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Children play everywhere. Yet their right to play——is constantly challenged by adults.

Play is crucial to supporting in cognitive, emotional, physical and social skills. Likewise, we know children's environments their health and well-being, for better or worse.

But across cities, young people are let down by a built environment that fails to appropriately .

Places where children commonly used to play, such as streets and local neighborhoods, have been transformed into car-only spaces where traffic and parking take priority. Likewise, city spaces frequently "design out" children by prohibiting skateboarding, ball games and other kinds of play.

Over time, urban planning has confined children's opportunities for play to .

However, children don't have equal access to these formal play spaces. In the , my colleagues and I found substantial inequalities in access to play. Children in the most deprived areas needed to travel farther to their nearest playground.

In , I've explored four international examples of how children and play can be promoted in less likely urban spaces. My findings show how play can be promoted in cities to support children's right to play anywhere—but also that there is widespread hostility to children's right to use urban spaces for play.

Power of play

In Sydney, a pedal park installation with temporary jumps, ramps and a pump track was for the duration of the winter. In Paris, a play street was created in central Paris by closing road traffic on Friday afternoons in autumn and spring.

In Belfast, temporary play equipment and were set up in the Cathedral Gardens public space.

In Milan, a community-led design involved children in creating a colorful grid, planters, growing beds and games in a school car park, which went on to inspire a new of temporary school streets and piazzas.

These play spaces allowed children to play freely, play with objects, play pretend, play games with rules, and play physically—. What's more, they enabled children to develop new connections with their community by appropriating urban spaces to promote relaxation and fun. This was vital following the trauma of the global pandemic—all the projects were active during COVID-19 outside of lockdown.

These short-term projects invited children to enjoy urban life in new ways. In fact, they bolstered civic access for people of all generations. In Sydney, the closure of the car park fostered a new sense of community. Caregivers, grandparents and residents were able to connect with each other in a whole different setting.

Politics of play

But despite the positives, over time, the projects faced protest and tension. In Milan, fears from residents emerged about play being used as a tool to displace poorer communities. This was in response to the area having long been earmarked for regeneration. In Sydney, Paris and Belfast, people actively targeted and sabotaged the informal play spaces.

In Sydney, to park their cars, older citizens successfully lobbied local councilors to reduce the total amount of space for play, from the entire car park to one aisle of parking. In Paris, local businesses were exasperated by the presence of children. Collectively, they threatened project initiators and staged a protest, claiming that "play streets kill local shops." In Belfast, the pop-up play space was set on fire multiple times. By summer 2022, much of the park had been destroyed.

The outcomes demonstrate the politics to which children, and their play, were exposed. Because of a range of aggressive behavior from adults, children's use of streets and public spaces was consistently restricted. A common statement from dissenters was "children can go elsewhere." The reality is they can't.

In tracking informal play projects through the pandemic and subsequent years, two additional factors hampered their longer-term success. For the council projects in Sydney and Belfast, council officers hoped to direct more resources to urban play, but the lack of a specific local policy to support play was a significant constraint. By comparison, the community projects in Paris and Milan placed unsustainable pressure on volunteers to ensure prolonged success.

Lessons from previous crises highlight how tensions and conflict can , often diluting their progressive purpose. Ultimately, children's play in recovery from the pandemic experienced a similar fate.

This is worrying because UNICEF research has shown that .

Places that allow for children's play can create dynamic neighborhoods, intergenerational encounters, and meaningful participation in urban spaces—if only we let it happen.