A State of Play for the City

As observers or participants, we often associate play with the wildness and abandon of children, perhaps evoking shrieking, swinging, climbing, sliding, jumping, chasing, hiding, or impromptu silliness. This beautiful pandemonium is incredibly effective for shaping life skills (for adults too). Play is self-directed learning in action—inspiring freedom and building up negotiation prowess while boosting mental and physical health.

As we acknowledge play’s critical role in shaping childhood, and its possibilities to enhance our adulthoods, the need to make our cities more play-friendly becomes more evident— the concept of play can and should be more expansive. Play has a magic power to energize a wide audience, create new habits, and prompt conversations between people of different ages and abilities, stimulating collaboration, tying new knots in the social fabric, and creating community cohesion.

Play Provocations is an exploration of how to expand the definition of play, both who it is for and what it can do.

Playcasts is a mini-series of thoughtful and creative reflections on the theme of our 2021 summer program, Playing in Public. We invite listeners to see play anew through three unique experiences of the city. From candid conversations and personal stories to spoken word, Playcasts has something for everyone.

Playcasts can be streamed from our website or downloaded to take with you on your daily walk and are best enjoyed while traveling along The Bentway’s Play Path.

Youth Perspectives on Play

Ryan Lo of Urban Minds hosts a candid conversation with three youth participants: Adriana, Enosh, and Matthew. All 18 and 19 years of age and living in the suburbs, these youth offer fresh insights into what play means to them and their generation.

Never Stop Playing

Award-winning spoken word poet Britta B. reads a newly commissioned poem about interacting with the urban environment in playful and inclusive ways. Written, in part, from the perspective of a bee, Britta helps us reconnect with our own inner child as we play our way through the city.

Parkour and Play in the City

Stunt man and founder of The Monkey Vault Parkour gym Dan Iaboni believes that we need to keep playing as adults in order to stay young at heart and to thrive as we go about our daily lives. By sharing his personal journey to parkour, along with his philosophy on this distinctly urban practice, he challenges us all to find our own ways to de-engineer the city.

For decades, artists, designers, and planners have turned to play to better understand our environments and each other. Over the course of the Spring/Summer 2021 season, The Bentway will explore the history of play and its role in shaping decisions about public space through the Playing in Public exhibition and programs.

As we look to the future, we must consider the ways that COVID has altered our cities and the necessity of play for urban recovery. With long-running lockdowns in place at various times throughout the past year, opportunities for recreation and play have become critical to maintaining mental and physical health during an uncertain time.

As cities across the globe call for a “summer of play”, this two-part panel discussion, co-presented with World Urban Parks & 8 80 Cities, and featuring speakers for whom play is a core component of their work, we will explore the benefits of recreation as a tool for recovery and ask what play can teach us about building more resilient cities, public spaces, and communities.

Our second talk will explore how play has shaped the design of our cities over time and what play-based spaces reveal about shifting political, social, and cultural values. Panelists will reflect on play’s critical role in learning and development for all ages, and speculate on the ways the pandemic will re-shape play-based design and engagement in the years to come.

Following part one of the series, The Bentway is delighted to welcome Tim Gill (Writer, Scholar & Childhood play advocate), Alexandra Lange (Writer and Architecture & Design Critic), Adil Dhalla (Camp Reset), Mitchell Chan (Studio F Minus) and Alex Bozikovic (The Globe & Mail) as moderator.

Alex Bozikovic

Alex Bozikovic is The Globe and Mail’s architecture critic. He writes about architecture, heritage, planning, and landscape architecture in Toronto and beyond. 

He is a co-author of Toronto Architecture: A City Guide (McClelland & Stewart, 2017); and co-editor of House Divided (2019). House Divided was shortlisted for the Speaker’s Book Award of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

He won the 2019 President’s Medal for Media in Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada for his journalism. He also won the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario’s 2017 Media Award.

He has also written for journals including Azure, Architect, Architectural Record, Dwell, Frame, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and Spacing. 

For decades, artists, designers, and planners have turned to play to better understand our environments and each other. Over the course of the Spring/Summer 2021 season, The Bentway will explore the history of play and its role in shaping decisions about public space through the Playing in Public exhibition and programs.

As we look to the future, we must consider the ways that COVID has altered our cities and the necessity of play for urban recovery. With long-running lockdowns in place at various times throughout the past year, opportunities for recreation and play have become critical to maintaining mental and physical health during an uncertain time.

As cities across the globe call for a “summer of play”, this two-part panel discussion, co-presented with World Urban Parks & 8 80 Cities, and featuring speakers for whom play is a core component of their work, we will explore the benefits of recreation as a tool for recovery and ask what play can teach us about building more resilient cities, public spaces, and communities.

Our first talk focuses on how COVID has impacted play for all ages and the strategies that have been employed to mitigate the negative effects of lockdowns over the last year. From virtual recreation activities to craft kit deliveries and distanced team-building, our speakers share their insights into the ways we stayed playful during the height of the pandemic.

We are pleased to include Jen DeMelo (KABOOM!), Luis Serrano (FUNdamentals of Play), Melissa Mongiat (Daily tous les jours), and Janie Romoff (Parks, Forestry and Recreation, the City of Toronto), as well as Amanda O’Rourke (World Urban Parks & 8 80 Cities) as moderator for this discussion.

The second part of this series will explore how play has shaped the design of our cities over time and what play-based spaces reveal about shifting political, social and cultural values. Panelists will reflect on play’s critical role in learning and development for all ages, and speculate on the ways the pandemic will re-shape play-based design and engagement in the years to come.

Amanda O’Rourke

Amanda O’Rourke is the Executive Director of 8 80 Cities. Over 13 years she has driven the successful growth of the international non-profit through strategic planning, partnership development, and team building. Amanda has led diverse equitable mobility and public space projects in cities and towns across North America, Europe, and Australia. She enjoys working collaboratively with city governments and community partners to make it easier for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to walk, bike, take transit, and build social connection and sense of belonging in public spaces. Amanda is also the Co-Chair of the Children, Play, and Nature Committee for World Urban Parks and is passionate about harnessing the power of play in creating healthy and inclusive communities.