Playgrounds: The Experimental Years

A history of post-war playgrounds and their enduring legacy.

After World War II, a new kind of playground emerged in Northern Europe and North America. Rather than slides, swings, and roundabouts, these new playgrounds encouraged children to build shacks and invent their own entertainment. Playgrounds tells the story of how waste grounds and bombsites were transformed into hives of activity by children and progressive educators. It shows how a belief in the imaginative capacity of children shaped a new kind of playground and how designers reimagined what playgrounds could be. Ben Highmore tells a compelling story about pioneers, designers, and charities--and above all--about the value of play.

Ben Highmore is professor of cultural studies at the University of Sussex. His books include Lifestyle Revolution: How Taste Changed Class in Late 20th-Century Britain.