Today, physical inactivity is a significant global health challenge. Playgrounds and outdoor fitness areas (adult playgrounds) have the potential to invite people of all ages to be physically active. However, contemporary designs often seem to not optimally attract potential users. Furthermore, playgrounds are often age-specific, although it is possible to create locations that attract people of all ages. But how do you build such an environment? What kind of environments naturally invite people to be active?
To find answers to these questions, the current dissertation of van Amy Jeschke used stepping stone landscapes as a central paradigm. Previous research using this paradigm showed that children prefer non-standardized stepping stone landscapes [1,2]. This is remarkable, because most contemporary playgrounds are built with standardized dimensions.
The dissertation builds on this finding and explores questions as: Would young adults and older adults, given the desirability of age-independent playgrounds, also create landscapes with variation? And how do the created distances relate to their action capacities? Why do playgrounds often display standardized features in the first place? Are some forms of variation more attractive than others, and if so, why? By answering these questions, the dissertation offers potential stepping stones towards more attractive and age-independent playgrounds.
[1.] Jongeneel, D., Withagen, R., & Zaal, F. T. J. M. (2015). Do children create standardized playgrounds? A study on the gap crossing affordances of jumping stones. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 44, 45–52.
[2.] Sporrel, K., Caljouw, S. R., & Withagen, R. (2017). Children prefer a nonstandardized to a standardized jumping stone configuration: playing time and judgments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 53, 131–137.
Amy Jeschke is part of Health in Context.
