Coping with Standards: Integrating Art and Safety into the Design of a Creative Playground

Abstract

Technical safety standards have a strong yet controversial impact on the design of current playgrounds. This article studies the process of making a unique art-playground under the strict safety requirements. Building on the case study of a participatory design project between artists and children in Turku, Finland, this paper discusses the many legal and technical ambiguities regarding the playground standardization and investigates artists’ experiences of implementing standards in their work. The article shows that despite the controversies, it is possible to make playgrounds that comply with the standards, respect children’s desires, and are original and creative in their appearance.