into account at the planning stage.

4.1 The collective benefits of play

“Play is the highest form of research”

Albert Einstein

Play is an end in itself for the pleasure it gives, a vital human need and a recognised right of

children and adolescents because of its importance for their development. The UN

Committee on the Rights of the Child defines it as “any behaviour, activity or process started,

controlled and structured by children themselves that can take place anywhere and when

they have the opportunity”. Play, therefore, involves the exercise of autonomy and physical,

mental and emotional energy, adopting infinite forms that adapt and change over the course

of childhood and which can continue into and vary at all the stages of the life cycle. Playing is

linked to fun, uncertainty, challenge, creativity, flexibility, freedom and non-productivity. All

these factors together constitute the main reason why play is an activity which provokes

Benefits of

play

Playful

infrastructure

3 layers

7 quality

criteria

enjoyment and pleasure. It is a voluntary activity that responds to an intrinsic motivation and

becomes an end in itself, so all the benefits that play brings are positive collateral effects that

need to be fostered, but it is also very important to be clear that they are not the aim during

play. We do not play to learn or because it is healthy, but to have a good time.

There are social and emotional skills that are vital for life which are better learnt playing

because play is experienced in the body and through emotions and play means action,

experience, involvement and participation, which are key strategies for meaningful learning.

Playing is a very serious activity, even though it takes place above all in a fictional framework,

where people concentrate to put into practice all their abilities and resources to achieve the

objective set. In other words, it implies accepting and overcoming challenges. While playing,

people voluntarily put into action their capacity to conquer and excel,accepting not only

success but also failure, which is key to developing confidence and self-esteem and managing

frustration.

Adults have a vital role in guaranteeing the right to free, stimulating, creative and positive

play by putting various quality spaces, free time, materials and friends at children’s disposal

and letting them play. However, in general, adults who look after children and adolescents

do not always play a positive role in encouraging play, for three main reasons, among

others. One is because they organise a daily agenda for their child or adolescent that is

packed with activities and obligations that leave very little free time for them to organise

themselves. A second is their aversion to risk, which leads them to be over-protective, giving

children little or no scope for facing challenges and managing risks, and the third is because

they do not vary the types of games enough, thus reducing the range of play experiences.

4.2 The 3 layers for rethinking and

promoting more and better play

opportunities in public spaces

“We have to accept that the most suitable places for playing are the real spaces in the city:

steps, building courtyards, parks, squares, streets,

monuments... Everything possible needs to be done so everyone

can use them, children too”

Francesco Tonucci

The conceptualisation and design of this Plan, which is intended to improve and diversify the

opportunities for play everywhere and in all the city’s public spaces, offers a broad view not

only of places where play is envisaged but also where people play, more or less

spontaneously, fortuitously and occasionally. Consequently, our work has been based on the

concept of recreation infrastructure, with the aim of having a category for analysing the new

paradigm that includes the different types of outdoor urban spaces with possibilities for play,

rather than just intensity of playful use and intentionality of design for play. Analysing the city

from this perspective of recreation infrastructure enables us to clearly identify three layers

for improving and maximising playability that act as concentric circles and which, together,

make up the urban recreation infrastructure.

Image 1. Recreation infrastructure

Source: Barcelona Institute for Children and Adolescents

LAYER 1: Play Areas and School Playgrounds

Both of these are ideal places for children to play outdoors, which are not shared with other

uses and are specifically designated and designed for playing and doing physical activity, with

some kind of specially designed equipment that requires certification.

Play areas: Enclosed, sign-posted and certified spaces designated exclusively for play with

expressly designed and certified playful equipment.

School playgrounds: Outdoor spaces at nursery, infant, primary and secondary schools

where children play in school time and at midday, and which can be opened up to the

neighbourhood at other times.

LAYER 2: Playful spaces and School surroundings

Both of these spaces are for the exclusive use of pedestrians with possibilities for play and

playful uses alongside other public activities. Given their characteristics, they may include

urban features with possibilities for play, as well as certified play equipment. They are

basically places for people to meet socially that are vital for intergenerational relations, locals

to mix and community life. Access to them must ensure children’s safety and their autonomy,

as well as facilitate mobility on foot or on wheels. They must also be accessible.

Recreation spaces: Parks, squares, gardens and residential block interiors that offer

possibilities for play alongside other uses and may or may not include a play area. Recreation

spaces offer more risky, more diverse opportunities for play and physical activity that are

suitable for all ages and go beyond what play areas offer, as it is possible to play running,

skating or riding a bike, with a ball, conveying artistic expression or interacting with the

natural surroundings. For the Plan’s operational purposes, we have moved away from the

concept of green spaces to call them recreation spaces and identify them as places for play

where the idea is to promote play.

School surroundings: Urban spaces around schools and at nursery, infant, primary and

secondary school entrances with traffic-calmed access and possibilities for an area to relax

and play in.

These places form part of the second layer due to their specific and valuable function as

places for meeting and community life, as the schools’ educational community meet there

throughout the school year, morning, midday and afternoon, time for waiting and

impromptu play. People meet and children play to a greater or lesser extent depending on

the urban features of these areas, the environmental conditions and road safety.

LAYER 3: Playable city

This third layer includes other urban and natural spaces, as well as pedestrian routes in the

city where children, adolescents, adults and elderly people play or do physical activity more

or less spontaneously or by chance. This makes it possible to maximise the opportunities for

play by adopting various measures, from widening, optimising and/or conditioning urban

spaces to installing urban furniture and other highly playable features, tactical urban

planning and one-off initiatives that stimulate play. These include:



Streets for the exclusive use of pedestrians, permanently or temporarily



Traffic-calmed streets and wide pavements



Playable urban furniture (benches, shelters, etc.)



Urban sports parks (skate parks)



Open multi-sports courts



Sports equipment (basketball baskets, table-tennis tables, pétanque courts, etc.)



Beaches, woodland parks and river beds

4.3 Quality criteria for movingtowards a playable

city

Based on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Comments on the right to play (GC

N. 17, 2013) and an analysis of international reference documents on designs for maximising

the playability of the urban environment (see bibliography), 7 quality play criteria have been

drawn up that should be taken into account when designing spaces to play in the city,

especially play areas and recreation spaces. The preliminary version, included in the

Barcelona Plays Things Right Strategy, has been evaluated in various working forums for

drawing up the Plan, especially in the Urban Model departments, as well as with the

Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens and the Barcelona Children and Adolescents

Institute. This Plan provides for drawing up an operational handbook for designing projects

that will go into more detail on the requirements and technical guidelines based on these

seven criteria.

Quali

criter

for

movi

towa

rds a

play

frie

ndl

city

Criterion 1: Multiple options for creative, challenging play for

healthy child development

Play areas should offer lots of options that foster all-round healthy child development,

maximising diverse physical activity and stimulating the desire to play.

They should offer children challenges so they explore, decide and handle them as the

protagonists of the action, accepting responsibilities and assuming risks independently,

and testing their skills.

They should allow creative and versatile play with structures that stimulate children to

play in different ways, enabling them to handle objects so they can construct, destroy

and move them, pile them up and so on, thus fostering their imagination and creativity.

The play options should combine movement, symbolic, motor, experimental and other

types of play and, at the same time, ensure maximum diversity in the main playful

activities (see Table 1), in particular sliding, swinging and climbing, as these are the three

that imply more active, more intense play.

1. Multiple proposals for challenging and creative games that

aid a child and adolescent’s healthy development

CRITERIA

FOR A

PLAYABLE

AND

PLAYED-

CITY

2. Diverse, stimulating, connected and

accessible

physical space

3. Inclusive play areas for all ages, genders, backgrounds

and abilities.

4. Contact with nature, greenery and play with sand

and water.

5. Shared, intergenerational and collaborative play.

6. Place for meeting up and where the

community can come together.

7. Playful ecosystems and safe, playable

environments friendly environments.

Table 1. Main playful activities and equipment that stimulates them

Activities Equipment/facilities that can stimulate

playful activity

1. Sliding

Slides of different heights and widths, long and short, covered in the

form of a tube or open, with different gradients and shapes, etc.

Sloping slide boards with different heights and gradients.

2. Swinging

Single and multiple swings suitable for different ages, from babies to

adults, different heights, for swinging in pairs, deckchair-type (suitable

for children with functional disability), basket swings for playing

together, for adolescents and children with motor disabilities, etc.

3. Climbing

Climbing walls, ladders, raised platforms, steps, net pyramids,

sculptures that children can climb on, mikado play towers, natural logs

and so on, with different heights and levels of difficulty, for all ages.

4. Maintaining

balance

Balancing bars, log circuits, hanging bridges, etc., at different heights,

with various levels of difficulty.

5. Jumping

Trampolines, flexible net, rubbers structures, platforms with springs,

etc.

6. Feeling dizzy

Merry-go-rounds for one or more children, ziplines, hanging bridges at

different heights, firemen’s poles, etc.

7. Rocking

Individual or multi-child see-saws, spring or up-and-down type, on the

ground or hanging, with ropes and different intensities.

8. Running and

riding

Spaces large and open enough for running, cycling, skating,

skateboarding or scooting around as well as playing ball games, rope

games or other motor-skill games.

9. Hiding

Little houses, bushes forming an enclosure, structures for getting

underneath, tubes, natural elements in the form of a cave, tunnels,

etc.

10. Experimenting

Sand tables or surfaces, natural elements (stones, sticks, leaves),

water channels, games with pulleys with buckets and receptacles,

sound structures, circuit-type spaces for exploring, etc.

11. Role play

Little houses, kitchens, structures in the form of vehicles, vessels,

trains, cars and animals, other structures that suggest settings, for

example, castles, cabins, etc.

12. Self-

expression

Boards, chalk, poles and sand, stages and stepping, smooth concrete

paving and mirror-effect wall for dancing, electricity supply and WiFi for

music, “free” walls for urban art, etc.

13. Meeting up

and relaxing

Places for meeting up with benches arranged for group

conversations, big and small picnic tables, comfortable grass

surfaces for sitting on the ground, shaded areas, etc.

Source: Barcelona Institute for Children and Adolescents

Criterion 2: Diverse, stimulating, connected and accessible

physical space

Play areas should adopt an overall perspective on the design for play, meaning that the

whole area should offer stimulating possibilities for playing with a design that fits in with

the environment, offering a variety of uses.

They should be physically attractive, well looked-after, welcoming spaces for people to

stay, meet up and play with surfaces (textures, materials, colours, etc.) and a relief

(tunnels, embankments) that open up various possibilities and enrich play, apart from

the structures.

They should not necessarily, nor always, be confined or demarcated with an enclosure.

This should be dependant on each case, the proximity of any dangers, the suitability of

installing one or not, the perimeter and type of enclosure, reducing them as much as

possible to facilitate connectivity with the rest of the environment.

Criterion 3: Inclusive play areas for all ages, genders, backgrounds and

abilities.



Play areas should be attractive places for people of various ages to play in and, in

particular, include the play and playful needs of adolescents (with team-game and

lifting equipment, spaces for performance play, etc.) as well as play options for

adults.



They should encourage children to play together and, therefore, be diverse places

that do not focus too much on more physical activities at the expense of others.



They should accommodate the city’s cultural wealth and diversity, with a design that

avoids excessive specialisation and encourages children to relate so that,

spontaneously, they become inclusive spaces for children from different

backgrounds.



There should be one or more inclusive-certified pieces of equipment that enables a

child with a functional disability (motor, sensory, intellectual) functional diversity to

enjoy themself with other children.

Criterion 4: Contact with nature, greenery and play with sand and water.



Play areas should include greenery and vegetation that children can interact with,

pass under, hide in, climb, touch and feel the leaves, as well as play with the leaves

and small branches that fall off.



They should include natural elements such as sand, grass, bark, stones for the

surfaces and to expand their playability, as well as water for cooling down and

playing with.



It should be possible to climb, balance and relax on natural features such as rocks or

logs, as well as have play equipment made from natural materials.

Criterion 5: Shared, intergenerational and collaborative play.



Play area structures should foster shared play, encouraging the simultaneous play of

two or more children, and group play involving boys and girls (multi-games, see-saws

for two or four, wide slides for more than one person to slide down, swings for older

persons, etc.).



Some structures should incorporate the need for collaboration (pulleys, see-saws,

etc.) as the starting point for shared play which maximises the psychosocial benefits

of play.



There should also be options for shared play between children and the adults looking

after them, equipment that could be used by adults and elderly people, thus

encouraging attitudes and playful activities involving everyone and throughout the

life cycle.

Criterion 6: Place for meeting up and where the community can come together



Play areas and their immediate surroundings should not be conceived as children’s

playgrounds but as a community meeting place, therefore taking into account the

needs of adults looking after the children.



They should be comfortable, welcoming places with benches, picnic tables, toilets,

shade, good lighting, fountains, good maintenance and cleaning.



Places where people come together, meaningful places for the community that

should promote formulas for joint responsibility when it comes to looking after them.

Criterion 7: Playful ecosystems and safe, playable environments



Play areas should be designed fulfilling as many criteria as possible in each one, while

bearing in mind they are part of a broader recreation ecosystem which they

complement.



The community recreation ecosystem comprising various play areas, recreation

spaces, school surroundings and playgrounds with community uses in a given area

should be connected by pedestrian routes, safe paths and traffic-calmed streets. Play

area, recreation spaces and school entrances and surroundings should facilitate the

free movement of children from a certain age and independent play.

5. Diagnosis of the opportunities for

play in Barcelona’s public spaces

The knowledge generated in this initial diagnosis of the opportunities for play in Barcelona’s

public spaces enables us to guide the actions of the Plan on the basis of data, create

indicators, establish base lines in 2018 and measurable targets for 2030 for those challenges

for which data is available. This diagnosis is also useful as a starting point for detecting gaps

in our knowledge and for future research to understand the scope, update the challenges,

see the progress and the impacts on play in public spaces. Creating databases and a system

of indicators to carry out this initial diagnosis has required a big effort but means in the

future Barcelona City Council will be in the best possible position to account for its work and

monitor the opportunities for play in public spaces, to help make public decisions based on

evidence in moving towards a playable city that people play in.

This section starts from the preliminary analysis carried out by the IIAG for the Barcelona

Plays Things Right Strategy (February 2018), summarises Barcelona Regional’s specific

diagnostic report on recreation infrastructure and systematises and analyses the scant data

available on the playful uses of public space in Barcelona prepared by the IIAB.

The diagnosis is approached from two angles. First, recreation infrastructure is analysed in

terms of availability, density, proximity and quality. Second, the playful uses of public space

are analysed in terms of playful and physical activity.

In 2018, Barcelona City Council, or more specifically the Green Spaces, Ecological Biodiversity

and Urban Services Directorate, compiled detailed information on the city’s play areas with

regard to their location, surface area, age, type of paving and enclosure, as well as the type of

playful activity offered in each one based on an analysis of their features. That has enabled a

more in-depth look at the qualitative side of the diagnosis. In addition, data provided by the

Barcelona Institute of Sport has enabled us to supplement the spaces for doing sport with

opportunities for play in any part of the city. A bibliographical review of reports and

documents produced by the Municipal Institute for Persons with Disabilities, the Barcelona

Public Health Agency and the Barcelona Institute for Children and Adolescents has made it

possible to include diagnostic conclusions on other aspects of recreation infrastructure, such

as school playgrounds and the areas around schools or the services offered by parks and

squares, as well as physical activity in and the play uses of public spaces. With regard to the

final aspect on uses, it should be noted that despite the efforts to compile data, there is really

very little information so it will be necessary to continue working on this to improve our

knowledge of the outdoor playful activity of all ages in the city.

Context

Barcelona is one of the most compact and densest cities in Europe (with 159 inhabitants per

hectare) and every day a very significant number of workers and students come here from

the metropolitan area, as well as a large number of tourists. Consequently, public space in

the city comes under lots of pressure from its different uses and has to accommodate the

many needs of urban dynamics, social relations and citizen activities, which include play and

physical activity.

One of the dangers that Barcelona faces, therefore, is becoming too compact. The

relationship between the built up area and public space is dominated by the former, which

translates into increased urban pressure with various consequences for the city. Barcelona is

practically consolidated. The margin for growth is limited and very specific as there is no

developable land, in other words, hardly any areas remain for development. Public space

cannot be generated on a large scale, except in areas that have already been built or on

existing infrastructures, such as Parc de la Sagrera or Parc de Glòries. Urban recycling,

transformation, intensification and urban renovation are usual strategies in the city and will

be even more so in the future, as generating public space in a city as dense, compact and

consolidated as this is one of the main challenges facing Barcelona, and a reality that needs

to be borne in mind in the Public Space Play Plan.

5.1 Recreation infrastructure

5.1.1

Play areas

A play area is a space that is signposted, indicating the use and age range for which the play

equipment and facilities installed there are intended. There are play areas for 0-5 and 6-12

year-olds, as well as mixed ones with games and activities suitable for both age groups. There

are also some accessible and inclusive ones for all children, regardless of their abilities. As

children’s play areas are individually identified, there may be more than one, with different

characteristics, in the same place (park, garden or square).

Availability and size

The city has 868 play areas totalling 159,100 m

(an average of 183 m

per area) but half

of them (51%) can be considered small because they do not reach 150m

(data from

2018).

There has been no overall planning in the city, nor any minimum standards on their size

or what level of provision there should be for children and adolescents. In Barcelona

there are play areas ranging from one of 16m

in El Carmel to one of 2,281m

in La

Guineueta.

There are 32 play areas that do not meet minimum surface area standards as they are

excessively small (less than 50m

) and represent 4% of the total. This is a size that does

not allow quality active play because it cannot offer sufficient diversity in the playful

activities. (See Chapter 4).

Map 1. Play areas under 50m

. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

The play areas are not evenly spread around the city’s districts. At one extreme there is

the Sant Martí district which, despite having 10% of the city’s non-residential hectares,

concentrates 23% of play area square metres. At the other extreme, Ciutat Vella and

Gràcia have 3.8% and 4.4% of play area square metres in the city but with a more

proportional presence of non-residential hectares (4% in Ciutat Vella and 2.8% in Gràcia).

Map 2. Distribution of play areas. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Table 2. Play areas in Barcelona, by district, total number and surface area in m

2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Density

Currently there is no report, nor any territorial analysis of the real uses of play areas which

would allow us to properly diagnose the density of uses, and not just the ratios of square

metres per child used as a reference, despite the limits this poses for understanding the

actual situation. It needs to be borne in mind that not all children in the city play at the same

time, nor are they equally distributed around the play areas. Other factors influence this,

such as their proximity to a child’s home or school, their quality in terms of playability, the

age range they are for, maintenance, the social profiles of local residents who go there and

the social life they generate (see Section 5.2.3)

There are 178,728 children aged 0 to 12 in Barcelona, which is 11% of the city’s

inhabitants, of whom 82,352 are between 0 and 5 (46%) and 96,376 between 6 and 12

(54%). In general, there is a correspondence between the number of children in a

district and the total number of play areas there but other data need to be taken into

account to be able to assess whether districts with fewer play areas have a good

provision.

The play space especially for children aged 6 to 12 (play areas for 6-12 year-olds and

mixed, 0‐12) is slightly bigger than that for the 0 to 5 age group (play areas for 0‐5 year-

olds and mixed, 0‐12).

The space that Barcelona offers children for playing outdoors is not enough and is too

dense: only 0.9m

of play area per child. This figure is much lower than the

recommended 7m

of area per child, which is approximately half the space for a place in

a car park (Guide 7C Canada).

Moreover, the availability of spaces for play in the city’s districts is uneven: children in

Sant Martí have more than twice the play area space per child (1.4m

/child) than in

Ciutat Vella (0.6m

/per child) or Gràcia (0.5m

/child).

Table 3. Density of play areas per district and according to type 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

If we analyse the situation by neighbourhood, in some the child/m

of play area ratios are

particularly low. In Sants‐Badal, El Putxet and El Farró or La Font d’en Fargues they do not

even reach 0.30m

/child (a third of the city average). However, it should be noted that

although the data show a neighbourhood can have significant deficits in some of the

indicators mentioned, it is possible that by merely crossing the street (and changing

neighbourhood) a child can have access to a large play area.

Map 2. Play area surface area distribution per child by neighbourhood. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Proximity

Local provision is good in Barcelona in terms of the number of areas close to children’s

homes and schools. Some 80% of children aged 0 to 12 have a play area five minutes

walk from where they live (it being understood that a child is capable of walking 200

metres in five minutes) and 98% ten minutes away. The other 2% have play areas over 15

minutes away.

Some of the play area gaps in the city coincide with the neighbourhoods where the

square metres of play area per child is very low: Sants‐Badal, La Font d’en Fargues, Sant

Gervasi Galvany or El Putxet i el Farró. Others have little accessibility to play areas but the

child population is small, for example, Dreta de l’Eixample or El Parc i la Llacuna del

Poblenou. And in others, such as Poble Sec, the steep slopes of Montjuïc mean they are

not so close. Some places in the city where there is a lack of play areas are close to large

green spaces such as Collserola, Montjuïc or Tres Turons; to the beaches or the River

Besòs; or public space in the superblocks, which are also ideal for playing in.

Map 3. No play areas 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Table 4: The 10 neighbourhoods with the most and least m

of play area per child. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Children with a legally recognised disability have a greater deficit as regards play areas

with inclusive play equipment close to their home. Only 1.7% of children with a

disability aged 0 to 5 and 2.6% of those aged 6 to 12 have an “adapted” play area five

minutes or less from their home (IMPD, 2016). Les Corts is the district with the most

coverage as regards these play areas. There, 8.5% of 6 to 12 year-olds with a disability

have one five minutes or less from their home.

Most nursery, infant and primary, and special needs schools in the city have a play area

of their own. Only 2 out of 10 schools (18%) are poorly provided, with the nearest play

area over 15 minutes away on foot. On the other hand, four play areas have been

identified as potentially having a very high use density because they are less than five

minutes away and serve up to 14 nearby schools: Plaça Gal·la Placídia and Plaça de les

Dones del 36 in Vila de Gràcia, Torrent de les Roses in Pedralbes, and Parc de Joan

Reventós in Sarrià.

Quality

The few available reports on play areas in the city identify questions relating to the number

of areas or pieces of equipment. There are also reports on maintenance, safety and

regulations, based on the City Council’s rigorous control system with annual audits and

certifications to comply with European and municipal regulations. There was a clear lack of

play area quality analysis in terms of playability.

This analysis is based on existing play areas and also new data from those where play

equipment has been classified by type of equipment (basket swing, wide slide, etc.) and the

type of activity (sliding, rocking, swinging, climbing, etc.). This type of identification has given

us sufficient data for some quality indicators based on the new conceptual framework and

seven criteria already mentioned (see Section 4.3).

Diversity of playful activities

There is little diversity in the play areas, which are very standardised due to the limited

variety in the types of play they offer. Only 23% (199) of them offer at least six

different playful activities of the main ones which it is considered a play area could offer:

climbing, swinging, sliding, maintaining balance, jumping, feeling dizzy, rocking, running

and riding, hiding, experimenting, role play, self-expression, meeting up and relaxing.

Map 4 Play areas offering at least 6 playful activities. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Some 16% of play areas do not offer even three different play activities and are

regarded as not meeting minimum playability quality standards. Only 1 in 3 (32%) offer

the three main motor-skill play activities, which are sliding, climbing and swinging. On the

negative side, 12% do not offer any of those activities.

Map 5. Areas that offer 3 or fewer than 3 of the main playful activities. 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

There is not a suitable proportion of the type of equipment found in play areas as a

whole: while 67% have springs (rocking activities, often for individual use, 24% offer

balancing play and only 22% have revolving equipment.

There is not enough explicit stimulus for symbolic play, as only 18% of play areas have

any equipment for that kind of play, structures such as little houses, kitchens or means of

transport. In other words, 8 out of 10 play areas do not include resources for symbolic

play.

Only 8% have basket swings or wide slides that allow joint play, or a higher degree of

risk management or feeling of dizziness and are therefore more appealing to teenagers.

There is not enough information to analyse whether the play areas do enough to

stimulate children’s creativity or versatility of uses, nor on the real possibilities they offer

for handling things (transferring, piling, moving, etc.)

Risk management

Play areas do not encourage children to manage risk enough, especially those over

eight. There are only four in the entire city with equipment over 3 metres high (apart

from the six 3D nets on the beaches not counted in the play areas). And there are only

seven with giant slides or slide boards (plus one at the beach) and nine ziplines.

Map 6. Play areas with 3m high equipment, giant slides or ziplines (except those at

the beach) 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

Stimulating physical space

The physical space of the play areas is not very stimulating as, generally, they are flat,

without any mounds or change of level. Moreover, the demarcation is not very

permeable or flexible: three out of four have some kind of enclosure. This 73.5% of

enclosed play areas contrasts with the fact that half of them are in green spaces (49.7%).

When a play area is demarcated by an enclosure in parks, gardens, squares or block

interiors, etc., it impedes permeability between that area and its surroundings and

reduces the fluid movement of children through that space, while also reducing the

possibilities of diversifying play and integrating different ages.

Enclosures are sometimes installed to comply with regulations and, at other times, to

meet other criteria, such as preventing anti-social behaviour (for example, that of

irresponsible local pet owners) or for the peace of mind of over-protective adults, who

prefer to have one because it enables greater control over the children (Etnografia IIAB

2017).

Diversity of ages

Although there are mixed play areas suitable for 0 to 12 year-olds, in general they are

not inclusive enough for all ages and there is a lack of equipment with sufficient appeal

for the 10-12 age group. The lack of risk management they offer means they are aimed

at children up to nine years old, at most, resulting in a lack of interest on the part of older

children in the equipment on offer. For the early age bands,

above all young children just beginning to walk, there are also play areas for 0 to 5 year-

olds, or mixed ones, but not enough in-depth study has been done to see whether the

equipment they have enables the youngest children (aged 1 to 2) to play independently

and if there is enough equipment really suited to them. It needs to be borne in mind that

the capabilities of a 1 year-old are very different to those who are 4 or 5.

There is not a single public space play area designed for 13 to 17 year-olds. In fact, the

only ones designed to be used by them are spaces for sport with sports facilities and

equipment, such as open courts, table-tennis tables, basketball baskets, urban sports

parks or skate parks (see Section 5.1.6).

Functional diversity



Barcelona’s play areas are neither inclusive nor accessible enough for children with

functional diversity as only 1 in 4 are accessible or have equipment certified as

inclusive. That means 21% of play areas are accessible to children with disabilities,

basically with wheelchairs (Analysis of the accessibility of children’s play areas carried

out by the Barcelona City Council Area of Social Rights in December 2016). There are

only 10 play areas where all the play equipment is inclusive-certified and only 21 with a

deckchair swing that enables children with functional diversity to swing.

Contact with green and natural elements

Some 50% of play areas are outside a green space (parks, gardens and squares over

2,000 m

, as well as block interiors). Although 32% of these areas have contact with

trees, their main purpose is to provide shade. So, despite the fact that the presence of

trees is very valuable for the visual contact with greenery, it is very unlikely that they add

any value in terms of playability. It should also be remembered that there is a municipal

regulation that explicitly bans climbing trees. And, finally, it is worth highlighting that

there is no information on whether or not they are deciduous, which generates plant

waste that is ideal for children’s play.

Map 7 Location of play areas inside green spaces. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

There is a clear deficit in the possibilities for water play, as Barcelona only has two play

spaces for splashing and cooling yourself down. Only 18% of play areas have a drinking

fountain within 50m. It should be pointed out that, seeing how water fountains near play

areas are distributed once again confirms there is no overall criterion for the city

neighbourhoods. In new Esquerra de l’Eixample and Sant Antoni, for example, nearly all

play areas have a water fountain within 50 metres.

Map 8. Play areas with water fountains within 50 metres. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

As regards sand play, 70% of play areas have a sand surface, 2% a weathered granite

surface and 28% one of rubber. The play possibilities of exploring with sand need to be

preserved, above all by analysing data by area, as there are four districts that are below

the average of play areas with a sand surface, particularly Ciutat Vella (46%) and to a

lesser degree, Sant Martí (63 %), Nou Barris (66%) and Gràcia with (69%).

Shared, collaborative and intergenerational play

Although play areas are spaces where various children play at the same time, they do

not encourage shared and collaborative play enough by facilitating simultaneous play

between two or more children, or group play. Only 1 out of 10 areas (11%) have at least

one piece of equipment for collective play (see-saws for two or more children, wide

slides for more than one person to slide down at the same time, etc.) and, of those, only

half invite children to cooperate, with equipment such as basket swings and merry-go-

rounds.

There is practically no stimulus for intergenerational play because of the lack of play

equipment suitable for children over 12, which would allow adolescents, young people

and grown-ups to play and interact in play with children. Moreover, the regulations

demand that gymnastic and playful circuits for elderly people have to be separated from

play equipment for little children. Only 26% of play areas are mixed and they are the

ones designed for the broadest age band (0 to 12 years old).

The only spaces that can be regarded as stimulating intergenerational play are the

courts and sports equipment, and only 16% of the city’s play areas have sports courts

within 40 metres.

Meeting places

As places for people to meet, which require certain conditions that make them

habitable and comfortable, it should be pointed out that only 37% of play areas have

benches within the area. (It is not known if their layout encourages conversation,

although often they are arranged for keeping an eye on children.) Another 26% do not

have benches within 10 metres.

The availability of shade is another important factor for creating comfortable spaces,

especially in summer. According to the data available, 82% of play areas are next to trees

and in the case of the vast majority without trees, it is because their location does not

allow for them. Nevertheless, no specific study has been carried out on shade in play

areas, which is usually one of the demands specified by families.

5.1.2

School playgrounds

School playgrounds are open-air spaces attached to nursery, infant and primary and

secondary schools, where curricular activities take place and children play during the

morning break and at lunchtime. Sometimes out-of-school hours activities are held there too.

In addition, for a number of years now, the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education has

been running the “School Playgrounds Open to the Neighbourhood” programme to

encourage them to stay open for community use by local residents outside school hours, thus

turning them into new public spaces for playing in. This programme has been evaluated (IIAB,

2017).

Availability

Only 69 (35%) of the 197 playgrounds at municipally-owned schools in the city are part

of the “School Playgrounds Open to the Neighbourhood” programme. However, there

are imbalances between summer and winter opening. All the playgrounds in the

programme open in winter but only 17 do so in summer.

That means that 65% of state school playgrounds (128) are almost exclusively used by

school students during school time, although some invite playful education organisations.

The distribution of open school playgrounds throughout the city is very even in many

districts but some areas have been identified with significant gaps, such as the centre of

Eixample, Les Corts, Ciutat Vella and a considerable part of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. There is

only one school playground open in Les Corts, bordering on Hospitalet de Llobregat,

while there are three in Ciutat Vella and four in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. Either way, it would

be necessary to carry out a more in-depth analysis of how intensively they are used, case

by case.

Little diversity in the type of school that opens its playground to the community: 88.5%

of the programme’s centres are infant and primary schools. The other 11.5% are

municipal-run secondary schools, because there are no municipal nursery or special

needs schools.

Quality

There is currently no overall city report that might evaluate the present state of school

playground infrastructure but a bibliographical check of the reports analysing playgrounds

drawn up the Barcelona City Council Gender Mainstreaming Department (2016) and the

study “School Playgrounds: spaces for educational opportunities” produced by the Bofill

Foundation (2010) enables us to draw the following conclusions:

Generally speaking, school playgrounds are poor in terms of their spaces, design and

facilities. They are often not very comfortable or stimulating and are a long way from

nature, besides being poorly or seldom maintained. Given their potential, hardly any

advantage is made of them as spaces for education and increased sociability, community

life, curiosity, discovery and creativity. Sports courts are the main feature of playgrounds.

In the other parts, there is very little equipment or facilities for other forms of play.

It is estimated that 30% of schools in the city have playgrounds that are suitable in

terms of playability, gender and sustainability criteria, or which are undergoing

alterations. In general they are new-builds or schools where the education community

has started a process of change. However, there are no clear, established or shared

criteria for making overall improvements to school playgrounds as an important

recreation infrastructure resource in the framework of educational facilities.

5.1.3

Leisure areas

A leisure area is a park, garden, square or block interior that offers possibilities for play

alongside other uses and which might include a play area. In order to approach and diagnose

the situation of leisure areas in the city, we took as a reference the analysis of green spaces

in “The Environmental Services of Green Spaces in Barcelona” (2018), a report commissioned

by the Barcelona City Council Directorate of Green Spaces, Ecological Diversity and Urban

Services, and produced by Barcelona Regional. So, in this section, any reference to a green

space will be synonymous with leisure area.



There are 326 green spaces in the city (these being all the parks, gardens and squares

over 2,000 m2, as well as block interiors) which cover 496.56 ha, a total surface area

much larger than that of the play areas.

The opportunities for play in green spaces



78% of green spaces have a play area. Those that do not have one are mainly on

Montjuïc, where often they are old parks designed with a less functional idea than

today: prioritising harmony and beauty with a French-garden style and areas with

statues and monuments. Even if green spaces do not have a play area, they also

offer opportunities for leisure and physical activity, mainly because of their size

which makes them safe from traffic, and are enriched by the presence of nature.

Nature itself, or the fact they are open spaces, makes them ideal for playing, whether

it’s running about, exploring, playing group games, hiding, rolling a ball or spinning a

spinning top.

Map 9. Urban green spaces analysed in Barcelona. 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional

The link with nature is undoubtedly one of the main values of urban green spaces,

something that is particularly important and necessary for children in an urban

environment. The loss of contact with nature, knowledge and experience of natural

cycles is becoming more acute in cities. Green spaces enable children to experience some

of this, from observing the seasonal change in vegetation to satisfying their curiosity and

learning more about the animal and plant species they can find there. The indicators for

evaluating the so-called socio-environmental service of parks – contact with nature – are

tree cover, native plant species, permeable soils, the presence of water areas and the

surrounding noise level, among others. However, in general, the city offers few benefits

in terms of this socio-environmental service, apart form the Tres Turons, Montjuïc and

Ciutadella parks.

The vegetation in these spaces is not explicitly designed for children to interact with it.

Maintaining the balance between preserving the green spaces and looking after their

vegetation, and children’s need for play, is not easy. We need to think hard about what

types of plants are best so children can explore and interact with them. Natural

processes, such as leaves falling off trees in autumn, generate some very interesting and

appealing materials for play.

The accessibility of green spaces

The green spaces are really well designed for facilitating inclusive play for people with

functional diversity, since 87% of them have adopted accessibility measures for people

with reduced mobility. Most of the 13% that lack sufficiently accessible access are those

on the Montjuïc and Tres Turons hills.

Green spaces as a meeting point and place for community life

Despite their potential as a place for people to meet up, given their size, shade and

peace, the city’s green spaces have few features that encourage people to stay. Only 9%

have picnic tables (the largest such as Turó de la Peira, Joan Brossa, Castell de l’Oreneta,

Parc Güell, Parc de la Trinitat or Parc del Poblenou) and only 18% (60) have some sort of

bar with a terrace, possibly in cafés, which encourage people to use these green spaces

because they can get a meal and, in that way, extend their stay.

Map 10. Picnic tables in green spaces. 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional

The city’s green spaces do not do enough to meet everyday needs, both in terms of

public toilets, which only 8% (28) have, mainly the bigger parks, or drinking fountains,

which 22%, nearly one in four, lack.

They are spaces that favour the presence of urban biodiversity and encourage

exploration with natural features. In general they provide shade, as practically half of

them (49%) have tree cover of over 40%, while only 17% have low cover (less than 20%).

Moreover, the trees make them more friendly places, together with the rest of the

shrubs and herbaceous vegetation.

5.1.4

School surroundings

School settings are often places for spontaneous play, but with little planning, and they

are sometimes hostile. According to the preliminary study carried out by the Eixample

district, school settings need to be improved, particularly with regard to the lack of

pavement space, urban furniture and vegetation. These shortcomings are linked to traffic

density on the street where the school entrance is located, which makes them unsafe,

and anti-social behaviour, especially litter on the ground, dogs off their lead and cars

parking in places where it is banned and at times not allowed.

In 2018, small alterations were carried out at four schools in Eixample (Diputació, Auró,

Viladomat and Maria Auxiliadora) and a further eight are planned there for 2019.

5.1.5

Streets exclusively for pedestrians

Temporarily or permanently pedestrianised streets, and traffic-calmed spaces are

opportunities for play, as they are solely for the use of pedestrians, even though they have to

share them with lots of other uses.

Barcelona is a very dense city with an average of 159 inhabitants per hectares (2017).

Especially significant is the population density in districts such as Eixample (356 inh/ha),

Gràcia (290 inh/ha) or Ciutat Vella (232 inh/ha). Only Horta‐Guinardó, Les Corts, Sants

Montjuïc and Sarrià‐Sant Gervasi are below the average. A more detailed analysis, by

neighbourhood, will have to be conducted, because the uses of public space for play and

physical activity are mainly based in surroundings close to where people live most days

of the week, so the district scale is too large.

Without a doubt, streets are currently the main public space in the city but the space

allocated to vehicles is still greater. There are 1,129.9 hectares of roadway and 152

hectares of on-street parking compared to 983.5 hectares of pavements, which includes

the space for urban furniture, trees, terraces, motorbikes, etc. In other words, 60% of

public space in the city is allocated to wheeled transport and on-street parking.

The figure for streets and areas where pedestrians have priority has doubled in a decade,

from 71 hectares in 2007 to 127 in 2017.

Walking is the main form of moving around in Barcelona, accounting for 52% of

internal journeys. Among other things, this is thanks to the wide pavements, traffic-

calmed 30 kph zones, streets without raised pavements, pedestrian-only zones and the

superblocks. Ciutat Vella and Gràcia were the first districts to prioritise these types of

streets, due to the morphology of their urban fabric, while progress has been made on

the superblocks in recent years.

It will be necessary to find out if the half of all play areas that are not in green spaces

are in environments that are sufficiently free of pollution, traffic and other physical

dangers that will allow people to move around freely and safely in their neighbourhood.

When the area around a play area is for pedestrians only, it not only helps to create safer

environments there, it also makes it possible to double or more the opportunities for

play in those spaces because they become additional play spaces for

riding a scooter or a bike, skating or playing ball games.

The new urban model of superblocks enables the city to gain safer environments for

children, adolescents and people of all ages, as its main aim is to appropriate public

space for the city’s citizens. The intention is also to improve urban quality and reduce

the environmental impact of vehicles. Benches, play equipment, picnic tables, sports

equipment (table-tennis tables, basketball baskets, goals, play circuits) are installed with

more greenery. The Poblenou and Sant Antoni superblocks are the two that have been

created so far, the latter having made it possible to reclaim 26,000 m

of public space for

pedestrians. This year it is planned to get three more off the ground, in Les Corts,

Hostafrancs and Horta.

Map 11. Superblocks in Barcelona. 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

5.1.6

Outdoor sports spaces and equipment

Sports courts and sports equipment are places and amenities for physical and playful

activity that encourage and enable unorganised physical activity to take place.



According to the mapping done by the Barcelona Institute of Sport (IBE – 2018) the

city of Barcelona has 313 sports activity areas with 1,160 sports spaces or items of

equipment. An area consists of more than one space or item.

The sports spaces are multisport courts for basketball, volleyball, pétanque,

etc., as well as climbing walls. Those identified include 33 multisport courts, 7

volleyball courts, 31 basketball courts

and 674 pétanque courts, by far the most numerous.

The sports equipment identified includes 191 table-tennis tables, 84

basketball baskets not on any court and 33 circuits for physical activity, such

as callisthenics.

Map 12. Sports equipment throughout the city 2018.

Source: Barcelona Regional through the IBE

Playful activity linked to the use of skateboards, scooters and skates, among other

things, is becoming more popular and the devotees of these sports are gradually

increasing, especially among young people. The city has 12 spots (urban locations with

no features or structures built by the City Council, where skaters usually skate), 11

skatable areas, 7 skateboarding and skating rinks, and 4 urban sports parks, which are

for skateboarding, scooters and inline skating. They can also be used for freestyle

cycling. But there are not enough of these spaces, especially if we bear in mind this is

the only resource specifically for adolescents and young people in the city.

The urban sports parks, which are the largest and most varied spaces, each cover between 1,000

and 3,000

3.00

, making a total surface area of 8,975 m

. There are currently four of them.

 The one in the Àurea Cuadrado Gardens (Les Corts district)

 The one in Nou Barris (Nou Barris district)

 The one in Baró de Viver (Sant Andreu district)

 The one in Mar Bella (Sant Martí district)

The open sports courts, the various items of sports equipment spread around the city and

the urban sports parks are a resource for children aged 12 or over and they have the

potential for enhancing social and intergenerational relations, as sports activities often

involve groups, or at least two people, and they can be used by different age groups.

The sports courts and sports equipment near a play area complement it as they boost its

use and help to diversify the playful activities. However, only 16% (139) of play areas

have any within 40 metres. Table-tennis tables and basketball baskets are the main

ones. The other 85% (738 areas) do not have any sports equipment nearby.

Spread around the city there is also a playful infrastructure for the playful and physical

activity of young people, adults and elderly people. Barcelona has two types of outdoor

playful gymnastic circuits (specific installations of apparatus for physical exercise that

are freely accessible and cost nothing): 14 are for improving physical fitness and 36 are

specifically for elderly people (Troba’t B). There are also 11 sports circuits, which are

pubic urban spaces in parks, avenues and other outdoor areas for walking or even

running.

5.1.7

Natural surroundings

Woodland parks, urban beaches and riverbeds also offer clear opportunities for play.

Various activities are possible there, often linked to healthy leisure which means more

or less organised physical activity. They are also conducive to spontaneous play among

children. They are mainly used at weekends or during school holidays and at certain

times of the year. So, while they are places that should be borne in mind, they do not

solve the everyday need for play.

Barcelona’s urban beaches occupy 26.7 hectares and, besides being places for bathing,

they also allow children to play different games, such as flying kites or various sports

(football, volleyball, beach tennis, Frisbee, etc.). But, apart from in summer, little use is

made of them as a place for children, adolescents and the population in general to play

and do physical or playful activity. During the summer they are visited by some 4.7

million people, while estimates for the rest of the year indicate they only have about 1.3

million users. In all about 6 million a year.

Other places in the city for healthy play, physical activity, recreation and leisure include

Collserola and Montjuïc, with its wooded areas and broad pavements near the Castle, the

Lluís Companys Stadium and Palau Sant Jordi esplanades and even the Foixarda climbing

wall. Finally, the Tres Turons, hills, which retain their natural value. On the one hand,

urban parks (Park Güell, Parc de la Creueta, Parc del Carmel) and on the other, more

informal spaces particularly suitable for children’s spontaneous play.

5.2 Playful uses of public space

There is no previous study on playful uses in Barcelona, nor specific data available, but a

bibliographical review of the various reports published has served to get an idea and find out

the level of children’s satisfaction with they city’s play areas.

5.2.1

What do children tell us?

Although play areas are primarily for children aged 0 to 12, there is no systematic

mechanism in the city for finding out their opinions and level of satisfaction as users.

However, based on information and suggestions for improvements gathered during the

various participatory processes documented from 2001, in which they were asked about

public spaces, and information provided by the Barcelona City Council Survey on the

Subjective Well-Being of Children, drawn up by the IIAB and carried out in 2017, we have an

idea of their satisfaction with regard to those spaces, the time they spend there and their

play likes and preferences.

Satisfaction with regard to the spaces for playing

The level of satisfaction of city children aged 10 to 12 with the places they have for

playing is low: half of them (47%) are not really satisfied with the spaces for playing

and enjoying themselves in their neighbourhood (EBSIB‐IIAB 2017).

Historically, not enough attention has been paid to the demands of children and

adolescents when it comes to designing play areas or other spaces in the city. If they

are asked, it is only occasionally and merely anecdotal with little return from the City

Council and little impact on the end result of the design. The report on the public

hearing of Barcelona children held in 2001 shows they were calling for play area

suggestions to be included that today’s 10 to 12 year-olds have called for in the co-

creation process for transforming two city parks (one in Sant Andreu and the other in

Nou Barris. In general, they want more variety in the activities on offer to meet

everyone’s interests regarding play and physical activity.

Although places exclusively for children to play in, such as play areas, are set aside in

urban design, children do not limit themselves to playing in those areas, which are often

demarcated by an enclosure. Often they make the most of any available pedestrian

space, the whole park or the play area surroundings in squares and other recreation

spaces.

Image 2. Where children say they play in Parc del Central de Nou Barris and Parc de

la Pegaso

Source: Barcelona Institute for Children and Adolescents

Times for playing in public spaces

Children have very little time for free play outdoors. According to the adults who

answered the Barcelona Health Survey (ESB‐ASPB, 16‐17), 1 in 4 children aged 3 to 14

never play in the street or the park. There are differences between boys and girls

because 29.1% of girls never do compared to 23.3% of boys. Likewise, another source

reports that 4 out of 10 children aged 10 to 12 (38%) do not play or spend hardly any

time outdoors (between never and, at most, 1 or 2 days a week) with a significant

gender difference (42% of girls compared to 35% of boys). (EBSIB‐IIAB, 2017).

TABLE 5: Percentage of children aged 10 to 12 who answered “How often do you

devote time to ‘playing or spending time outdoors’ outside school?” by district

SOURCE: Survey on the Subjective Well-Being of Children in Barcelona (EBSIB), 2017.

Half (47%) of children say they are not sufficiently satisfied with the independence

they have at home, at school or on the street (EBSIB‐IIAB, 2017). These days adults tend

to overprotect children and this translates into a lack of autonomy as regards taking

risks when they are playing, or being able to go out or play on their own. Families are

key players in whether children play in public space or not in their unscheduled free

time, especially those up to 10 or 12 years old The responsibility for looking after

children lies with them and it is they who decide how much playtime a child spends in

the park or on the street, how much autonomy they have and with what degree of

freedom they do so. Often they also decide where.

Children’s preferences as regards physical and playful activities

Despite extensive literature (especially in the fields of psychology and pedagogy) on what

type of play children do as they develop, we hardly know anything about the current, specific

and diverse reality of children’s play in Barcelona’s parks. As a starting point, we have the

results of the co-creation process with children from two parks, in which 173 children aged

10 to 12 from Sant Andreu and Nou Barris took part. This has enabled the preferences they

expressed as regards their own play preferences and those of younger and older children to

be documented. (IIAB, 2018).

The type of park play children aged 10 to 12 most like involves movement, for

example, football, skating, climbing, cycling or skateboarding. Marksmanship and

hanging too. As far as more relaxed activities are concerned, they say they prefer going

on the internet or listening to music.

Chart 3. Park activities children aged 10 to 12 like. 2018.

If we analyse these data broken down by sex, the girls said they prefer skating,

climbing, jumping, skipping or listening to music. What the boys like doing most is

playing football, going on the internet, splashing about and skating. Both say skating is

among their favourite activities, but for boys the first relaxed activity, listening to music,

is in fourth place, while for girls, going on the internet is in second place More in-depth

study is needed on how they use spaces and play, analysing similarities and differences

according to sex in school playgrounds as well as public places.

As regards doing sport and physical activity, it must be borne in mind that uses and

preferences are also determined by social factors such as gender, background, socio-

economic level, age and functional diversity.

In terms of gender, boys continue to show a higher rate of sports practice than girls

(88.3% more). Despite the upward trend (3 points) compared to 2013, data continue to

show that some girls give up sport or physical activity in adolescence. Girls aged 13 to 19

say they are twice as physically inactive as boys, 16.7% and 8.4% respectively FRESC‐

ASPB, 2016)

As for background, the sport participation rate for school children born in Catalonia is

19% higher than for those born outside Spain. (EHEPEEIBE, 2018)

With regard to their socio-economic level, both sexes of students from more

disadvantaged neighbourhoods are more physically inactive. But it affects girls more.

While 81% of boys and 69% of girls in better-off environments are physically active, 69%

and 63% are, respectively, in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods. (FRESC‐ASPB 2016)

As far as age is concerned, physical inactivity increases as children grow older, reaching

12% among boys and 23% among girls in their second year of baccalaureate studies .

5.2.2

Uses of school playgrounds

Uses of school playgrounds in school time.

The two main factors determining playground use when it comes to deciding what,

where and with whom children play are age and gender. Background as well, to a lesser

extent (FJB).

In general, there is no inclusion by age, as they usually play apart according to how old

they are. Although more than one year might coincide, children rarely mix

spontaneously.

Segregation of the sexes in school playgrounds is obvious and greater than that of

social, background and cultural differences. Two thirds of children find themselves in

single-gender groups. Boys go in for more lively activities than girls, who do twice as

many stationary activities as boys. Regulated games (especially football) are their

favourite, while girls’ activities and those of mixed groups are much more varied and

diversified.

Because football takes centre stage, girls’ activities are less visible, more on the margins.

Boys use the multisport court, all the playground or a corner, in that order, while girls

use them in reverse order: first a corner, then the whole playground and finally the

sports court. When the ball loses its importance or disappears, playground play changes.

The activities become more diversified, as do the relations and groups that form, which

become richer.

The girls’ lack of visibility is even more extreme in the case of those with a foreign

background, who are also segregated from their girl friends. Boys with a foreign

background , on the other hand, easily join in boys’ activities through football.

Playful uses of school playgrounds open to the neighbourhood

Based on the School Playground Programme assessment report (IIAB, 2017), we know

the two age bands that use playgrounds open to the neighbourhood the most are the

11 to 15 band (30% of users) and the 21 to 61 band (35% of users). The latter includes

groups of young adults who use the playground to play football at the end of the day,

and the parents who accompany the youngest population group (14% are between 7

and 10 years old). The type of activities that take place there are related to age.

Over half the users (69%) make regular use of the playground, going there on a weekly

basis.

There are currently two open playground models, depending on the use. One is the

youth model, characterised by the presence of adolescents and young people mainly

doing sports activities, normally men aged 25 to 30 who go to do one of these two

sports for an hour. This group use the playground from 8 pm – or on Sunday morning –

and organise a league. The other model is the family model, with a strong presence of

children, mums and dads, the AMPA and the AFA.

In all, 44% go with their family and 49% with friends. The type of people found in open

playgrounds depends on the socio-economic level of the area. Open playgrounds in

areas

with less family involvement and more disadvantaged socio-economic situations have a

more adolescent population and young men who are mainly playing football. In

neighbourhoods such as Gràcia, Sants or Eixample, on the other hand, apart from young

people, there are more families doing more artistic and family activities.

Open playgrounds are still very much male-dominated places. Where there are girls

(adolescents), most remain seated while the boys of their group play football or

basketball. The type of sports activities, especially football, substantially reduce the girls’

participation or that of small children. This promotes the masculinisation of the space

and the play.

There are some open playgrounds with few participants that are difficult to get off the

ground, especially in the outlying districts, given their socio-economic profile. These

include better-off districts (Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Les Corts) as well as areas with a

more vulnerable population (Nou Barris, parts of Ciutat Vella, the Besòs strip). The

number of people involved in promotional activities varies according to the

playground. Some 59% of users say the have never taken part in such activities The

reality of each playground differs substantially, with promotional activities working in

some and not others.

As regards user preferences in relation to directed Open Playground activities, sports

activities (75%), “gymkhanas” (29%) and music (26%) are the most sought after by those

users surveyed. More family-oriented activities such as storytelling (7%), puppets (9%) or

make-up sessions (9%) come last.

5.2.3

Family habits in relation to play areas.

The report “Ethnographic Observation of Play Areas in Barcelona. An introduction to family

uses and evaluations.” (IIAB 2017) highlights how family habits in relation to play areas vary

according to age and parental preference.

Families have two types of play area: the everyday ones, which they can use on a daily

basis on workdays, especially during the school year, and occasional ones, where they go

at weekends in particular. They also have three or four reference play areas that they

combine for various reasons, most of all because they are looking for diversity, in terms

of the play options they offer as well as type of people or play companions found there,

or their location.

Play during the week is usually during the afternoon (in the morning, children who do

not go to nursery school or day centres) and lasts an hour at most. Sometimes children

also stop for a brief impromptu play on the way home. For some parents, play during

the week is a regular activity, for others (interviewed at the weekend, and especially

with older children) it is sporadic, as the child usually does extracurricular activities so

there is no time for it, nor is it considered necessary (especially in winter). Play at the

weekend is longer (several hours) and parents look for different play equipment. There

are also important differences between summer (more time, warmer, more sunlight

hours) and winter, because there is more time for outdoor play in the former.

Families value play areas according to their proximity in the everyday circuits of

children and the people who look after them: home, school, local facilities, sports

centres and so on. Other factors taken into account include the atmosphere, density,

features and comfort.

The use of play areas tends to drop off from the age of 7 or 8. One of the criteria valued

by families is the type of equipment there: innovation and/or difference, maintenance

and the ages it is aimed at. They really like to see a diverse range of equipment and

versatile spaces where it is possible to play various games or use wheeled equipment

(bikes, skates, etc.)

•

One of the reasons why families choose or discard a play area has to do with the

“atmosphere”. A lack of cultural and social affinity with the other families who use it

might mean they take a negative view of that play area and avoid using it, even looking

for one further away. There are aspects which, from a social perspective, undoubtedly

affect other neighbourhood relations, more than those at the play area.

According to the families, the person accompanying the child also benefits from play at

the park, especially when it means a meeting point with other adults or families, or a

place to stay while the child plays on their own. Some parents see it as a boring activity

but one they do because it is beneficial for their child. One survey assessing family play

time found that 6 out of 10 parents do not even play with their children for a couple of

hours a week, either outdoors or somewhere else.

Although 90% of the youth and adult population (from 15 upwards) say they have a

green space near them, 33% have never been there in a normal week during the last

year. (ECVHP‐IERMB 2011).

5.2.4

Physical activity habits of young people and adults

A third (30%) of the population over the age of 17 does no sport, either in the city’s

sports facilities or in public spaces (streets, parks, beaches, etc.). There has been a 16%

increase compared to 2013 – 56% compared to 72% in 2017. (EHEB‐IBE, 2017)

People over 65, women, people with a low socio-economic level and non-Europeans

are the sectors of Barcelona’s population with a major deficit when it comes to doing

sport or physical activity.

The most active population can be found in certain districts, with Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and

Gràcia the most active in terms of sports: three out of every four residents do sport.

Horta-Guinardó is at the other extreme.

Two thirds (67%) of these sports activities have been organised on their own initiative or

by other people close to them, such as family members or friends. Generally speaking,

they are outdoor activities with equipment and material supplied by the people doing

them.

Seven spaces have been identified where physical-sports activities take place outside

sports facilities in the city: on the street, in a park, at the beach, at home, in the

Collserola hills, in a harbour/the sea and school playgrounds (the latter slightly down on

2013). The street is the space most used by 46% of the physically active population,

followed by the park and the beach. The people who use the street most for doing sport

are those over 45, over 75 in particular, who have not completed compulsory education

and who have a low socio-economic level. Parks attract the most people

A.Banderas. 2017 Estudio #JuegaConEllos. Survey of 500 parents

compared to four years ago (2013) with 24.9% (up 7.8%) doing sport regularly. We find a

very similar profile of people here to those who regularly use the street. Maybe the

difference is a greater presence of people from outside the European Union and more

men, while women and Spanish nationals predominate on the street.

5.2.5

Gender, physical activity and playful activity in public spaces

Men and women use city facilities, services and spaces differently. The most notable

differences can be seen in the use of facilities and services linked to childcare and sports.

Whereas compulsory education schools, nurseries and children’s playgrounds are used

more by women, sports facilities and recreation and leisure facilities are used more by

men. This squares with the traditional gender roles that are assigned to women while

also leaving more leisure time for men. (City Council Gender Justice Plan, 2016).

Women suffer from time poverty. A lack of time is the main reason for both men and

women not doing any physical or sports activity but women spend less time than men

on personal care, participation in community life, sport and outdoor activities, social

life, leisure activities and their hobbies, due to the unequal division of care and

everyday tasks. As regards who accompanies children to play areas, there are 25%

more women than men.

Physical activity habits of children and adolescents

A sedentary way of life is a growing problem among children and young people,

especially girls: 17% of teenage girls/young women (13‐19) are physically inactive,

more than double the number of teenage boys/young men (8%). (FRESC‐ASPB 2016)

There has been a slight increase in physical-sports activity among the school-age

population (6-16) across the city, which rose from 63% to 71% between 2013 and 2018.

The most common playful and physical-sports activities are football and indoor football

(28%), cycling (26%), walking (24%), running (22%) and skating in all its varieties (20%).

(EHEPEEB‐IBE 2018).

5.3 Summary

1. For the first time, Barcelona now has a diagnosis of the city’s recreation

infrastructure and an initial picture of the playful uses of public space. There

are still gaps in the specific qualitative analysis of all state-run schools or playful

spaces. But, above all, we need to know more about outdoor physical and

playful activity in the urban environment. This would tell us where the most

pressure of activity in public space is and what play and physical activity

interests, needs and dynamics there are in the city’s playful ecosystem

framework.

2. The analysis presented here, more than simply enabling greater knowledge of

the opportunities for play in public space in Barcelona, has laid the basis for

managing information on play areas and whether they are play friendly. A

system of indicators has been created and a database generated to monitor

the situation and gradually add to it with more information on other playful

infrastructure.

Map 13 Location of playful infrastructure 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

3. The city’s play areas offer good coverage in terms of their proximity to where

children live or their school, so the problem with them does not lie in how

many there are but rather in their quality. They are very standardised and fall

short in terms of their playability, diversity and accessibility. Generally

speaking, their design prioritises safety, maintenance and adults’ peace of

mind. They still do not pay sufficient attention to the interests of diverse,

creative and inclusive play, failing to take into account all ages, children’s

functional abilities

and the needs of adults that have to look after them, in order to make them

more habitable environments.

4. Overall, the recreation infrastructure in the city’s urban environment is not

diverse enough to offer inclusive activities that appeal to the diverse ages. They

offer a limited range of possibilities for managing risks and for challenging play

designed, above all, for adolescents and young people. The latter only have the

sports facilities and equipment the city offers them, nowhere that would

enable them to do other playful activities they are also interested in, such as

dancing or just public places where they can meet and chat. Intergenerational

play is practically non-existent. Only the sports facilities and equipment

mentioned enable this interaction between different ages to take place and

they are essential for offering young people, grown-ups and elderly people the

chance to enjoy free, non-organised, physical and playful activity in the public

space.

5. Generally, throughout the urban environment, but especially in the play areas

and school playgrounds, there is little contact with nature and possibilities for

play with natural elements. Despite the importance of being in touch with

greenery and natural elements, half of the city’s play areas are not in green

spaces. This restricts the opportunities for play in a natural environment and

with elements such as water, which has a great deal of playful potential.

6. School playgrounds provide an opportunity to offer free enriching play to

students in school time, as well as for community uses if they are opened up to

the neighbourhood the rest of the time. Either way, there are still deficiencies

in terms of a design that could encourage diversified play, coeducation and

more natural, greener surroundings.

7. Green spaces offer great potential as playful spaces, whether or not they have a

play area, due to their size and diversity. But there is still a need to improve

their habitability by adding urban furniture and facilities that meet important

everyday needs and encourage people to meet and stay there. They are able to

accommodate numerous options for playful activity for all ages, fostering

intergenerational play, because they are much bigger than the average play

area and combine wide-open spaces, including natural features, with urban

furniture and equipment for play and physical activity.

8. The city has many other spaces for playing in, apart from the play areas (sports

courts, pedestrian-only streets, superblocks, traffic-calmed streets, etc.) and

the natural environment (Collserola, the Besòs riverbed and the beaches)

which ensure play is not restricted to exclusive spaces but integrated into the

city. They are part of its play space provision and playful ecosystems. They have

the potential for being inclusive community spaces that legitimise playful uses

of public space alongside other activities.

9. Sant Martí, Nou Barris, Horta‐Guinardó and Sants‐Montjuïc are the districts that

offer the most complete recreation infrastructure. Those parts of the city with

the biggest deficit in infrastructure of this nature (in residential areas and

where a lack of play areas coincides with a lack of green spaces, as well as

being a long way from natural spaces) are the Dreta de l’Eixample, Sants‐Badal,

Sant Gervasi‐Galvany, El Putxet i el Farró, La Font d’en Fargues, El Parc i la

Llacuna del Poblenou, El Poblenou and Provençals del Poblenou

neighbourhoods.

Map 14. Deficits in recreation infrastructure 2018

Source: Barcelona Regional, based on data from Barcelona City Council

10. Children do not play freely enough outdoors, because 29% of girls and 23% of

boys never play in the park or on the street. Half of them also say they lack

autonomy at home, on the street and at school, and that they are not very

satisfied with the spaces for playing in the city.

11. There is a gender gap in the uses of and play in school playgrounds, both inside

and outside school hours, as well as in physical activity. Physical inactivity

among girls and young women (17%) is double that among boys and young

men (8%). Ball games in the central part of the playground make other playful

activities often favoured by girls less visible.

12. Those sections of the population who do less physical activity and have a more

sedentary lifestyle are women, people in the most disadvantaged

neighbourhoods, people over 65 and people born outside the European Union.

13. The uses of recreation spaces and play areas by families enable us to think in

terms of a locally based playful ecosystem. They frequent three of four

reference zones depending on their daily routes as pedestrians and look for

safe, comfortable environments that complement each other because they

offer different ideas for playful activity. They need safe, comfortable

environments in play spaces, not just in urban planning and infrastructure

terms but also social terms, with positive community relationships. At

weekends and during school holidays they look for places to play that are

further away from where they live or the school their children go to.

6. 2030 Horizon and targets: Barcelona a

playable city

6.1 Horizon 2030

Now we are going to present six visions of a playable city. A vision of the city developed and

agreed with the various city players and stakeholders involved in the drafting stage of the

Plan: municipal technical managers, associations, organisations, city consultative bodies and

municipal party groups. A necessary perspective that sketches the horizon of a city better for

children and everyone, broken down into goals and achievable targets.

1. A city where children enjoy their right to play and leisure time

and where everyone rediscovers their taste for playing in public

spaces

Barcelona, a city model that invites children and young people to play a leading role in

the everyday life of the city, to go out, meet up and play on the streets, in the parks and

in the squares, because children and their well-being are among its top priorities.

A city whose citizens are imbued with the habit and pleasure of playing at all ages,

starting with the youngest, but where adults and elderly people enjoy intergenerational

play and places in which to spend time that are also adapted to their needs.

A city that recognises the social importance and collective benefits of play as an

important urban policy in line with the strategies of a healthy, educating, inclusive,

accessible and sustainable city.

2. A city that promotes health, all-round development and well-

being through outdoor play and physical activity

A Barcelona that takes care of the play and leisure time of both children and adolescents,

as a human right that is just as important for their healthy development as food,

housing, health and education, as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child reminds

us.

A city that encourages healthy living and promotes and believes physical and playful

activity is important in everyday life because of its benefits for physical health,

combating sedentary lifestyles, child obesity and screen addiction, as well as in mental

health and emotional well-being, risk management, resilience and personal autonomy.

A city with opportunities and educationally rich, playful urban environments offering

lots of options for creative and challenging play that incorporate the main activities and

playful needs of young children and adolescents to stimulate the types of learning

(motor, emotional, cognitive and social) that are vital for all-round development.

3. A city that offers and integrates more and better opportunities

for play

Barcelona, a city with quality spaces and opportunities for play that are well-designed,

co-educational, safe and stimulating, which relies on children’s opinions and

suggestions that are not limited to play areas and which has infrastructure, urban

furniture and features that stimulate play throughout the urban environment but

especially around parks, squares and schools.

A city that incorporates recreation infrastructure planning within the framework of

playful ecosystems as another dimension of urban planning, to ensure access to quality,

local play spaces with a territorial balance that ensures fairness, while making the most

of the potential and diversity in each neighbourhood, based on shared criteria for the

whole city.

A city where schools are neighbourhood facilities with permeable boundaries and where

more use is made of their playgrounds for community playful activities, with immediate

surroundings that can serve as places and spaces to spend time and play in, and school

paths that really are more playful and safer, encouraging autonomous, sustainable

mobility.

4. A city with greened, safe and traffic-calmed settings that allow

people to play on the street

A Barcelona with more green infrastructure in a more natural public space that favours

outdoor physical activity, based on respect, play in contact with nature, greenery and

diverse natural elements, particularly sand and water, in a sustainable city facing up to

the global challenge of climate change.

A Barcelona with ample traffic-calmed zones that increase safety for children and

adolescents while reclaiming public space for citizen use, giving priority to pedestrians

and spaces on the streets where people can meet and play in environments with less air

and noise pollution.

5. A city that stimulates inclusive play, taking into account the

diversity of ages, genders, backgrounds and functional abilities

Barcelona, a city that encourages playful uses of public space with designs and features

to encourage playful activity among everyone from 0 to 99 and which promotes

intergenerational relations, whether adults are playing or doing physical activity, or they

are accompanying children or sharing spaces with other uses (such as responsible pet

ownership).

A city where everyone, whatever their sex or social or cultural background, feels

welcome to play in inclusive spaces that respect social diversity, that incorporate a

gender perspective and are co-educational.

A city that promotes inclusive play spaces that give shape to the right to universal

accessibility around playful spaces and equipment, taking into account the needs of

people with disabilities or functional diversity, whether they are children playing or

adults accompanying them.

6. A city that enriches community life and a mix of people and uses

around play

A Barcelona that encourages shared, cooperative and intergenerational play with ideas

that incorporate the need to collaborate in order to maximise the psychosocial benefits

of play and encourage shared playful activity between children, young people and adults.

A city where playful spaces are conceived as a community resource and meeting place

for diverse activities that go beyond play and which, therefore, take into account the

needs of everyday life with designs, urban features and community interventions that

make them suitable for passing time and reducing social isolation.

A city that makes the most of and takes into account citizen initiatives with regard to the

diverse and positive uses of public space, as well as the importance of finding out and

considering the specific interests of children, adolescents and young people, and the

important role they have in co-designing and being responsible for managing and

ensuring suitable uses of public space.

A city that facilitates more free time for children, a better balance in the different uses

of time and more joint social responsibility for the tasks of looking after children,

making it easier for neighbours to meet, so they can weave community relations and

enrich community life in the neighbourhoods around play spaces.

6.2 Key milestones of the 2030 Plan

Based on the diagnosis and vision of horizon 2030, 10 major targets have been set that are

measurable and communicable and which we intend to reach by 2030.

The aim of these targets it to make the strategy easier to get across and make clear the

commitment to change in the city. When defining them, we have taken into account the

availability of data as a starting point, in order to establish the point we want to be at in

2030.

Monitoring the achievement of these targets will be one of the essential tools for evaluating

the Public Space Play Plan.

Target 1: Double the number of play areas with a diversity of playful activities

Guarantee diverse and creative play in play areas by DOUBLING the number that offer a

diverse range of play, that is, at least six of the main playful activities: sliding, climbing,

swinging, rocking, maintaining balance, jumping, feeling dizzy, running/riding, hiding,

experimenting, role-playing, expressing yourself, meeting up/relaxing.



Starting point 2018:

23% of play areas offer a diverse range of playful activities



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

50% of play areas offer a diverse range of playful activities

Target 2: Ensure minimum size and playability standards for play areas

Ensure some minimum size and playability standards for play areas by REDUCING the number

that are too small (less than 50 m

) and RENOVATING those that do not have enough variety

in their playful activities (those that offer less than three).



Starting point 2018:

4% of play areas have less than 50m

16% of play areas offer insufficient playful activities



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

0% of play areas have less than 50m

0% of play areas offer insufficient playful activities

Target 3: Increase the possibilities for sand and water play in playful spaces and play areas

Reverse the deficit in sand and water play in play areas by INCREASING the spaces for

splashing about and cooling down, as well as the possibilities of playing with sand (in

demarcated sand pits or on sandy ground, which does not necessarily have to cover all the

area to facilitate physical accessibility.



Starting point 2018:

2 spaces for splashing about and cooling down

70% of play areas offer the possibility of playing with sand



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

10 spaces for splashing about and cooling down (in the districts furthest from

the sea)

80% of play areas offer possibilities for playing with sand

Target 4: Double the play facilities that entail challenges and risk management opportunities for

adolescents and young people in playful spaces

Double the possibilities of play involving challenges and risk management especially for

adolescents and young people, with urban sports parks for skateboarding, skating and

scooters (large skate parks), ziplines, giant slides (sloping or slide boards) and play features

with a height challenge (3D nets over three metres high).



Starting point 2018:

4 urban sports parks

9 ziplines

8 giant slides

10 pieces of play equipment with a height challenge



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

10 urban sports parks

20 ziplines

15 giant slides

20 pieces of play equipment with a height challenge

Target 5: Increase the opportunities for shared play throughout the urban environment

Promote shared, collaborative play and group physical activity outdoors with HALF of all

certified play equipment apt for group play and different ages (basket swings, wide slides,

revolving equipment, etc.) and INCREASING the sports equipment in public spaces (off-court

table-tennis tables and basketball baskets).



Starting point 2018:

11 % of play equipment encourages shared play

191 table-tennis tables

84 basketball baskets



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

50% of play equipment encourages shared play

250 table-tennis tables

150 basketball baskets

Target 6: Increase inclusive play and accessibility

INCREASE the play opportunities for people with functional diversity, thus encouraging

inclusive play, as well as play area accessibility by improving universal accessibility design and

increasing the play equipment certified as inclusive.



Starting point 2018:

25% of play areas are accessible and have inclusive-certified equipment



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

100% of new and renovated play areas are accessible and have inclusive-

certified equipment

Target 7: Improve the habitability of playful spaces with toilets, tables, fountains and shade

Target 8: Double the number of playgrounds adapted for diversified, co-educational play in natural

surroundings

Improve school playgrounds so they encourage greater play diversification and co-education

in more natural and sustainable surroundings by DOUBLING the state primary and secondary

schools with suitable playgrounds (based on play-friendly, gender and sustainability criteria)

and community uses (outside school hours), like those schools that are already in the process

of transforming their playgrounds.



Starting point 2018:

30% of state schools believe they have suitable playgrounds or are in the

process of transforming them and giving them community uses.



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

60% of state schools have suitable playgrounds that offer community uses (at

least 120 playgrounds).

Target 9: 100 school surroundings with meeting places following micro-interventions

Improve all environmentally unsuitable primary and secondary school surroundings to

encourage socialisation by gradually INCREASING the micro-interventions at school entrances

to turn them into suitable spaces and places to spend time in, and which encourage

impromptu play.



Starting point 2018:

4 school surroundings improved



Finishing point, at the latest 2030:

100 school surroundings improved

Reverse the sedentary lifestyle trend and deficit in active outdoor play during childhood and

adolescence in the city by significantly REDUCING the physical inactivity rates (insufficient

activity or sedentary lifestyle) among adolescents and young people (aged 13 to 19),

especially teenage girls, as well as the percentage of children (aged 3 to 14) who do not

devote even one day a week to playing in the park or on the street. (Sources: FRESC 16 and

ESB 16/17ASPB)



Starting point 2018:

29% of girls never play in the park or street

23% of boys never play in the park or street

17% of teenage girls and young women are physically inactive

8% of teenage boys and young men are physically inactive



Finishing point 2030:

18% of girls never play in the park or street

15% of boys never play in the park or street

10% of teenage girls and young women are physically inactive

5% of teenage boys and young men are physically inactive

Target 10: Increase recreational and physical activity among children and adolescents and

reduce the gender gap

7. Operational contents of the Plan

The operational contents of the Play Plan are arranged in the following manner:

7.1 Strategic lines

The Plan is divided into the following three strategic lines of action in order to move

towards the 2030 horizon of a playable city:

Line 1.

More and better play

spaces in the urban

environment:

Playful infrastructure in

a playable city

•This line includes all those actions aimed at providing more

and better opportunities for play and physical activity in

public spaces by equipping them with a playful

infrastructure designed and planned with the new

criteria. That means actions for creating, diversifying and

improving different kinds of play spaces in three layers:

first, the play areas and school playgrounds; second, parks

and squares as playful spaces, as well as school

surroundings; and, third, other outdoor urban spaces

where play or physical activity takes place more or less

spontaneously.

Line 2.

Stimulating playful

and physical activity

outdoors:

playful uses in a city of

play

•This line covers a whole series of actions aimed at

stimulating the uses of and time devoted to palyful

activity in public spaces in the city. Apart from having a

good playful infrastructure, we need to promote playful

uses so people acquire the taste again for playing and

doing physical activity outdoors and make the most of the

opportunities offered by the city’s urban environment.

Line 3.

Promote a paradigm

shift:

play gains ground in the

city

•This line covers actions aimed at driving a paradigm shift

among the general public and in the local authority so they

recognise and realise the value and social importance of

play as well as its individual and collective benefits,

especially of free, shared, outdoor play, starting in

childhood and adolescence.

Public Space Play Plan

3 strategic lines

14 objectives

63 actions

10 lead projects

7.2 General objectives of the Play Plan

The three strategic lines comprise the following 14 general objectives:

Line 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment: playful infrastructure in a

playable city

Design play areas as well as playful spaces and urban furniture that offer better

opportunities for diverse, safe, stimulating and inclusive play, taking adolescence, diverse

backgrounds, universal accessibility and a gender perspective into account.

Improve opportunities for play and socialisation in and out of school, by turning school

entrances into squares and their playgrounds into a community resource.

Plan and create more recreation infrastructure with proximity, density and equality

criteria in playful ecosystems that make the most of the potential and characteristics of

each neighbourhood, while seeking to maintain a territorial balance in the city.

Increase the opportunities and space available for playing in the street, encouraging

casual, spontaneous play around the city in safer environments.

Create pleasant outdoor environments that foster social links and community life around

play by incorporating the everyday needs of children, young people and the grown-ups

who look after them into urban design.

Line 2. Stimulating playful and physical activity in the streets and open air: playful uses in a city of

play

Encourage children and adolescents to go out and play in the streets, squares and parks

with as much autonomy as possible.

Promote intergenerational play and the habit of playing and doing physical activity

outdoors among all ages, especially in green spaces.

Facilitate social-entity or citizen initiatives linked to playful and physical activity that

stimulate diverse and positive uses of public spaces.

Enable playful spaces and school surroundings to become meeting points and places for

community life with various uses, not just play.

Line 3. Promote a paradigm shift: play gains ground in the city

10.

Raise awareness and recognition of the social importance of play, as well as its individual

and collective benefits for everyone.

11.

Increase the time children and adolescents have for free play as part of a social

reorganisation of the ways people use their leisure time, achieving a work-life balance

and democratising care tasks.

12.

Promote citizen co-design and co-responsibility, above all on the part of children and

adolescents, to take into account and increase the sense of belonging and an attitude of

taking care of the urban environment.

13.

Generate knowledge of and evaluate the opportunities and playful uses of public space in

order to understand them and the progress, backwards steps and impacts on the general

public, especially on children and adolescents, as well as on the quality of community life

and the urban environment.

14.

Boost municipal services and resources for adequately implementing and coordinating

the Play Plan’s general objectives and its execution as an urban policy.

7.3 Actions proposed by Public Space Play Plan

Both the time-frame, as well as the targets and actions proposed in this Plan, call for a

paradigm shift in the long term, that is, by 2030. However, in the medium term, a midpoint

assessment is planned for 2024, when actions will be updated and rescheduled for the

second phase of the Plan, from 2025 to 2030.

The 63 actions for achieving the 14 objectives of the 3 strategic lines of action are described

in the following pages. Each action fact sheet includes a brief description and specifies the

key players involved, with collaborating players in brackets. A final section offers the planned

schedule. The actions highlighted in grey are those regarded as lead projects given their

importance, and they are described in detail, with more extensive fact files in the following

section, 7.4.

Objective 1 - Design play areas as well as playful spaces and urban furniture that offer

better opportunities for diverse, safe, stimulating and inclusive play, taking adolescence,

diverse backgrounds, universal accessibility and a gender perspective into account.

Action N. 1

Incorporate play area design criteria geared towards improving play quality in all new and

renovation projects.

More specifically, this means ensuring that, gradually, all play areas offer a number of options for

creative, challenging play for healthy child development (criterion 1); that the physical space itself is

diverse, stimulating, connected and accessible (criterion 2); that play spaces are inclusive for all ages,

genders, backgrounds and abilities (criterion 3); that they offer play with natural elements such as water

and sand (criterion 4); and that priority is given to equipment that fosters shared, intergenerational and

collective play (criterion 5). These and the other environment-related criteria will be specified with

minimum standards for sufficient play quality in the operational design handbook that will be drawn up

in 2019.

Main players involved

DISTRICTS, URBAN MODEL and PARKS AND GARDENS

(IMPD)

Time-frame

2019-2030

LINE 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment:

playful infrastructure in a playable city

Action N. 2

Reorganise and rethink the play areas from a territorial and proactive perspective based on

minimum quality standards.

Play areas need renovating every so often, owing to their use and to ensure the play equipment is well

maintained and in good condition. This periodic action in the maintenance schedule offers the possibility

of adapting play areas to new, playable quality criteria. But, more than the opportunity that annual

renovation or the creation of new areas represent, this action means being proactive and pressing

ahead with an analysis of each district to remove or replace areas, especially the priority cases with

major shortcomings, not just in terms of maintenance.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 3

Promote the recreation space model as a priority and decrease the number of poor quality,

standardised play areas.

In parks, squares, gardens and block interiors where play takes place alongside other uses and where it

is possible to promote more versatile uses, we need to rethink the space overall in terms of a recreation

space, expanding the range of play opportunities as a whole, instead of reducing them to designated

areas, set aside exclusively for play. An effort will be made to ensure some of these recreation spaces

are particularly special and emblematic, in order to create some iconic places where it is possible to go

and play in the city and highlight the social importance of these play environments. The technical

guidelines for these recreation spaces will also be included in the operational design handbook.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 4

Renovate and decrease the number of poor quality, standardised play areas.

The idea is to study, case by case, the possibilities for renovating and/or removing and replacing with

alternatives, excessively small play areas (less than 50 m

) which offer fewer than three different

activities, are over-standardised and unnecessarily demarcated by enclosures.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 5

Create playful areas designed for adolescents and young people.

Create playful spaces expressly taking into account the interests and needs of adolescents and young

people for somewhere to play and gather. Spaces with legitimate uses (features that enable artistic

expression, such as stepping, mirrors, walls, as well as parkour, etc.) as spelt out in the Adolescence and

Youth Plan (2017-2021) and based on the analysis of uses in the adolescent hub at the future Glòries

Canopy.

Main players involved

DISTRICTS, URBAN MODEL and PARKS AND GARDENS (YOUTH and IBE)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 6

Incorporate play features for adults and elderly people apt for play at all ages and intergenerational

as well.

Incorporate play features for adults and elderly people apt for play at all ages and also

intergenerational play in recreation spaces, so that, gradually, all the neighbourhoods have active play

options with certified equipment, for sport (health circuits, callisthenics, etc.) and play with swings,

slides and ziplines, apt from 0 upwards.

Main players involved

PARKS AND GARDENS, DISTRICTS and IBE

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 7

Increase the opportunities for playing with water as an essential resource in the city’s recreation

infrastructure.

Increase the opportunities for playing with water as an essential resource in the city’s recreation

infrastructure through three lines of action: one, installing drinking-water fountains that are easy for

children to use in recreation spaces and the vicinity of play areas, with a dual purpose – hydration and

play; two, adapting spaces for splashing about and cooling down in during the summer season; three,

incorporating a water play kit in the summer for the “Let’s play in the squares” programme. Always use

water for human consumption responsibly.

Lead project. See file N.7

Main players involved

PARKS AND GARDENS

(BCASA, ASPB, DISTRICTS and IBE)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 8

Pilot and consolidate the adventure playground model, putting the emphasis on free, creative play.

This means introducing, piloting and ensuring the city adopts a model that is well-established in

European countries aimed at creating somewhere for children aged 8 to 10 and adolescents, conceived

as an evening, weekend and holiday service supervised by specialist staff which offers opportunities for

experimental, creative and free play, assuming risks in a safe environment by means of self-directed

activity based on handling and building with waste and natural materials (fabrics, wheels, card, earth,

wood, water, etc.) Study possible locations (Besòs riverbed, Montjuïc) and types of management.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL

Time-frame

2021-2030

Action N. 9

Incorporate playable urban features in the urban furniture catalogue.

Incorporate playable urban features in the urban furniture catalogue, based on the prototyping carried

out and applied in the La Verneda neighbourhood under the Neighbourhood Plan. The intention is to

gradually scale up various types of micro-interventions in the urban environment as a whole, based on

some ten playable features that have been prototyped, to encourage play while taking accessibility

criteria and a gender perspective into account.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL, FOMENT

(PARKS AND GARDENS, URBAN LANDSCAPE, IMPD)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 10

Expand the recreation resources with mobile play areas.

Expand the recreation resources with mobile play areas for tactical urban planning actions that enable

certain public spaces in disuse to be converted for other playful uses, or the incorporation of the

playable layer in pedestrian-only spaces such as the superblocks. This is a play area rolled out from a

container that can be co-designed and co-managed with the community and there are plans to evaluate

its uses.

Main players involved

PARKS AND GARDENS

(URBAN MODEL)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Objective 2 - Improve opportunities for play and socialisation in and out of school, by turning school

entrances into squares and their playgrounds into a community resource.

Action N. 11

Transform school playgrounds by diversifying their play options, co-education and

greening, and giving them community uses.

Work has already been done to provide new schools with more suitable playgrounds and now it is a

matter of gradually systematising and transforming all municipal-run school playgrounds, primary and

secondary, based on updating the playground inventory, systematising criteria and offering exchange

forums and resources (guide, support, funding, etc.).

See file for lead project N.5

Main players

involved

BARCELONA EDUCATION CONSORTIUM

(CATALAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, EDUCATING CITY, IMEB, SCHOOLS, AMPA

and AFA parents’ associations, DISTRICT AND CITY SCHOOL COUNCILS, MORE

SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS from the Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility Area,

PARKS AND GARDENS, GENDER MAINSTREAMING, IMPD, Social entities and

specialist companies with experience in this field)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 12

Urban micro-interventions in school surroundings to turn them into places and spaces for meeting

people, community life and impromptu play.

Based on the experiences of the Eixample district with the measure “Let’s fill school surroundings with

life” or Ciutat Vella under the Neighbourhood Plan, the aim here is to encourage social interaction

among children and adults from the school community and the neighbourhood round school entrances,

while gradually promoting micro-interventions round the whole city to gain pavement and/or corner

space, comfortable urban furniture for interaction and possibilities for spontaneous play.

See file for lead project N.6

Main players

involved

DISTRICTS

(URBAN MODEL, MOBILITY, EDUCATING CITY, BARCELONA EDUCATION

CONSORTIUM, SCHOOLS, AMPA and AFA parents’ associations, DISTRICT

AND CITY SCHOOL COUNCILS, CITY POLICE)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 13

Boost the “School Playgrounds Open to the Neighbourhood” programme

Boost the “School Playgrounds Open to the Neighbourhood” programme in various ways: gradually

incorporate municipal nursery playgrounds, increase the number of municipal secondary school

playgrounds where opportune, include inclusive measures for children with disabilities, pilot

experiences of diversifying play with specialist staff, highlighting cultural diversity and the loan of

material in conjunction with neighbourhood groups and associations, taking the evaluation carried out

into account and designing a more in-depth one, while updating the programme so it fits into the

recreation ecosystem framework and incorporates diverse formulas that include, in particular,

transformed playgrounds with the necessary resources.

Main players

involved

IMEB

(DISTRICTS, EDUCATION CONSORTIUM, IMPD and IBE)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Objective 3 - Plan and create more recreation infrastructure with proximity, density and

equality criteria in recreation ecosystems that make the most of the potential and

characteristics of each neighbourhood, while seeking to maintain a territorial balance in

the city.

Action N. 14

Plan city recreation infrastructure in the medium and long term within the recreation ecosystem

framework, while ensuring it is adequately maintained and cleaned.

Plan city recreation infrastructure in the medium and long term within the recreation ecosystem

framework, while ensuring it is adequately maintained and cleaned, by district and based on criteria

such as urban development opportunities (renovating areas, improving parks, creating new spaces,

etc.), current deficits identified in the recreation infrastructure map and diagnosis or the social needs in

different parts of the city, with an equality, density and accessibility perspective based on the mapping

of opportunities and needs. This means pressing ahead with making the recreation infrastructure and

ecosystem concepts operational and incorporating them as one more important dimension of city

planning, as well as guiding the district councils when making decisions on the opportunities and needs

for recreation spaces in their district.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS

(IBE, IMPD, DISTRICTS, BR and IIAB)

Time-frame

2020-2025

Action N. 15

Co-create new urban sports parks for small-wheel sports such as skateboarding, skating,

scooting, etc.

Co-create new urban sports parks for small-wheel sports such as skateboarding, skating, scooting,

etc., so all the districts have these free, outdoor recreation infrastructures. This not only means opening

new ones but also exploring co-creation and co-management formulas for these parks that involve

young people in these processes.

See file for lead project N.8

Main players involved

IBE

(DISTRICTS, YOUTH, CJB and SPECIALIST SPORTS ORGANISATIONS)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 16

Increase and diversify sports equipment for motor play and physical activity from 0 to 99 years of age.

Increase and diversify sports equipment for motor play and physical activity from 0 to 99 years of age

spread around the city (table-tennis tables, basketball baskets, pétanque courts, etc.) In particular, that

means the widespread availability of physical activity equipment in recreation spaces, giving priority to

those districts and areas with less, based on mapping and the 2019 Municipal Sports Facilities Plan.

Likewise, it means incorporating equipment suitable for children and at the right height.

Main players involved

DISTRICTS and IBE

(PARKS AND GARDENS)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 17

Create a large, innovative recreation space for all ages (0 to 99) in the natural surroundings of the

seafront

Create a large, innovative recreation space for all ages (0 to 99) in the natural surroundings of the

seafront, taking advantage of its transformation to make it a new, benchmark space gained by the city

to encourage everyone to play and do physical activity, one that is designed to expand and diversify the

recreation infrastructure by piloting new play options without standardised play areas.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL

(IBE)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 18

Promote the natural surroundings of the beaches, Collserola, the Besòs riverbed, Montjuïc and the

Tres Turons park as spaces for play.

Given the shortage of play options in contact with nature, Barcelona needs to promote its unique

natural surroundings to encourage their playful uses by, among other things, piloting the Barcelona

Metropolitan Area environmental play centre model in the city and taking steps to develop playful uses

for the beaches outside the summer season.

Main players involved

URBAN ECOLOGY

(IBE)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Objective 4 - Increase the opportunities and space available for playing in the street,

encouraging casual, spontaneous play around the city in safer environments.

Action N. 19

Sundays for play and recreation on the street: one main street in each district closed to traffic every

Sunday morning.

Following the example of a number of streets (Gran de Gràcia, Consell de Cent, etc.) in recent years, and

as a measure to supplement permanent pedestrianisation in the superblocks or other parts of the city,

this means temporarily closing a main street in each district on Sunday mornings in order to gain, for a

period, new public space for outdoor play and physical activity, promoting healthy habits that improve

the well-being and quality of leisure shared by local residents, starting with children.

See file for lead project N.2

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL, MOBILITY and DISTRICTS

(IBE, FOMENT)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 20

Study the creation of a network of pedestrian paths in the city that incorporate the enjoyment of

free time, taking a stroll and playing on the street while promoting everyday mobility on foot.

Study the creation of a network of pedestrian paths in the city incorporating play on the street, as well

as enjoying a stroll and free time there, while promoting everyday mobility on foot. This means

analysing and designing, while taking into account the experience and scope of existing paths, small

changes to prioritise and facilitate mobility on foot, going for a stroll, leisure and play in the diverse

networks of everyday life, within the recreation ecosystem framework, and integrating that into the

city's urban model.

Main players involved

URBAN MODEL AND MOBILITY

(DISTRICTS)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 21

Create safer environments, with universal accessibility, around play areas and recreation spaces as

well as schools.

Create safer environments, with universal accessibility, around play areas and recreation spaces, as

well as schools, by means of various measures combined with interrupting traffic at times when children

are going in or coming out of school, traffic calming and widening the pavement area for pedestrians,

along with other measures that create an environmental safety perimeter around recreation spaces and

schools to facilitate safe access and encourage independent child and adolescent mobility in a less

polluted urban environment.

Main players involved

DISTRICTS and IBE

(URBAN ECOLOGY, IMEB, IMPD, CITY POLICE)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 22

Rethink the school path programme.

Rethink the school path programme to link and fit it in with broader city strategies for sustainable

mobility and promoting play on the street, bearing in mind the objective of the paths is to encourage

children and adolescents to walk to school on their own, and evaluate the results of the programme.

Main players involved

IMEB

Time-frame

2019-2021

Objective 5 - Create pleasant outdoor environments that foster social links and community

life around play by incorporating the everyday needs of children, young people and the

grown-ups who look after them into urban design.

Action N. 23

Open café-bars in recreation spaces to offer toilets and the loan of a basic set of games

This means increasing the number of café-bars in parks and gardens with a threefold service

objective: ensuring free access to toilets with no charge, especially where there are more children and

elderly people; offering a loan service with a basic set of play items (foam ball, rope, bucket and

spade, chalk, badminton set, board games, etc.); and covering the needs of adults looking after

children while making it easier for the latter to play on their own, thus improving everyone’s well-

being while increasing play time and quality.

See file for lead project N.9

Main players involved

PARKS AND GARDENS

DISTRICTS and IBE

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 24

Explore promoting collaboration with commercial establishments in squares, especially cafés or bars

with a terrace.

Explore promoting collaboration with commercial establishments in squares, especially cafés or bars

with a terrace, to decide how they can collaborate in providing free toilet access and in loaning a basic

set of games.

Main players involved

DISTRICTS

Time-frame

2020-2025

Action N. 25

Increase urban furniture, taking everyday needs into account and create pleasant areas to spend

time in around the city, especially around recreation spaces and play areas. Mainly benches,

fountains and shade.

This means installing more furniture for sitting on and arranged for chatting, more picnic tables,

drinking-water fountains and shaded areas (as envisaged in the Climate Plan) so these become more

pleasant places for people to meet socially and pass their time in, in a more habitable city. It means

considering how to prevent the risks of improper uses at night and/or ensuring the perception of safety

from a gender perspective. Adapting this to the Everyday Urban Planning Manual

Main players involved

PARKS AND GARDENS

(URBAN MODEL, DISTRICTS and GENDER MAINSTREAMING)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 26

Introduce more greenery into recreation spaces and play area surroundings.

Introduce more greenery into recreation spaces and play area surroundings to create more natural and

more comfortable environments to spend time in. This will also make it possible to reduce the deficit of

play in contact with green and natural elements, thus helping to reverse the green deficit and the

impacts of climate change, and to move towards becoming a more resilient city (as envisaged in the

Green Plan and the Climate Plan).

Main players involved

PARKS AND GARDENS

(DISTRICTS)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Objective 6 - Encourage children and adolescents to go out and play in the streets, squares

and parks with as much autonomy as possible.

Action N. 27

“Let’s play in the squares”. Programme with mobile recreation options to encourage meeting up

and playing in the city’s squares.

This means scaling up this valuable experience, already being promoted in some neighbourhood

squares, with actions throughout the year that, periodically and moving to different squares, promote

activities with game kiosks (traditional games, circus, board games, games from around the world, etc.),

large-scale games, pop-up interventions for free, creative, experimental and discovery play, water

games for the summer, foam ball championships and so on.

See file for lead project N.3

Main players

involved

DISTRICTS

(EDUCATING CITY and IBE)

Time-frame

2020-2025

Action N. 28

Include more public space recreation options at summer camps and day centres, and in open

centres, toy libraries and children's play centres.

Include more public space recreation options at summer camps and day centres, and in open centres,

toy libraries and children's play centres during the summer holidays and the school year, as well as at

youth centres, JIP (Young person, find out and take part) points, the Baobab educational leisure

programme and so on. It also means gradually including activities with an intergenerational and

intercultural dimension and a gender perspective.

Main players involved

DISTRICTS, IBE, IMSS, IMEB, CHILDHOOD and YOUTH

Time-frame

2020-2025

Action N. 29

Play Support Service for children with functional diversity.

Based on the bathing support service at the city beaches in the summer, and with the aim of promoting

inclusive play in public spaces for all children without discrimination, it is proposed to set up the Play

Support Service with a person to assist children with functional diversity to play independently and

interact with other children who have no disability.

See file for lead project N.3

Main players involved

IMPD

(IBE, Citizen Agreement Independent Living Network)

Time-frame

2020-2030

LINE 2. Stimulating playful and physical activity outdoors: playful

uses in a city of play

Objective 7 - Promote intergenerational play and the habit of playing and doing physical

activity outdoors among all ages, especially in green spaces.

Action N. 30

Play for everyone in the heart of the city with the opening of an outdoor toy library for all ages (0

to 99) in a central spot.

This means exploring the possibility of starting up a game space at an outdoor spot in the city’s nerve

centre, following the example of R’ de Jeux in Paris (1,000 m

in the central Place de la République) with

intergenerational and intercultural games, which invites play, thus creating a leading playful spot in the

city that encourages people to devote time to play and also reclaiming the heart of the city as a place to

stay and meet up. It consists of a service with a kiosk/café as a permanent toy library (because it opens

out and closes up, and is open at different times and on different days, depending on the season. This

service loans out equipment and board games, space with tables, chairs, parasols and places for playing

in, and provides professional toy librarians offering advice and creates a play atmosphere for all ages,

thus facilitating shared play – intergenerational, intercultural or as a family.

Main players

involved

FOMENT

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 31

Get local facilities (libraries, civic centres, neighbourhood centres and creation factories) to

promote and schedule outdoor playful activities.

This means looking into how libraries, civic centres, neighbourhood centres and “creation factories” can

programme more outdoor playful activities in local public spaces, and promote a playful habit and

attitude among their users (bearing in mind the government measure Towards a Public Culture and

Education Policy, approved in December 2018). The possible extension of an outdoor version of the

traditional Dau game festival in the summer months at the Fabra i Coats creation factory will also be

evaluated.

Main players

involved

ICUB, COMMUNITY ACTION

(DISTRICTS and LIBRARY CONSORTIUM)

Time-frame

2020-2022

Action N. 32

Increase and diversify the outdoor playful and physical activity on offer throughout the life cycle.

Increase and diversify the outdoor playful and physical activity on offer throughout the life cycle by

incorporating intergenerational options linked to the Health in the Neighbourhoods and “Get Active in

the Parks” programmes, as well as intergenerational and motor play options in more of the city’s green

spaces.

Main players

involved

IBE, BCN PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY

Time-frame

2020-2030

Objective 8 - Facilitate social entity or citizen initiatives linked to playful and physical

activity that stimulate diverse and positive uses of public spaces.

Action N. 33

Esplais and caus take to the streets: “priority play zones” in some squares and streets on Saturdays.

This means facilitating playful uses of squares near the centres of these educational recreation

associations as priority play zones, at certain times and with the associations sharing responsibility, prior

agreement on the model and agreements on the uses, by temporarily closing nearby side streets. It also

means studying the possibility of expanding this initiative of occasionally closing side streets for play to

other groups and associations in other neighbourhoods.

See file for lead project N.4

Main players

involved

JOVENTUT and CJB

(DISTRICTS, MOBILITY and FAVB)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 34

Promote minority sports from different countries outdoors on the open sports courts and in school

playgrounds.

Promote minority sports from different countries outdoors on the open sports courts and in school

playgrounds to enrich the repertoire of physical and playful activity through cultural diversity, making

people aware of them and encouraging everyone to play them.

Main players

involved

IBE, MUNICIPAL SPORTS COUNCIL, CITIZEN RIGHTS

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 35

Adopt a proactive approach and explore public support for social or community projects to

share and/or exchange games and toys.

Adopt a proactive approach and explore public support for social or community projects to share

and/or exchange games and toys, such as Social Toy in parks or squares, experiences of toy-sharing or

toy-swap markets, so they become established with a wider social and territorial scope. This means

systematising good practices and, in each case, looking for agreements and support with associations

and groups that promote non-sexist toys and the habits of sharing and exchanging play items.

Main players

involved

DISTRICTS, CHILDHOOD

Time-frame

2020-2030

Objective 9 - Enable recreation spaces and school surroundings to become meeting points

and places for community life with various uses, not just play.

Action N. 36

Boost the public space dispute management service.

This means strengthening the service so, where play has a high presence and there are disputes over

space uses, community mediation can be activated with the right intensity and most suitable formula,

and square committees can be set up to agree on uses in each case, to better accommodate all the uses

in the public spaces where that is required.

Main players

involved

IMSS, DISTRICTS

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 37

Explore actions for improving the coexistence of uses of public spaces for dogs and games.

Exploring actions for improving the use of public space by dogs and for games refers to dog owners

respecting recreation spaces and also encouraging play between the pets, their owners and other

residents.

Main players

involved

OFFICE FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS, MUNCIPAL COMMUINTY

RELATIONS COUNCIL, DEFENCE AND PROTECTION OF ANIMALS

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 38

Prevent sexism and sexual harassment in public spaces.

Preventing sexism and sexual harassment in public spaces means adopting measures linked to the

Strategy for Preventing Sexism in the City as well as the Government Measure on Improving the System

for Tackling Sexist Violence in Barcelona, among others, and defining and implementing intervention

lines and dispute resolution protocols for preventing sexist violence in sports arenas, recreation spaces

and extracurricular activities, as well as other community spaces in the public space.

Main players

involved

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND CARE FOR WOMEN

Time-frame

2019-2030

Line 3. Promote a paradigm shift: play gains ground in the city

Objective 10 - Raise awareness and recognition of the social importance of play, as well as

its individual and collective benefits for everyone.

Action N. 39

Communication and awareness campaign on the social importance of play.

Communication and awareness campaign on the social importance of play and its collective benefits,

starting with children and adolescents, and using online and offline communication, including talks

aimed at families through students’ families associations.

Main players

involved

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT, SOCIAL RIGHTS, URBAN ECOLOGY

Time-frame

2020-2022

Action N. 40

Boost the celebration of World Play Day.

Boost the celebration of World Play Day with street activities driven by social entities and

municipal services around the city every 28 May.

Main players

involved

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT, DISTRICTS

Time-frame

2020-2025

Action N. 41

Take down signs in the city that prohibit ball games and promote all kinds of play in the street,

alongside other uses.

As some districts have already started doing, that means replacing signs prohibiting ball games, which

help to create a collective imagination where playing in public spaces is banned, with signs that

encourage children to play a variety of games with a respectful attitude, encouraging acceptance of

other uses of the space.

See file for lead project N.1

Main players

involved

DISTRICTS, PARKS AND GARDENS

Time-frame

2019-2021

Action N. 42

Improve signs in the city informing people of the opportunities for play in various ways.

Improve signs in the city for informing people of the opportunities for play in various ways: install

specific signs in squares and streets that become priority play zones at certain times; review play area

signs so they take universal accessibility into account and do not maintain gender stereotypes; use signs

that remind people of the social importance of play, that suggest free, shared play, getting wet, getting

dirty, etc.; indicate that some equipment, play areas or recreation spaces are suitable for all ages (0 to

99); include information in city signs on where recreation spaces are and what they offer; install signs on

school paths.

Main players

involved

URBAN ECOLOGY and PARKS AND

GARDENS (IMPD)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 43

Create a website and a mobile app on the play opportunities the city offers.

Create a website and a mobile app on the play opportunities the city offers with three objectives: one,

to geolocate and identify the characteristics of play areas, recreation spaces and other recreation

infrastructure mapped in the city; two, to publicise and make people aware of the recreation activities

programmed around the city; and three, make it easy for people to evaluate play spaces and options, as

well as report incidents (link to citizen mail box app).

Main players

involved

PARKS AND

GARDENS (IBE)

Time-frame

2019-2022

Action N. 44

Develop an intercultural community project on play as a cultural fact (Play is culture) which

highlights its importance from the perspective of the city’s cultural diversity.

Develop an intercultural community project on play as a cultural fact (Play is culture) which highlights its

importance from the perspective of the city’s cultural diversity, based on knowledge of the diverse

playful practices of minorities such as Roma people and immigrant groups, involving them in the co-

creation of an exhibition.

Main players

involved

CITIZEN RIGHTS

Time-frame

2020-2023

Action N. 45

Train educators in free, creative and co-educational play as well as in maintaining harmony in school

playgrounds

Design and incorporate a training course in the training programme of pedagogical resource centres on

the role of educators in supporting and encouraging free, creative and co-educational play during break

times, as well as handling disputes.

Main players

involved

BARCELONA EDUCATION CONSORTIUM, IMEB

Time-frame

2021-2025

Objective 11 - Increase the time children and adolescents have for free play as part of a

social reorganisation of the ways people use their leisure time, achieving a work-life

balance and democratising care tasks.

Action N. 46

Promote active outdoor play habits prescribing and recommending one hour a day.

Promote active outdoor play habits, with doctors and paediatric nurses prescribing and recommending

one hour a day for its value in maintaining physical and mental health, and teachers and educators, one

hour for its educational value. This means defining formulas for involving basic health and education

services as key players in prescribing play for families, inspired by the World Health Organisation’s

recommendation of an hour of physical activity a day.

Main players

involved

ASPB

(BARCELONA HEALTH CONSORTIUM, PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS and IBE)

Time-frame

2020-2030

Action N. 47

Move forward on the social organisation of time, to make more free time available for enjoying

outdoor play and physical activity, as well as measures for improving the work-life balance and co-

responsibility of men and women for an equal distribution of care tasks.

Move forward on the social organisation of time, to make more free time available for enjoying outdoor

play and physical activity, as well as measures for improving the work-life balance and co-responsibility

of men and women for an equal distribution of care and parenting tasks linked to accompanying and

sharing play time with their children. These three lines are part of implementing and applying the

Barcelona Time Agreement, as well as democratising care.

Main players

involved

BARCELONA ACTIVA

Time-frame

2020-2030

Objective 12 - Promote citizen co-design and co-responsibility, especially on the part of

children and adolescents, so recreation spaces are more suited to play and young people

develop a greater sense of owning and being responsible for looking after them.

Action N. 48

Systematise methodological guidelines so they take into account the interests and needs of

children, adolescents and young people in public space transformation projects.

Systematise methodological guidelines so they take into account the interests and needs of children,

adolescents and young people in public space transformation projects, carrying out co-creation

processes that look for the ideal co-design formula in each case and co-responsibility for the

transformed space, and benefiting from methodologies already piloted for finding out and taking into

account the specific perspectives of children and adolescents.

Main players

involved

PARTICIPATION, URBAN ECOLOGY

(ACTIVE DEMOCRACY, DISTRICET and

IIAB)

Time-frame

2019-2021

Action N. 49

Consider developing a project to promote co-responsibility for the proper use, shared use

and maintenance of recreation spaces near schools.

Consider developing a project to promote co-responsibility for the proper use, shared use and

maintenance of the most popular recreation spaces near schools, from a logic of each school sponsoring

a park and also as an outdoor education space for gradually carrying out more school activities, taking

advantage of schools’ urban and social settings in the framework of educational innovation. This idea

has been put forward by children in various participatory processes.

Main players

involved

SUSTAINABILITY, DISTRICTS

Time-frame

2020-2025

Objective 13 - Generate knowledge of and evaluate the opportunities and playful uses of

public space in order to understand them and the progress, backward steps and impacts on

the general public, especially on children and adolescents, as well as on the quality of

community life and the urban environment.

Action N. 50

Innovation and research on the opportunities for play in Barcelona’s public spaces.

Innovation and research on the opportunities for play in Barcelona’s public spaces based on various

applied research projects for generating knowledge applied to the city on the diversity of playful areas in

public spaces and their social and territorial scope, as well as on the playful ecosystem model within the

framework of superblocks (urban and social). This involves combining different methodologies, among

others, ethnographic observation and techniques, participatory research-action with exploratory walks

and the creation of an information management system for analysing data on the basis of a system of

indicators, as well as generating evidence of the influence that the design of playful spaces has on play

practices and habits in Barcelona through comparative analysis with other cities.

Main players

involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS, IMPD. IIAB. BR

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 51

Create a map of the needs and opportunities for play in the city’s public spaces as a planning tool and

for public dissemination by means of an app/website.

This means, first of all, creating a recreation infrastructure map (identifying the play areas where

renovation is planned between 2019 and 2025, and geolocating outdoor sports equipment identified on

the map for the Sports Facilities Plan) and periodically updating it. And, secondly, including the

dimensions of children’s, youth, educational, sports and local cultural facilities on the map, as well as

hospitals with a paediatric service, and also promoting the city’s network of pedestrian paths.

Main players

involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS

(IBE, SOCIAL RIGHTS, DISTRICTS and BR)

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 52

Incorporate questions on the periodic municipal surveys to provide informed data on the

frequency of and satisfaction with play time and spaces for playing in the city.

These include the Municipal Barometer, FRESC, Sports Habits of the Adult and School Populations and the

Subjective Well-being of Childhood surveys, among others.

Main players

involved

MUNICPAL DATA OFFICE, ASPB, IBE and IIAB

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 53

Estimate the Public Space Play Plan’s impact on health.

Estimate the Public Space Play Plan’s impact on health in order to generate evidence of the expected

positive impacts with regard to reducing sedentary lifestyles, obesity, the problematic use of screens

and mental health problems, as well as its impact on gender.

Main players

involved

ASPB

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 54

Compile and systematise actions linked to outdoor play and physical activity in the report on

measures included in the Plan for Encouraging and Promoting Citizen Uses of Public Space.

This report on uses includes municipal intervention measures adopted to prevent types of behaviour

penalised by the co-existence byelaw, among others, those associated with outdoor play and playful

activity.

Main players

involved

CITIZEN RIGHTS, COMMUNITY RELATIONS OFFICE

Time-frame

2019-2022

Objective 14 - Boost municipal services and resources for adequately implementing and

coordinating the Play Plan’s general objectives and its execution as an urban policy.

Action N. 55

Create a suitable municipal management structure, with sufficient municipal resources, for organising

and monitoring the implementation of the Play Plan.

Create a suitable municipal management structure, with sufficient municipal resources, for organising

and monitoring the implementation of the Play Plan with clear reference persons, teams and circuits, as

far as human and financial resources are concerned, in the municipal departments, services and

institutes as well as all the districts.

Main players

involved

URBAN ECOLOGY, SOCIAL RIGHTS, CITIZEN RIGHTS

Time-frame

2019-2030

Action N. 56

Draw up an operational handbook for the technical implementation of the design criteria for play

areas and recreation spaces.

Draw up an operational handbook for the technical implementation of the design criteria for play areas

and recreation spaces, new and renovated, that takes maintenance, safety, accessibility and design

requirements into account, as well as some minimum sufficiency standards for play quality as a guide for

how the technical project incorporates the criteria in each case.

Main players

involved

URBAN MODEL, PARKS AND GARDENS, IMPD, IIAB

Time-frame

2019-2020

Action N. 57

Review the current technical specifications for children’s play areas.

Review the current technical specifications for children’s play areas in order to adapt them to the

paradigm shift on play in the city and the new recreation space and playable city models to be

implemented, while bearing in mind the benchmark European regulations (UNE-EN-1176)

Main players

involved

PARKS AND GARDENS

Time-frame

2019

Action N. 58

Amend the civic behaviour byelaw on promoting harmony in public spaces.

Amend the civic behaviour byelaw on promoting harmony in public spaces, so any nuisance that might

be caused by play is mitigated by actions such as agreements on uses, regulations regarding hours and

alternatives to hard balls, without penalties or banning ball games on the street, taking into account

considerations of the IBE and IMSS, among others.

Main players

involved

CITIZEN RIGHTS

Time-frame

2020-2021

Action N. 59

Draw up a new procedure for designing new and renovated play areas.

Draw up a new procedure for designing new and renovated play areas that will affect all developers in

the city and which includes a preliminary report being drawn up by the play area infrastructure

maintenance department, parks and gardens and urban model to ensure a minimum analysis of the

needs in the recreation ecosystem the play area will belong to. More specifically, it will evaluate the

recreation infrastructure in the area, nearby facilities and services, potential users of the play area

(mainly children, adolescents and young people), the various everyday uses of the play area and possible

disputes over those uses. This brief report will also enable recommendations to be made based on the

opportunity and feasibility of the project and the deficits to be covered.

Main players

involved

PARKS AND GARDENS, URBAN MODEL

Time-frame

2019-2020

Action N. 60

Include the IMPD in the process of evaluating plans for new and renovated play areas to improve

universal accessibility and favour inclusive play in all of them.

This means creating a new position – Public Space Manager – to ensure physical accessibility, cognitive-

informative and universal accessibility criteria are incorporated, that takes into account the Public Space

Accessibility Plan and the Recommendations for Accessible and Inclusive Play Areas produced by the

Accessibility Group of the Citizen Agreement for an Inclusive Barcelona in 2018.

Main players

involved

IMPD

Time-frame

2019

Action N. 61

Include play in the “Everyday Urban Planning Manual. Urban Planning with a Gender Perspective”.

Include play in the “Everyday Urban Planning Manual. Urban Planning with a Gender Perspective” as an

everyday need in the childhood and adolescent life stage, as well as the task of looking after children

while they are playing, and the physical and playful activity of every citizen, as an important aspect to be

taken into account in the city’s urban design, including recreation infrastructure.

Main players

involved

URBAN MODEL, GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Time-frame

2019

Action N. 62

Training and exchange forums for municipal staff working in departments, services, institutes and

districts.

Training and exchange forums for municipal staff working in departments, services, institutes and

districts to publicise the new play vision, criteria, handbooks and procedures as a basic condition for

suitably implementing the Public Space Play Plan Horizon 2030

Main players

involved

URBAN ECOLOGY, SOCIAL RIGHTS

Time-frame

2019-2025

Action N. 63

Create a cross-departmental committee for implementing and monitoring the Play Plan.

Create a cross-departmental committee for implementing and monitoring the Play Plan as its technical

and territorial governance forum. This will include the reference services, departments, institutes and

districts associated with the Plan’s actions.

Main players

involved

URBAN ECOLOGY, SOCIAL RIGHTS, CITIZEN RIGHTS

Time-frame

2019-2030

7.4 Lead projects

Ten of the actions planned are considered lead projects because of their special interest and

public visibility when it comes to showing the change that the Play Plan represents. Also for

their feasibility in starting to implement the Plan in the short term (two years) and for their

potential to push changes that will lead to the 2030 horizon of a playable city. Specific work

spaces will be set up to closely monitor the start-up and implementation of these lead

projects And in the following pages you will find fact files with detailed information on each

of them.

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT N. 1

Remove signs in the city that prohibit ball games and promote all kinds of street

play alongside other uses. (Action N. 41)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

Line 3: Promoting a paradigm shift: play has a place in the city

Play Plan objective

Objective 10 - Raise awareness and recognition of the social importance of

play, as well as its individual and collective benefits for everyone.

Justification and

context

The intention and format of Barcelona’s current information and signage

system for outdoor play do not encourage it and even restrict it in some ways.

For example, the signs banning ball games. Although the penalties for playing

games found in the byelaw on civic behaviour and co-existence have been

reduced to a minimum in recent years, the fact is a negative image has been

created in relation to playing in the street with a banning approach rather than

trying to mitigate any possible nuisance that may be caused.

So, the aim is to remove all “no ball games” signs in the city and replace them

with others that are consistent with encouraging children to play while

maintaining a respectful attitude to the public space and other people using it.

At the same time, the idea is to promote the use of foam balls, which go better

with other games and other citizen uses of the same space.

Lead project

objective

Remove “no ball games” signs in order to change the negative perception of

playing in public spaces, promoting the use of foam balls to foster the co-

existence of various games and citizen uses.

Description

In Barcelona, there are signs banning ball games in places such as squares and

streets. They are designed to avoid the typical disputes that arise in shared

public spaces but, in some ways, they represent an attack on children’s right to

play and restrict the possibility of their developing a playful attitude that

should be part of their everyday environment.

In 2018, some districts such as Horta-

Guinardó, basing themselves on the

Barcelona Plays Things Right Strategy,

started to replace the signs with a more

friendly, less prohibitive one which, without

saying ‘no’ or ‘not allowed’, encourages

children to play in a way that respects other

people and the setting.

Other play signs in the city include the features of each play area and the basic

rules for using it. However, there are very few examples of opting for more

friendly signage, aimed at all ages and diversities, that encourages a consistent

and respectful playful attitude, with information for both children and adults.

These remind everyone that play is a recognised right (Art. 31 CRC), point out

the values and benefits of play and call for children’s play and freedom to be

respected.

These messages and signs are mainly (but not exclusively) targeted at

accompanying adults.

Specific actions

 Geolocate all city signs banning ball games in public spaces, identifying all

those that have to be removed.

 Create a sign model that encourages children to play respectfully, in order

to replace “no ball games” signs with one inviting respectful play.

 Remove signs banning ball games.

 Install new signs.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Youn

opl

e x

Adults

Elderly

peopl

e x

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

DISTRICTS,

PARKS AND

GARDENS

In collaboration

with

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Geolocation and

removal of the

signs

All new signs

installed

Monitoring

indicators

 Signs removed

 Signs installed

Estimated budget

€50,000 in total

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT N. 2

Sundays for play and recreation on the street: one main street in each

district closed to traffic every Sunday morning. (Action N. 19)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

Line 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment: recreation

infrastructure in a playable city

Play Plan objective

Objective 4 - Increase the opportunities and space available for playing in the

street, encouraging casual, spontaneous play around the city in safer

environments.

Justification and

context

This is a measure that complements the permanent pedestrianisation in the

superblocks and other parts of the city, and which involves temporarily closing

a main street in each district to through traffic on Sunday mornings, thus

gaining a new public space for outdoor play and physical activity on the main

leisure day of the week. Urban roads in cities around the world have been

turned into pedestrian spaces by periodically closing them to traffic on rest

days with tactical urbanism interventions for some years now.

Barcelona currently devotes 60% of its available public space to cars, which

limits the possibilities for playing and doing physical activity in safe, suitable

surroundings. Not just because the limited space available is occupied but also

because of the traffic and environmental pollution (noise and air). Experiences

of permanent traffic-calming, such as the superblocks, demonstrate how

taking the place of private vehicles benefits community life and public uses of

public space. There are no plans to turn many streets into superblocks nor

permanently pedestrianise them, so these measures must be supplemented

by temporary street closures in all the city districts to create periodic,

temporary opportunities for other uses based on proximity, in order to

develop their potential for changing habits and increasing outdoor playful

physical activity for everyone, at least one day a week.

Lead project

objective

Offer new opportunities for public uses of the streets which, periodically,

encourage the healthy habits of playful physical activity outdoors, as well as

improving the well-being of local residents and the quality of their shared

leisure time, starting with children.

Description

Recent positive experiences in Barcelona include the temporary closure of

main streets in some districts, such as Carrer Gran de Gràcia (first Saturday of

the month), Via Laietana car-free day (22 September 2018) or the experience

of Consell de Cent, which all show the importance of making other citizen uses

of the streets possible, even if they have scarcely any impact on local people’s

lives or on changing their outdoor playful physical activity habits because they

are exceptional rather than periodic initiatives.

Via Laietana car-free day (Ciutat Vella)

Between March and June 2015, every Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm, a side lane

was closed on Av Diagonal (between Pl Francesc Macià and Pl de les Glòries

Catalanes) and on Pg de Gràcia (between Pl de Catalunya and Jardinets de

Gràcia) and a series of activities were organised (with 9 cultural activity points,

6 sports points and 6 children’s game points) in collaboration with various

associations and 25 people providing information. The general view was very

positive with a high level of participation practically every Sunday and

particular satisfaction being expressed in relation to the children’s activities

and cultural activity points.

Since the start of 2018, nearby cities have also been pushing similar

experiences, such as Cornellà de Llobregat with its “Cornellà car-fee Sundays”

programme. Every Sunday, between 9 am and 2 pm, 16 streets in different

neighbourhoods do not allow cars through (with temporary alterations to the

direction of traffic and alternative routes for cars in the area) with the aim of

getting local people to turn their streets into collective spaces for sharing and

playing in.

As a well-established international benchmark we can take the city of Bogotà

which, since 1974, has been developing and extending the ciclovía (cycle way)

by closing streets every Sunday and on public holidays from 7 am to 2 pm in an

interconnected circuit of 120 km around the city. It is estimated that today

some 1.5 million of its 7 million inhabitants enjoy the ciclovía.

Recent evaluations of the UK model of closing streets to allow playing out

have shown that street play leads to physical activity that is five times more

active than regular activity. It also increases neighbourhood cohesion and

community life while providing benefits in terms of health and well-being, not

only for the children who are playing but also the adults involved.

Specific actions

 Create a steering group comprising representatives of the municipal

services and districts involved in the pilot phase.

 Design an initial model in the pilot phase to be implemented in certain

districts by exploring the possibilities of involving local facilities and of co-

managing the project with organisations from certain points on the

streets and proposals for playful and physical activities aimed at all ages

and families, with a gender, cultural diversity and functional diversity

perspective in mind.

 Carry out the pilot phase in certain districts for at least a year to evaluate

uses and impacts, and carry out an analysis of improvements during

implementation,

with a view to the second phase of consolidating and extending it to the

other districts. In a third phase, once proximity is assured for encouraging

a change of habits, increased outdoor, playful physical activity and shared

leisure in public space, the street closures could be updated to create a

circuit of local, connected, pedestrian spaces that facilitate the discovery

and reappropriation of streets on a city level, beginning in the

neighbourhoods.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Youn

opl

e x

Adults

Elderly

peopl

e x

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

URBAN

MODEL

MOBILITY,

DISTRICTS

In collaboration

with

Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE)

FOMENT

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Steering

group and

design

pilot test

Evaluation of

the pilot test

Start of 2nd

phase:

consolidatio

Gradual

extension

and better

connection

in city circuit

Monitoring

indicators

 Pilot test evaluation report with an analysis of the users, types of uses and

impacts on playful and physical activity habits, with suggested

improvements for the implementation and extension phases and better

city connection.

Estimated budget

€2,000,000 in the first two years

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT N. 3

“Let’s play in the squares”. Programme with mobile recreation options to

encourage meeting up and playing in the city’s squares. (Action N.

27)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

Line 2. Stimulating physical and playful activity on the street and outdoors:

playful uses in a city people play in

Play Plan objective

Objective 6 - Encourage children and adolescents to go out and play in the

streets, squares and parks with as much autonomy as possible.

Justification and

context

To enrich community life and the diverse uses of the city’s squares and to

revive the habit of playing out, it is proposed to start up a programme of pop-

up playful activities in the squares, providing participants with materials that

generate multiple play options. The idea is for this to become a mobile city

service enabling all the districts to enrich the life in their squares.

Lead project

objective

Systematise and scale up to a city level the programme of pop-up

interventions based on play in the squares of the different neighbourhoods,

either by working on diversifying and combining resident uses, or as part of

street cultural programmes where play is the main activity.

Description

“Let’s play in the squares” aims to become a mobile city programme of playful

ideas to encourage children to come together and share the pleasure of

playing in the city’s squares. This means combining periodic actions

throughout the year in different squares, offering ideas for activities with

games kiosks (traditional games, board games, circus activities, etc.), large-

scale street games, settings for creative free-play and for discovering and

experimenting, water game kits for the summer, foam ball championships with

exchanges and business collaboration, sports activities (basketball baskets,

table football, circuits, etc,) and so on. The game kiosks in Gràcia’s squares or

the “Racó dels Jocs” (Games Corner) in Poble Sec are examples, among others.

Let’s play in Plaça del Sol in the Gràcia District.

One of the big advantages of these temporary activities is that they offer

opportunities to play with elements or materials which, for various reasons

(maintenance, cost, safety, etc.), cannot be permanently installed in public

spaces. They also have the potential for encouraging intergenerational play, as

well as providing equal and accessible play opportunities and materials for

everyone, regardless of their background, gender, culture or diversity.

On an international level, especially in the countries of northern Europe,

Canada and the United Sates, there is a trend for creating spaces that offer

free play based on a specific choice of the materials they offer (water, sheets

of paper, card, etc.). These are known as “pop-ups”, ephemeral spaces that

appear and then disappear but which have the effect of revitalising

community life.

Specific actions

 Analyse the play-based animation and cultural intervention experiences in

Barcelona’s squares and systematise reference models from other cities.

 Design the city programme based on knowledge of the existing

experiences and district considerations, with an inter-district working

group. The reference service, in close collaboration with the districts, and

adapting to the specific social characteristics of each square, will

programme the playful interventions and activities.

 Let’s Play in the Squares conference, after one year of the programme, to

evaluate and share experiences as well as introduce ongoing

improvements in extending it to more neighbourhood squares in all the

districts.

 Evaluate the programme’s uses and impacts on playful activity and on

enriching community life in the squares, after three or four years of

implementation.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Young

people

Adults

Elderly

people

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

DISTRICTS

In collaboration

with

Educating City – IMEB

Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE)

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Analyse

significant

experiences

Create inter-

district

working

group

Design and

initial phase of

Let’s Play in

the Squares

Conference

exchange

experiences

Implement

programme in

a square in all

districts

Evaluation

carried out

and

reprogrammin

g to extend

the

programme

with

improvements

included

Roll out the

programme

Monitoring indicators

 Report on analysis of significant experiences of play activities in city

squares and benchmarks in other cities

 Programme designed and budgeted

 Conference to exchange district experiences of Let’s Play in the Squares

 Let’s Play in the Squares Programme Evaluation Report 2020-2023

Estimated budget

€25,000 to produce a games kiosk

€22,000 a year for animation sessions and maintenance (€900 each 3 hr

session. 20 monthly sessions and €4,000 maintenance)

100

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT

N. 4

Esplais and caus play out: priority play zones in certain squares and streets closed to

traffic on Saturday afternoons. (Action N. 33)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

Line 2: Stimulating physical and playful activity on the street and outdoors:

playful uses in a city people play in.

Play Plan objective

Objective 8 - Facilitate social entity or citizen initiatives linked to playful and

physical activity that stimulate diverse and positive uses of public spaces.

Justification and

context

Ten per cent of 6-17 year-olds in Barcelona take part in the educational leisure

activities organised by the 131 esplais and caus (children’s/youth centres) in

the city whose educational work is very much based on play. However, the

educational associations and Scouts organisations that run them are faced

with administrative difficulties and a lack of social understanding of the

importance of shared play, as well as disputes over the uses of public space

that complicate the exercise of the right to play.

So there is a need to reinforce policies that promote educational associations

with regard to “facilitating the right to play and use public space”, as urged by

the Catalan Parliament (Resolution 498/XI of 2017, by implementing the

actions provided for in the Municipal Adolescence and Youth Plan (2017-2020)

and the City Council Government Measure for Ensuring and Improving the

Influence of Community-Based Educational Associations (May 2018).

More specifically, this lead project seeks to make progress towards achieving

the objective of facilitating and legitimising young people’s use of public space,

as well as promoting their participation in, use of and co-management of

public spaces (provided for by the Youth Plan). In particular, that means

facilitating their presence in and playful uses of streets, squares and parks near

to the association centres and Scouts clubs in the city (provided for in the

educational associations’ measure).

Other cities around the world have opted for signs that indicate permanent or

temporary use of specific spaces for playing in, to make all their users aware of

this preferential use and its value. (Initiatives such as play streets, playing out,

etc.)

101

Lead project

objective

Facilitate playful uses of squares and streets near esplais and caus as zones

that prioritise play at certain times, for which the educational associations are

co-responsible, with children and young people as the starting point.

Description

The calls for public spaces for children, adolescents and young people to play

in is a demand that the city’s educational associations have been making for

years. However, the complexity of managing public space and even the

regulatory framework have hindered this. This lead project specifies a line of

action that takes into account and highlights the esplais and caus as active

stakeholders that support play, and argues they should be co-responsible,

through their federations, organised round the Educational Associations

Working Group on the Barcelona Youth Council, facilitating playful uses of

squares and parks near their centres by means of various joint actions.

The project is largely inspired by “Playing Out”, a citizen initiative that

originated in Bristol (UK) and which has been implemented in cities such as

London, Edinburgh, Toronto and Seattle. It is based on an agreement allowing

families in the neighbourhood to temporarily and periodically close side

streets with little effect on traffic so children and teenagers can play out.

Responsibility for the action and minimal organisational tasks required is

shared by local residents, a local council that provides regulatory and

administrative facilities and material resources for closing the streets and an

organisation that promotes, organises training, publicises and analyses

initiatives to ensure they run smoothly.

The Barcelona project initially envisages the initiative coming from the

educational recreation associations and a local authority that acts on an old

demand, making specific streets available. In the second phase, once the pilot

experiences have been systematised and evaluated, other formulas could be

explored to include and make other local and social stakeholders co-

responsible for the zones prioritising play at certain times.

Spaces identified that are already pedestrian-only will be sign-posted with

specific information. Where closing streets to traffic is required, even if they

have been identified previously, there will have to be a specific regulatory

framework for requesting permission as well as infrastructure resources

(street closure kit) and help and support in publicising the initiative so the

streets can be closed quickly, accessibly and at low cost.

The perspective of the lead project is that the 17,000 plus children and

adolescents linked to the associations will gradually become its main

beneficiaries so all 131 esplais and caus have reference priority play zones and

close the streets at opportune times. Although this involves activities solely for

esplai and cau group children, it is anticipated that it could have a positive

impact and encourage spontaneous street play by others in the area (without

implying any responsibility on the part of the associations).

102

Specific actions

 Create a steering group for priority play zones on a city level with the

municipal services (prevention in the districts, youth, community action,

educating city, mobility, etc.) and associations involved (Esplai and Cau

Federations), involving more when appropriate.

 Gradually set up territorial working committees for using public spaces,

involving the districts and educational association bodies in each area.

 The territorial committees and city project steering group will map and

identity the squares, parks and side streets with little effect on traffic and

services near association centres capable of becoming zones prioritising

play at certain agreed times, in principle, Saturday afternoon/evenings

(from 4 pm to 8 pm).

 Explore and specify administrative and regulatory mechanisms for

creating and identifying priority play zones as the main way of reducing

administrative procedures for permits and the authorisation of time

periods and uses agreed with local residents

 Create, install and/or deliver signs for the priority play zones (signs

indicating the time slots) and specific urban furniture (barriers for

occasional street closures) as a kit for the temporary closure of side

streets previously agreed.

 Promote 10 experiences in different city neighbourhoods and by different

association federations to pilot their operation.

 Systematise and evaluate the pilot experiences to define and agree

criteria and methodologies for scaling up the priority play zones to a city

level.

 Explore possible derived playful uses of public spaces, with the

associations and the local and social fabric co-responsible, especially with

regard to temporarily closing side streets for playing out.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Youn

opl

e x

Adults

Elderly

people

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

 On behalf of the City Council: Area of Social Rights,

Children, Youth and Elderly Services Directorate – Youth

Department, together with the Districts

 On behalf of other bodies and associations: Barcelona

Youth Council, Educational Associations Working Group

collaboration

with

 Districts (especially people services and prevention)

 Mobility

 FAVB

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Design the

project

Set up the

steering

group

Create the

first

territorial

Agree the

priority play

zones

model

Create the

resources

for their

Start

implementin

g the pilot

experiences

Systematise

and evaluate

all the pilot

experiences

Explore

extending

the action to

other local

and social

stakeholders

103

committees

roll-out.

Map the

squares, parks

and side streets

near centres

capable of

becoming

priority play

zones.

Start pilot

experiences

anticipating

their

evaluation.

Monitoring indicators

 City steering group created and at least 6 territorial committees set up and

functioning.

 Map geolocating the priority play zones in squares, parks and streets.

 Model agreed for rolling out the priority play zones in squares and parks

with temporary street closures at certain times.

 Number of applications for temporary street closure kits for playing out.

 Evaluation report

Estimated budget

€150,000 in total

104

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT

N. 5

Transform school playgrounds by diversifying their play options, co-education

and greening, and giving them community uses. (Action N. 11)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

Line 1: More and better play spaces in the urban environment: recreation

infrastructure in a playable city

Play Plan objective

Objective 2 - Improve opportunities for play and socialisation in and out of

school, by turning school entrances into squares and their playgrounds into a

community resource.

Justification and

context

School playgrounds are vital places in childhood play experiences because

children spend an average of 525 hours there each school year (not counting

midday). There is a clear consensus that the playground is a very important

educational space, that its architectural design determines the play and

relationship dynamics and that it provides an opportunity for fine-tuning

innovative educational practices but, also, that there is considerable margin

for improvement. For example, by encouraging new uses as an outdoor

pedagogical space. A line included in the Strategic Plan of the Barcelona

Education Consortium and its criteria for managing playgrounds. One that also

follows the various mandatory rules in force regarding these aspects, as well

as the design criteria document of the Catalan Ministry of Education.

In order to achieve the target of doubling the number of adapted playgrounds

– understood to mean green, co-educational, inclusive and enriching spaces

given the diversity of free play they offer – to at least 120 school playgrounds

and getting close to the maximum of 197, the current number of municipally

owned schools, it is necessary to promote and provide adequate resources for

systematising and giving an impetus to these transformations. Playground by

playground, these improvements will contribute to overcoming some major

challenges, namely, moving towards greater gender justice and offering

children, with equal opportunities, educationally rich environments in and out

of school hours.

Lead project

objective

Drive the transformation of school playgrounds in the city with resources for

redesigning outdoor pedagogical spaces for better play quality, that are co-

educational and naturalised as well as more versatile and permeable inside

and outside the school.

Description

Promotion and systematisation of a city project for gradually transforming

school playgrounds, led by the Barcelona Education Consortium, making it

possible to systematise experiences and knowledge between schools and also

offer technical and economic support; guidance and training with clear, agreed

criteria for rethinking and improving school playgrounds, taking current

technical requirements into account and assessing any possible changes to be

promoted.

105

New space at La Model with school and playground connected for community

use (Eixample)

This will be based on an updated inventory of the current situation and the

improvement needs of public primary and secondary school playgrounds that

will include the following five dimensions to be diagnosed and promoted:

a) diversifying play opportunities through playground design

b) co-education in play time and space in the playground

c) naturalising playgrounds by introducing greenery and shade as

climate shelters

d) permeability in inside-outside school management so they become

community playgrounds for neighbourhood residents to use, among

other things, as a benchmark play space in the playful ecosystem

e) children’s participation in and co-responsibility for their design and

maintenance, in line with educational innovation practices

Congrés Indians School playground

106

Specific actions

Actions to be pursued in this project and which need to be designed and

planned, with a budget forecast also to be drawn up in 2019, include:

 Creating a working group to start consultations and agree on the

process for systematising the evaluations of and lessons learnt from

playgrounds that have been transformed, as well as the main criteria

for at least the five lines of work mentioned. These should take into

account the availability of 4.5m

per student in the playground as

outdoor pedagogical space provided for in the Education Consortium

Strategic Plan.

 Updating the inventory to diagnose the needs of and plan the

priority actions at the 197 municipal-run primary and secondary

schools in the city (177 primary, 10 primary-secondary, 10

secondary).

 Conference for exchanging needs, experiences and knowledge of

why, to what extent and how to transform playgrounds involving

city schools and education communities

 Drawing up and publicising a school playground transformation

guide that takes into account sustainability, gender, universal

accessibility and diverse backgrounds while clarifying the technical

and regulatory requirements to be borne in mind.

 Piloting the transformation in at least four schools with

diverse characteristics.

 Opening a subsidy fund for public primary and secondary schools in

the city to enable them to carry out the transformation of the

playgrounds, with priority being given to those that most need the

subsidy.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Young

people

Adults

Elderly

people

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

Barcelona Education Consortium

collaboration

with

 Catalan Ministry of Education

 Educating City

 Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education (IMEB)

 Schools

 AMPA and AFA parents associations

 District and city school councils

 More sustainable schools (Sustainability Culture and

Strategy, Area of Ecology, Urban Planning and

Mobility)

 Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens

 Gender Mainstreaming Department

 Municipal Institute for Persons with Disabilities (IMPD).

 Social entities and businesses specialising and

with experience in this field

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

20252030

Design and

planning of the

project

Review of the

inventory

Inventory

updated

Conference to

exchange

experiences

Criteria

agreed and

material

systematised

Piloting

playground

transformatio

Guide on

transforming

and creating

playgrounds

Piloting

playground

transformatio

Guide on

transforming

and creating

playgrounds

Project

implementati

on evaluation

(2025)

107

Setting-up

of working

group

Opening of

specific fund

for

transformin

playgrounds

Start to

piloting

playground

transformati

ons

Exchange

and training

spaces and

channels

Exchange

and training

spaces and

channels

At least 120

playground

s adapted

and with

community

uses

Monitoring

indicators

 Operational work group

 Inventory updated in 2020 of the situation and needs of the school

playgrounds at 200 municipally owned primary and secondary schools

 Conferences held

 Guide publicised

 Fund open with specific economic resources

 Evaluation report with, among other data, the increase and number of

playgrounds transformed, being transformed or where it has been

designed, broken down by district

Estimated budget

€7,200,000 at least (average of €150,000 per playground x 60 playgrounds)

108

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT

N. 6

Urban micro-interventions in school surroundings to turn them into places and

spaces for meeting people, community life and impromptu play. (Action

N. 12)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

LINE 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment: recreation

infrastructure in a playable city

Play Plan objective

Objective 2 - Improve opportunities for play and socialisation in and out of

school, by turning school entrances into squares and their playgrounds into a

community resource.

Justification and

context

School surroundings as places for informal gatherings often become places for

hanging out and impromptu play, even though those surroundings may be

hardly suited to that or even hostile. Based on Eixample’s experience with the

“Let’s Fill School Surroundings with Life” (started in 2016) and Ciutat Vella’s

under the Neighbourhood Plan (due to start in 2019) the idea is to encourage

the creation of spaces for hanging out in and for social interaction between

children and adults around school entrances, both those from the school

communities and the neighbourhood.

The public space adjacent to a school is its “antechamber”, in other words, the

first space relating what happens inside and what happens outside. It is also an

educating space with the potential for being reconsidered as a square. As

pointed out in the Eixample District Government Measure “Let’s Fill School

Surroundings with Life” (2016), school surroundings need to be redefined as

public spaces: as public spaces, habitable spaces, as an extension of the school,

as places that value the history and local life of the neighbourhoods.

Lead project

objective

Promote, gradually, and throughout the city, micro-urban interventions

in school surroundings so they become healthier places, facilitate social

interaction and generate possibilities for spontaneous play, based on

scaling up the experience of improving school surroundings started in the

Eixample district.

Description

The city currently has more than 400 infant (pre-school), primary and

secondary schools (state-run and private) and their surroundings are no

different to other city spaces, despite the importance of these facilities, of

their own needs and the intensive use made of their surroundings.

By 2018, improvements had been made at four Eixample schools (Diputació,

Auró, Maria Auxiliadora – all primary – and Viladomat – secondary) and there

are plans to do the same at eight more in 2019. This is seen as a positive

example, one that has led to changes in the social habits of children and

adults in the school families as well as other local residents, who have gained

a more habitable public space. Ciutat Vella has launched another project

along the same lines under the Neighbourhood Plan called “Redesigning

spaces for interaction between families and schools” that take the lessons of

the city’s earlier experiences into account. Madrid’s experience, based on

drafting and implementing the “Guide to Designing School Surroundings”

(Madrid City Council, Area of Health, 2017) is another benchmark.

109

Round the Viladomat secondary school (Eixample)

The approach is to carry out tactical urban planning micro-interventions which,

in a combined way, gain spaces for hanging out around schools, promote

greater permeation of the physical space inside and outside schools and, if

appropriate, traffic-calm the streets adjacent to the schools.

More specifically, school demands for improving their surroundings can be

classified in four types: urban development (due to the lack of free pavement

space, urban furniture, vegetation and lighting; road safety (changes to signs

and traffic lights due to heavy traffic on the school street); anti-social behaviour

measures (to deal with litter, dogs, badly parked cars, etc.), and the specific

needs of each school (better access, more greenery, etc.).

Specific actions

 Agree priority criteria, identify school surroundings most in need of

improvement and plan the gradual, ongoing improvements required in

many school surroundings, using shared city criteria in each district.

 Prototype micro-interventions so architectural and tactical urban

planning solutions can be speedily replicated in a sustainable way at low

cost, bearing in mind the need to include improvements derived from

the initial phases as well as install urban furniture that encourages

people to hang out and play.

 Conference to share and rethink the interventions to improve school

surroundings from a health and community perspective.

 Evaluate the impact of the transformations as regards uses and

education community relations.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Young

people

Adults

Elderly

peopl

e x

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

Districts

In collaboration

with

Urban

Model

Mobility

Educating City

Barcelona Education Consortium

Schools

AMPA and AFA parents associations

District and city school councils

City Police

110

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Start agreeing

planning

criteria

Planning

done and

project

implement

ation

started

Prototype

micro-

improveme

interventio

Conference

exchange

experiences

Gradual

implement

ation of the

projects

Some 100

school

surroundings

in the whole

city

Monitoring

indicators

 Document with criteria and plans for the gradual improvement of

school surroundings

 Prototypes of micro-architectural and tactical urban planning

interventions for improving and traffic-calming school

surroundings

 Executive projects for transforming school surroundings carried out.

Estimated budget

€6,500,000€ in total (An average of €65,000)

111

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT

N. 7

Increase the opportunities for playing with water as an essential resource in the

city’s recreation infrastructure. (Action N. 7)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

Line 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment: recreation

infrastructure in a playable city

Play Plan objective

Objective 1 - Design play areas as well as playful spaces and urban furniture

that offer better opportunities for diverse, safe, stimulating and inclusive play,

taking adolescence, diverse backgrounds, universal accessibility and a gender

perspective into account.

Justification and

context

Barcelona currently has a clear deficit of opportunities for water play in

neighbourhood recreation spaces, even though the city has a great treasure in

its beaches. Water is a natural element and a highly valued resource when it

comes to play. In addition, it hydrates, refreshes and mitigates the heat in

summer. However, only 18% of the city’s play areas have nearby drinking-

water fountains and there are very few that have fountains or pools for

splashing about or cooling down in, or lakes or ornamental fountains where

people can swim in summer. There are only two in the whole city.

In fact the Climate Plan (2018-2030) provides for the creation of water

gardens (sprinklers, accessible fountains, lakes, etc.) with features that

combine permanent actions with seasonal ones during summer, taking into

account an assumable level of water consumption that meets all health

requirements (actions 3.7 and 3.3).

Lead project

objective

Expand the opportunities for water play in public spaces as an essential

resource in the city’s recreation infrastructure for getting wet, splashing

about and having a swim in summer.

Description

The plan is to install new recreation infrastructure in the city with water, by

means of three action strategies:

1. Install drinking-water fountains in recreation spaces and play areas

that are easy for children to use (right height and suitable operating

system) and serve a double purpose: hydration and play.

2. Install water features for splashing about and cooling down in for

seasonal use, such as fountains, sprinklers, pools or flat swimming

pools so we reach 2030 with 10 play spaces for splashing about and

cooling down in established in the districts furthest from the

beaches.

3. Include a water game kit for the summer season in the mobile

programme “Let’s play in the squares”.

112

Eixample Beach – Torre de les Aigües

There are various experiences of these kinds of spaces in Barcelona, one of the

most established being the “Eixample Beach” at the Eixample water tower.

International examples include that of Berlin where water parks are a free city

infrastructure

Finally, one of the uses of water play is exploring, especially when if it is

combined with sand. Water can also be used to make circuits, canals and

dams, a great scientific exploration game. Some play features of this kind have

been installed in Barcelona (Joan Brossa Gardens) only to be removed later

because of the need for maintenance and ongoing repairs. The plan now is to

see if improvements can be made to these features so it is technically feasible

to install them.

Specific actions

 Plan the expansion of drinking-water fountains to play areas and

recreation spaces in the city and install more fountains (gradually

replacing the ones children find more difficult to use).

 Plan the installation of water features for splashing about in and adapting

ornamental fountains and lakes for bathing during the summer season,

taking into account the needs of each neighbourhood and prioritising

those furthest from the sea with the lowest incomes, to provide children

from families that have fewer

113

resources with opportunities to play with water.

 Implement the projects for installing water features for splashing about

in and those for adapting fountains and lakes for bathing.

 Programme water games in the mobile recreation activities included

in the “Let’s Play in the Squares” programme.

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Youn

opl

e x

Adults

Elderly

peopl

e x

Main players

involved

Led by

(reference body)

PARKS AND GARDENS

In collaboration

with

BCASA

ASPB

Districts

IBE

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Inventory and

plans for

increasing the

number of

drinking-water

fountains and

adapting

ornamental

fountains for

seasonal

bathing

Initial

implement

ation

phase

Evaluation

project (2025)

10 spaces for

splashing

about and

cooling down

in the districts

furthest from

the beaches

(2030)

Monitoring

indicators

 Planning and installation of drinking-water fountains

 Planning and installation of water features for splashing about in and

adapting ornamental fountains and lakes for bathing during the

summer season.

Estimated budget

€2,000,000 in total (€200,000 x 10 play spaces)

114

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT

N. 8

Co-create new urban sports parks for small-wheel sports such as skateboarding,

skating, scooting, etc. (Action N. 15)

Strategic line of the

Play Plan.

LINE 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment: recreation

infrastructure in a playable city

Play Plan objective

Objective 3 - Plan and create more recreation infrastructure with proximity,

density and equality criteria in recreation ecosystems that make the most of

the potential and characteristics of each neighbourhood, while seeking to

maintain a territorial balance in the city.

Justification and

context

Barcelona has a deficit of outdoor spaces suitable for the playful physical

activity of children (from 10 years old), adolescents and young people linked

to skateboarding, parkour and skating or ball games, as there are only four

urban sports parks and seven outdoor skateboarding and skating rinks.

It is not just a question of increasing their number but also involving young

people in the processes of building a more playable city, to strengthen their

feeling of belonging and offering a better response to their needs and interests,

paying special attention to the gender perspective.

Lead project

objective

Increase the number of sports parks so there is at least one in each district, in

line with the Sports Facilities Plan, and promote participation, co-design and

co-responsibility formulas for involving youth groups.

Description

The city has also identified other spaces for doing small wheel sports and

playful activities, known as “spots”. These are urban locations with no features

or structures built by the City Council but skateboarders and skaters regularly

skate there. There are 12 spots and 11 skatable areas but they are not

expressly designed for skating, which takes place by chance alongside other

uses. The purpose-built spaces for these activities, the urban sports parks, can

be found in four districts, namely the Parc Esportiu Urbà de Baró de Viver in

Sant Andreu , the Parc Esportiu Urbà de Via Favència in Nou Barris , the Parc

Esportiu Urbà de la Mar Bella in Sant Martí and the Parc Esportiu Urbà Jardins

Àurea Cuadrado in Les Corts.

115

Baró del Viver Urban Sports Park (Sant Andreu)

So there are six city districts without any facilities with these characteristics.

There are some smaller places for skateboarding in those districts and a few

open multisport courts.

As a reference for co-creating these kinds of places for adolescents and young

people, and counting on them to be involved in construction and

management, there are examples in the city such as the participatory

construction of the La Marina Urban Sports Park under the Neighbourhood

Plan (due to be completed in December 2019). And in Santa Coloma de

Gramenet the participatory community project for co-designing and

constructing a skate park in the Can Zam area involving young people and an

interdisciplinary work team (architects, skaters, landscapers) called SK8SC,

which includes other urban sports.

Specific actions

 Create a steering group to come up with methodological proposals and

guidelines for the participation of adolescents and young people in the

processes for co-creating new spaces for sport and play in the city,

specifically focused on open sports courts, skate parks and urban sports

parks. This will close with the drafting of a guideline document that will

include an evaluation report on the preliminary processes and a set of

guidelines and aspects to be borne in mind which is expected to last two

years.

 Identify windows of opportunity promoted by the districts for starting to

build new urban sports parks, skate parks or open sports courts with the

participation of adolescents and young people, based on the lessons and

experience of the La Marina neighbourhood in Barcelona or other

reference cases and the steering group guidelines.

 Plan the construction of the new urban sports parks, based on the

Facilities Plan and incorporating the opportunities provided by the

districts.

 Build at least six urban sports parks or skate parks, one per district, by

2025.

Targeted at

Children

Adolescents

Youn

opl

e x

Adults

Elderly

people

116

Main players

involved

Led by

(reference

body)

Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE)

collaboration

with

 Districts

 Area of Social Rights, Youth Department

 Barcelona Youth Council

 Specialist sports organisations

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025-2030

Sports

Facilities Plan

2019-2035

End of the La

Marina skate

park

participatory

construction

process

Set up the

steering

group

Planning the

proposals

for 6 new

sports parks

All new

urban sports

parks

finished

Monitoring

indicators

 Report with guidelines for involving adolescents and young people in

the co-creation processes

 6 reports with the results of the co-creation processes for the new spaces

 10 new urban sports parks opened in the city

Estimated budget

€7,146,000 in total (€1,191,000 for each urban sports park of 3,000m

(includes co-creation process with young people) x 6 new urban sports parks)

117

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT

N.9

Open café-bars in recreation spaces to offer toilets and the loan of a basic set

of games. (Action N. 23)

Strategic line of the Play

Plan.

LINE 1. More and better play spaces in the urban environment: recreation

infrastructure in a playable city

Play Plan objective

Objective 5 - Create pleasant outdoor environments that foster social links

and community life around play by incorporating the everyday needs of

children, young people and the grown-ups who look after them into urban

design.

Justification and context

The aim is to create conditions that enrich community dynamics and relations

between neighbours based on play time, as well as ensure that recreation

spaces get back even more their functions as a meeting point where people

get together on a daily basis and not just at weekends.

At present, the café-bars in parks and gardens offer us two services around

play that are important for all ages: freely accessible, no-charge toilets and a

bar service that lets adults enjoy a longer, more comfortable stay, a key factor

in expanding outdoor play time. Both passive and active play spaces are

important, so the dividing lines between play spaces and the rest of the park

need to be removed, without forgetting the cafés and toilets. (London Study of

Playgrounds, report by Studio Ludo, 2017).

Today only 1 in 4 green spaces in the city have freely accessible toilets (either

in a bar, café-bar or separate WC ). Bunkers del Carmel, for example. Having

toilets has been and continues to be a recurring demand by children and

adolescents in participation processes to do with public spaces (from the

public hearing in 2001 to the most recent in 2018). At the same time, it is an

important specification of urban planning with a gender perspective which,

through small urban planning and service interventions, seeks to create more

comfortable public spaces to meet everyone’s everyday needs.

Lead project

objective

Increase the number of café-bars in parks and gardens to provide a triple

service: free, and freely accessible toilets, loan of a basic game kit and

enjoyment for adults accompanying children, which facilitates the latter’s

autonomy and time available for playing as well as improving everyone’s

leisure.

Description

Café-bars are important services in parks and gardens for facilitating outdoor

play as they cover the needs of adults who accompany children in their play

time. More specifically, the ideas is to work with café-bars in parks and gardens

so they offer three important services for generating the right play conditions:

 The bar service for adults, which contributes towards turning a stay

in public space into personal enjoyment and leisure time, and not

just part of their role as a childcare provider. This facilitates

children’s autonomous play and increases the leisure time

everyone spends outdoors.

118

 The toilet service, so the toilets are freely accessible and free to local

people. As far as possible, they will have to be designed with

universal accessibility criteria and adapted to babies (nappy-

changing, etc.). The availability of adapted toilets will contribute to

family comfort and increase play time.

 A new loan service of play items, with a basic games kit that includes

things which expand the possibilities for playing beyond what the

play area equipment offers. They should not be very specialised, for

all ages and/or apt for intergenerational play. For example, a foam

ball, skipping rope, bucket and spade, chalk, badminton bats, board

games, stories, etc.

Work has started in the city on installing a new type of café-bar, like the one in

the Rambla de Sants gardens (Hospitalet de Llobregat side) which is now up and

running and where the café-bar has adjoining premises for storing and

managing the toys. This model enables each district to manage the service

through local organisations independently of the café-bar.

Caseta de Jocs in Sants

Terrace-bar of the Caseta de Jocs in Sants

A space with these characteristics is also being considered at one of the café-

bars in the new Pl de Les Glòries project.

119

Specific actions

 Analyse the situation as regards concessions for all the city’s café-bars

and the recreation spaces with less coverage to identify the deficit with

a view to opening new ones, and ensure that all of them are gradually

equipped with free, adapted public toilets, as well as space for the basic

games kit. Work together with the districts on mapping, feasibility,

priorities and planning in stages.

 Review the technical and administrative specifications for the concession

of services that café-bars in green spaces and on the city beaches have to

offer, to ensure they include the loan of a basic games kit and toilets with

a universal accessibility design that are adapted for babies (nappy-

changing space, etc.), freely accessible and free of charge. Explore

possible forms of management linked to the social and solidarity

economy.

Acquire stocks of basic games kits so café-bars can offer the loan service by

the hour (with a replacement and maintenance system).

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Youn

opl

e x

Adults

Elderly

peopl

e x

Main players

involved

Led by

(reference body)

Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens

In collaboration

with

Districts

Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE)

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025

Start analysing

café-bar

situation and

start mapping

and planning

work with

districts

 Start

review of

specificati

ons and

conditions

Start

Start new

café-bar

projects

The city has

new café-

bars in

recreation

spaces

Monitoring

indicators

 Analysis report on the café-bars in parks and gardens, as well as separate

public toilets.

 Technical and administrative specifications (public tender process) for

café-bar concessions updated with new adapted toilet service in line

with current regulations (and for families) that is public and free, and

loan of games kit.

 Establish a design or model of café-bar* with a module or space

based on the one installed in the Rambla de Sants gardens.

 Basic games kit designed, acquired (with possible sponsors) and

distributed around café-bars awarded a concession.

 Number and location of new café-bars open (or with executive projects

and in the process of construction).

Estimated budget

No cost

120

FILE FOR LEAD PROJECT N. 10

Play support for children with functional

diversity and accompanying adults. (Action

29)

Strategic line of the Play

Plan.

Line 2. Stimulating physical and playful activity on the street and outdoors:

playful uses in a city people play in.

Play Plan objective

Objective 6 - Encourage children and adolescents to go out and play in the

streets, squares and parks with as much autonomy as possible.

Justification and context

Let’s make it clear: there are children in our city that cannot enjoy play

activities and spaces under equal conditions. Sometimes, a child’s

participation in play areas is determined by the disability of the people

accompanying them, or by the need for intensive support they require

themselves.

In this context, personal support is a necessary condition for putting into

practice the right to equality and non-discrimination in an environment – the

play environment – that is fundamental to a child’s all-round development.

Lead project

objective

Provide human support to those children and adolescents with serious

disabilities who have difficulty playing autonomously and need support

beyond that received from the person accompanying them.

Guarantee the necessary human support, in the form of an assistant, to people

who, for reasons of disability, are limited in their task of accompanying their

young or adolescent children and helping them play. For example, parents who

are blind or have poor vision, people with serious mobility problems, etc.

Description

Active, normal participation of people with disabilities in community life

requires the settings and services where this activity takes place to be

accessible. This circumstance may require having a support person who can

facilitate access to all everyday activities, without that being a babysitting

service.

As regards play, this need for support may be considered in at least two

situations:

−

the need for intensive support due to the disability of the child or

adolescent, support which cannot be provided by the person who

regularly accompanies them

−

the disability of the person accompanying the child or adolescent, which

may condition or limit their ability to facilitate the child’s safe, active

participation in the play activity.

Other municipal services are examples that have inspired this project:

−

the “changing room support service· and the “physical support service”

provided by the Municipal Sports Institute.

−

The “bathing support service for people with reduced mobility”

provided by Environment and Urban Services – Urban Ecology.

121

Specific actions

Phase 1: Project design: define the target group, adjust the play assistant

service to the group’s needs by means of surveys with the AFA family

associations at special needs schools and contrast groups with parents with

disabilities. Study the characteristics and management the service will need,

with the active participation of people with disabilities.

Phase 2: Implementation of the pilot project: start a pilot project

throughout the year with a group of families.

Phase 3: Evaluation of the pilot test and final configuration of the service

Phase 4: Implementation of the service throughout the city (7,000 service

hours a year/two hours a day at a park in each district, 365 days a year),

Targeted at

Childre

n x

Adolescents

Young

people

Adults

Elderly

people

Main players

involved

Led by

(referenc

e body)

Municipal Institute for Persons with Disabilities (IMPD).

In collaboration

with

Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE)

Citizen Agreement for an Inclusive Barcelona

Independent Living Network

Planned schedule

2019

2020

2021

2022

2025

 Phase 1:

Project

design

 Phase 2: Pilot

test

 Phase 3:

Evaluation

of the pilot

test

 Phase

Implem

entatio

n of the

service

throug

hout

the city

Service

continuity

Inclusive

Service

continuity

Inclusive

Monitoring

indicators

 Play support hours awarded

 Play spaces with support service

 Number of entities involved

 Number of child and adolescent direct beneficiaries

 Number of families beneficiaries

 Degree of user satisfaction

 Annual project monitoring report

Estimated budget

Overall budget €465,000 (Initial and pilot phase €25,000 plus €40,000 a year)

122

7.5 ESTIMATED BUDGET FOR THE LEAD

PROJECTS AND ACHIEVING THE TARGETS

Below we offer a budget estimate with the costs associated with the 10 lead projects, which

are considered important projects with the capacity to have an impact on developing the

Plan and the costs associated with achieving the targets that should contribute towards

reaching the 2030 horizon.

It contains the overall estimated budget to 2030 and a detailed calculation of the budget for

the next term of office (2019-2023) when it is estimated 30% of the overall budget will be

spent, except in those cases where the entire overall budget will be spent before 2023.

Therefore, for the next term of office it is estimated that the cost of implementing the lead

projects and for achieving the targets will be €19,685,000 broken down into the following

concepts.

Costs associated with the lead projects

Lead project

Estimated budget

in the lead project

fact file

2019-2023

(PIM)

File N. 1 - Remove signs in the city that

prohibit ball games and stimulate all

kinds of street play alongside other uses.

€50,000 in total

€50,000

File N. 2 - Sundays for play and recreation

on the street: one main street in each

district closed to traffic every Sunday

morning.

€2,000,000 in total in the

first two years

€2,000,000

File N. 3 - “Let’s play in the squares”.

Programme with mobile recreation

options to encourage meeting up and

playing in the city’s squares.

€314,000 in total (€50,000

production of two games

kiosks with an average of

€22,000 a year for

animation and

maintenance)

€94,200

File N. 4 - Esplais and caus play out:

priority play zones in certain squares and

streets closed to traffic on Saturday

afternoons

€200,000 in total

€60,000

File N. 5 - Transform school playgrounds

by diversifying their play options, co-

education and greening, and giving them

community uses.

€7,200,000 in total

(average of €150,000

per playground and

estimate for 60

playgrounds in 2030)

€2,160,000

File N. 6 - Urban micro-interventions in

school surroundings to turn them into

squares and spaces for meeting people,

community life and impromptu play.

€6,500,000 in total

(average of €65,000 for

100 schools in 2030)

€1,950,000

123

File N. 7 - Increase the opportunities for

playing with water as an essential resource

in the city’s recreation infrastructure.

€2,000,000 in total

(average of €200,000 per

unit and estimate for 10

play spaces in 2030)

€600,000

File N. 8 - Co-create new urban sports

parks for small-wheel sports such as

skateboarding, skating, scooting, etc.

€7,146,000 in total

(average of €1,191,000

for each urban sports

park of 3,000m

for 6

districts in 2030)

€2,143,800

File N. 9 - Open café-bars in recreation

spaces to offer toilets and the loan of a

basic games kit.

No cost

File N. 10 - Play support for children

and accompanying adults with

functional diversity.

€465,000 in total

(€25,000 initial phase and

pilot, and average

€40,000 a year)

€139,500

TOTAL

€25,875,000

€9,197,500

Costs associated with achieving the targets.



The costs of targets N. 3, N. 8 and N. 9 are included in lead projects N. 7, N. 5 and N.



The costs of targets N. 2, N. 6 and part of N. 5 are included in the amount for target

N. 1.

Other costs linked with the targets are explained below.

TARGETS FOR 2030

Cost 2030

2019-2023

(PIM)

Target N. 1 - Double the number of play

areas with diverse playful activities.

€14,000,000 in total

for increasing the

playful activities of

217 play areas

€5,591,000

Target N. 4 - Double the games with

challenges and risk management for

adolescents and young people in recreation

spaces

€6,795,000 for 6

sports centres, 11

ziplines, 7 giant slides

and 10 items for play

at height

€2,700,000

124

Target N. 5 - More shared play, with play

and sports equipment in the urban

environment.

€275,000 in total

which includes 56

table-tennis tables

and 66 basketball

baskets

€110,000

Target N. 7 - Improve the habitability

of recreation spaces with toilets,

tables, fountains and shade.

€5,240,000 in total

comprising: 225

fountains and 37

café toilets, 216 sets

of picnic tables

€2,100,000

Target N. 10 - Increase the play rates in

parks and physical activity among children

and adolescents (reducing the gender

gap)

No associated

specific cost

TOTAL

€29,060,000

€10,501,000

125

8. Governance, monitoring and evaluation of the

Plan

8.1 Governance

The cross-cutting nature of the actions envisaged in the Public Space Play Plan requires the

organisation of a political governance system based on the initial political co-leadership that

involves municipal areas and services. District involvement is essential too.

It is therefore considered necessary to create a suitable municipal management structure

equipped with sufficient resources for organising and monitoring the implementation of the

2030 Play Plan, and with reference teams and clear circuits.

A coordinating group for driving the implementation of the Play Plan will be created from this

structure to ensure its smooth implementation and progress. Likewise, a cross-departmental

implementation and monitoring committee will be set up, as will the working groups

required for carrying out the lead projects.

Governance, in four spaces, is summed up in the following chart:

Education

Health

Green

space

Urban

Mod

4. Lead project

working groups.

3. Cross-departmental

committee for

implementing and

monitoring the Play

Plan.

2. Coordinating and

driving group

1. Political governance

IIAB

126

Political governance and co-leadership

Cross-departmental, political co-leadership forum comprising the political heads of the main

local policies involved with, in principle, half-yearly political steering meetings.

Coordinating and driving group

Technical coordinating forum for driving the Play Plan comprising the main areas involved, in

other words, those with more important actions in terms of their impact and volume. It is the

technical working space made up by the urban model, green spaces, education and health

managers. During the first two years it will hold, as a minimum, bimonthly meetings and

during this initial phase of approximately two years it will be supported by the Barcelona

Institute for Children and Adolescents. Following the consolidation of the initial

implementation stage, an assessment will be made and decisions taken regarding the players

involved and the frequency of its meetings.

Its functions will be to ensure coordination between the political and technical steering

groups, check the Play Plan is being implemented in a coherent fashion, ensure the Plan’s

actions and lead projects are set in motion in the first two years, check the monitoring,

evaluation and progress of the actions and lead projects, and to report to, maintain

communication with and act as a bridge for transmitting opportune decisions to the political

heads.

Cross-departmental committee for implementing and monitoring the Play Plan.

Technical forum for monitoring and evaluating the Play Plan, meeting at least quarterly

during the initial implementation phase.

Comprises the different players involved in implementing the Plan. Their presence on the

committee will depend on the number of actions they are involved in or leadership level.

The committee’s functions will be to create synergies that will enable the Play Plan to move

forward, optimising the resources and strategies for implementing it, and to report to,

maintain contact with and act as a bridge for transmitting opportune decisions to the political

heads. The players involved belong to the following spheres:

127

Urban model sphere

Urban Model Department in the Area of Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility

Green Spaces Department in the Area of Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility

Mobility Department in the Area of Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility

Sustainability Culture and Strategy Department in the Area of Ecology, Urban

Planning and Mobility

Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens (IMPJ)

Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape and Quality of Life (IMPUQV)

Barcelona Cicle de l’Aigua (BCASA)

Social rights sphere

Children, Young People and Senior Citizens Department in the Area of Social Rights

Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education (IMEB)

Educating City Department at the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education

Municipal Institute for Persons with Disabilities (IMPD)

Municipal Institute of Social Services (IMSS)

Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB)

Barcelona Education Consortium (CEB)

Citizen rights sphere

Gender Mainstreaming Department

Active Democracy Department

Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB)

Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE)

Citizen Rights and Diversity Services Directorate

Community Action Department

Barcelona Libraries Consortium

Districts

Manager's Office

People and Territorial Services Department

Technical Services Department

Other spheres

Barcelona Institute for Children and Adolescents (IIAB)

Barcelona Regional (BR)

Foment de Ciutat

Municipal Data Office

Barcelona Activa

Barcelona Health Consortium

City Police

128

Lead project working groups

Working and coordinating forum for monitoring the implementation of the various lead

projects with the leadership or co-leadership of the lead players and the participation of the

other players. Set up and organised in line with each lead project. Each lead project working

group will incorporate entities from the associated social sphere. At least the following:

Barcelona Youth Council Educational Associations Working Group

Citizen Agreement for an Inclusive Barcelona Independent Living and Accessibility Network

Mestres Rosa Sensat Association – Federation of Pedagogical Renovation Movements

Barcelona Federation of Residents’ Associations (FAVB)

8.2 Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluating progress of the actions to be carried out, as well as the level of

roll-out and implementation of their aims is essential, not only for accountability purposes

but also for giving the Plan more cohesion and a common vision. The day-to-day nature of its

widespread roll-out can lead to disconnection so, apart from overall political and technical

leadership, monitoring and evaluating it can restore weight to the strategic vision as a whole.

The following section will show how the Play Plan ensures the different players maintain

some control over its roll-out by means of monitoring and evaluation processes. The

monitoring process consists of a series of instruments and mechanical processes (see Annexe

11.3), which basically report on the extent to which the planned actions have been

implemented and the targets achieved, and qualitative evaluation meetings, relating to these

four levels of monitoring and evaluation:

4. Intermediate and final evaluation.

3. Monitoring the achievement of the

targets by means of measurable

numerical indicators.

2. Monitoring the 10 lead projects by

means of the planned indicators.

Reports:

 Annual monitoring

report on actions and

lead projects

 Intermediate evaluation

report (2024) with a

proposal for

reprogramming the

actions

 Final evaluation report

(2040) on the planned

objectives and the

achievement and impact

of the targets

1. Monitoring implementation of the 63

actions by means of a traffic-light

system.

129

9. Time-frame

Actions and lead projects

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025-2030

1. Incorporate play area design criteria geared towards improving play quality in all new

and renovation projects.

2. Reorganise and rethink the playful offer and play areas in territorial terms.

3. Promote the model of a recreation space rather than a play area, by creating unique

spaces.

4. Renovate and decrease the number of poor quality, standardised play areas.

5. Create recreation spaces designed for adolescents and young people.

6. Incorporate play equipment for adults and elderly people.

7. Increase the opportunities for water play (lead project)

8. Pilot and consolidate the adventure playground model, putting the emphasis on

free, creative play.

9. Incorporate playable urban features in the urban furniture catalogue.

10. Expand the recreation resources with mobile play areas.

11. Systematise and drive the transformation of school playgrounds (lead project)

12. Urban micro-interventions in school surroundings (lead project)

13. Boost the “School Playgrounds Open to the Neighbourhood” programme

14. Plan city recreation infrastructure in the medium and long term within the

recreation ecosystem framework, while ensuring it is adequately

maintained and cleaned.

139

Actions and lead projects

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025-2030

15. Co-create new urban sports parks with young people.

16. Increase and diversify sports equipment for motor play and physical activity from 0

to 99 years of age.

17. Create a large, innovative recreation space for all ages (0 to 99) in the natural

surrounding of the seafront.

18. Promote natural settings as play spaces.

19. Sundays for play and recreation on the street: one main street in each district

closed to traffic every Sunday morning (lead project)

20. Study the creation of a network of pedestrian paths incorporating street play.

21. Create safer environments, with universal accessibility, around play areas and

recreation spaces as well as schools.

22. Rethink the school path programme.

23. Open café-bars in recreation spaces to offer toilets and the loan of a basic games

kit (lead project).

24. Explore promoting collaboration with commercial establishments in squares,

especially cafés or bars with a terrace, to decide how they can collaborate in

providing free toilet access and in loaning a basic games kit.

25. Increase urban furniture, taking everyday needs into account and create pleasant

areas to stay around the city, especially around recreation spaces and play areas.

Mainly benches, fountains and shade.

26. Introduce more greenery into recreation spaces and play area surroundings.

27. “Let’s play in the squares”. Programme with mobile recreation options to

encourage meeting up and playing in the city’s squares (lead project).

131

Actions and lead projects

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025-2030

28. Include more public space recreation options at summer camps and day centres, and

in open centres, toy libraries and children's play centres,

29. Play Support Service for children with functional diversity (lead project).

30. Play for everyone in the heart of the city with the opening of an outdoor toy

library for all ages (0 to 99) in a central spot.

31. Get local facilities (libraries, civic centres, neighbourhood centres and creation

factories) to promote and programme outdoor playful activities.

32. Increase and diversify the outdoor playful and physical activity on offer through

“Health in the Neighbourhoods “ and “Activa’t als Parcs”, incorporating

intergenerational options as well.

33. Esplais and caus take to the streets: “priority play zones” in some squares and

streets on Saturdays (lead project).

34. Promote minority sports from different countries outdoors on the open sports courts

and in school playgrounds.

35. Adopt a proactive approach and explore public support for social or

community projects to share and/or exchange games and toys.

36. Boost the public space dispute management service where there are disputes

over uses and a high presence of play.

37. Explore actions for improving the combined use of public space by dogs and for

games.

38. Prevent sexism and sexual harassment in public spaces.

39. Communication and awareness campaign on the social importance of play.

40. Boost the celebration of World Play Day.

132

Actions and lead projects

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025-2030

41. Remove signs in the city that prohibit ball games and promote all kinds of street play

alongside other uses (lead project).

42. Improve signs in the city informing people of the opportunities for play in various

ways.

43. Create a website and a mobile app on the play opportunities the city offers.

44. Develop an intercultural community project on play as a cultural fact.

45. Train educators in free, creative and co-educational play as well as in

maintaining harmony in school playgrounds.

46. Promote active outdoor play habits. Doctors and paediatric nurses prescribe and

recommend one hour a day.

47. Move forward on the social organisation of time, to make more free time available

for enjoying outdoor play and physical activity, as well as measures for improving

the work-life balance and co-responsibility of men and women for an equal

distribution of care tasks.

48. Systematise methodological guidelines so they take into account the interests and

needs of children, adolescents and young people in public space transformation

projects.

49. Explore the development of a project for promoting co-responsibility for the proper

use, shared use and maintenance of recreation spaces near schools.

50. Innovation and research on the opportunities for play in Barcelona’s public spaces.

51. Create a map of the needs and opportunities for play in the city’s public spaces as a

planning tool and for public dissemination by means of an app/website.

133

Actions and lead projects

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025-2030

52. Incorporate questions on the periodic municipal surveys to provide informed

data on the frequency of and satisfaction with play time and spaces for playing

in the city.

53. Estimate the Public Space Play Plan’s impact on health.

54. Compile and systematise actions linked to outdoor play and physical activity in the

report on measures included in the Plan for Encouraging and Promoting Citizen

Uses of Public Space.

55. Create a suitable municipal management structure, with sufficient municipal

resources, for organising and monitoring the implementation of the Play Plan.

56. Draw up an operational handbook for the technical implementation of the

design criteria for play areas and recreation spaces.

57. Review the current technical specifications for children’s play areas.

58. Amend the civic behaviour byelaw on promoting harmony in public spaces.

59. Draw up a new procedure for designing new and renovated play areas.

60. Include the IMPD in evaluating play area projects to improve accessibility in all of

them.

61. Include play in the “Everyday Urban Planning Manual. Urban Planning with a

Gender Perspective”.

62. Training and exchange forums for municipal staff working in departments,

services, institutes and districts.

63. Create a cross-departmental committee for implementing and monitoring the Play

Plan.

134

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137

Area: Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility

Editors and authors:

Green Spaces and Biodiversity Directorate, Urban Model, Adolescence and Youth Institute

The images belong to:

Page 7‐8‐9: Working sessions (Adolescence and Youth Institute)

Maps and Tables: Barcelona Regional and Adolescence and Youth

Institute

Page 95: Via Laietana car-free day (Barcelona City Council)

Page 97: Let’s play in Plaça del Sol in the Gràcia District (Barcelona City Council)

Page 100-101 Sign and street games (Pixabay)

Page 105: La Model (Barcelona City Council) and Congrés-Indians school playground (Antoni

Portell)

Page 109: Round the Viladomat secondary school (Natalia Olcina, camiamic.wordpress.com)

Page 112: Eixample beach – Torre de les Aigües (Barcelona City Council)

Page 115: Baró del Viver urban sports centre (Barcelona City Council)

Page 118: Caseta de jocs in Sants and Terrace-bar of the Caseta de Jocs in Sants (Barcelona CC)

The full licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ca