Outdoor of the house, public playgrounds are the most typical puts for kids to play and the basic proper of each and every kid to play is even recognised in a UN conference. Regardless of this, there was very restricted analysis exploring inequality within the provision of playgrounds.
To assist cope with this, now we have analysed knowledge from virtually 34,000 playgrounds in England – the biggest nationwide dataset on playgrounds but. Specifically, we checked out England’s biggest 534 settlements with populations over 15,000 and mapped patterns from the 18,077 youngsters’s playgrounds inside them.
We discovered considerable inequalities. For instance, with two puts widely related in inhabitants measurement, one would possibly have 5 occasions the choice of youngsters consistent with playground.
Except London, disadvantaged settlements in England generally tend to have fewer, smaller and further-away playgrounds – a major social justice factor. In London on the other hand, relationships had been discovered to be the other, with disadvantaged spaces tending to have extra playgrounds in shut proximity.
There are lots of other ways to measure the supply of playgrounds, however we used 21 signs throughout 3 domain names: the choice of playgrounds consistent with kid, the dimensions of playgrounds, and their closeness to the place youngsters are living.
This ensured our effects weren’t closely influenced by means of a unmarried variable, since some settlements excelled in a single area however had been missing in others.
Winners and losers
The graph underneath presentations youngsters’s playground provision for main settlements in England:
Extra disadvantaged settlements generally tend to have fewer, smaller playgrounds.
Brindley & Martin (2025)
Puts at the left of the graph have smaller playgrounds, whilst in puts in opposition to the ground of the graph youngsters must shuttle additional to a playground. Circle measurement signifies what number of playgrounds there are consistent with kid.
Right here’s the similar graph for boroughs of London, the place the connection is reversed:
In London, youngsters in additional disadvantaged interior town boroughs have higher get admission to to playgrounds.
Brindley & Martin (2025)
Those are the highest settlements in every class:
Brindley & Martin (2025), CC BY-SA
And those are the ground:
Brindley & Martin (2025), CC BY-SA
Evaluating main settlements, Liverpool has just about 5 occasions extra youngsters beneath 16 consistent with playground than Norwich (1,104 in comparison to 236). In London, the variation is even better: the borough of Redbridge has just about 8 occasions extra youngsters consistent with playground than Islington (1,567 v 204).
In relation to playground measurement, Leicester dedicates 4 occasions extra of its city house to playgrounds than Leeds (0.30% v 0.07%), whilst Norwich provides seven occasions extra playground house consistent with kid than Birmingham (4.2 metres to 0.7 metres). In London, Islington has 5 occasions the playground house of Barnet (0.64% of overall city house v 0.13%), and 3 times extra space consistent with kid than Redbridge (2.8 metres v 0.9 metres).
Liverpool has the bottom proportion of youngsters inside 100, 300 and 500 metres of playgrounds, with Coventry having the bottom proportion at 800 metres. Against this, Southampton, Plymouth and Studying have the easiest percentages of youngsters dwelling just about playgrounds.
In London, Redbridge and Kingston upon Thames had the bottom percentages of youngsters dwelling just about playground, whilst Islington, Tower Hamlets and Hackney had the easiest ranges of provision. Those distance measures might be closely influenced by means of inhabitants density, particularly in London (Redbridge is suburban; Islington is interior town). On the other hand, patterns out of doors of London seem extra advanced.
Other answers for various puts
Puts like Norwich, Islington and Milton Keynes fared neatly throughout all 3 domain names, whilst puts like Liverpool, Leeds or Stockton-on-Tees did comparably poorly in all 3. However maximum spaces fell someplace in between.
Sliding to the ground: a small playground in Leeds, England.
Paul Harness / Alamy
For instance, puts corresponding to Portsmouth or Nottingham have just right ratings for distance however have deficient provision when it comes to measurement. They’d, subsequently, receive advantages maximum from increasing present playgrounds.
Against this, playgrounds in Brighton and Lincoln are larger however have a tendency to be additional away. Puts like those would have the benefit of a couple of new strategically situated playgrounds to fill within the gaps.
As with all dataset, there are constraints. In long term, we need to incorporate further knowledge on accessibility for disabled youngsters, and we recognise that playgrounds are only one part around the wider spectrum of puts the place youngsters play. As an example, youngsters in outer London boroughs with few playgrounds would possibly are living closer to woods or sports activities fields.
We additionally recognize that we haven’t any knowledge to observe the standard of playgrounds. Is a 100 sq. metre playground stuffed with attention-grabbing and protected options? Or a unmarried wiped out slide surrounded by means of fencing? In the end, playground use reasonably than provision is crucial measure. Finally, a nasty playground won’t make youngsters extra lively.
Our hope is that, as folks change into extra conscious about the issue, we’ll see new insurance policies and higher placemaking for kids. Already we’re running with Play England (England’s nationwide charity for play) on a “digital dashboard” in a position to supporting councils to devise extra strategically for play of their native spaces.
