PlaysMaking

By  blending play and placemaking, the city of Cork (IE) has inspired positive changes in the spaces, places and lives of its citizens. The community-led PlaysMaking initiative has secured the permanent pedestrianisation of public roads, created inclusive recreational spaces, and led to the creation of dedicated public spaces for popup events. Supportive environments, structures and financing have been established to enable community engagement through PlaysMaking at local level. In tandem, a processes was developed to establish ‘play’ as a high-level objective in the latest City Development Plan 2022-2028. Cork has also placed play on the local national and international agenda. 

Cork City Council has been on a learning journey through its participation in Cities in Placemaking, the inaugural flagship programme of Placemaking Europe. In parallel, through Playful Paradigm, the city explored play as a tool to co-create solutions for community and urban challenges. This resulted in the creation of a playful placemaking network that connects practitioners, academics, community leaders, businesses, and policymakers.

Combining civic authorities and their placemaking experience with the cross-sectoral perspective of the network has led to novel pilot projects. Cork City established methods to collaborate with community groups, agencies and planning experts to co-create solutions to improve new public spaces. This approach has been used at all scales, from street upgrades, to the design of a large urban village and a new regional park.

The Play Development Officer provides advice on the strategic use of play at the concept stage. Project funding is used to design play events within the public consultation process. Trained Community Play leaders, the planning team and private consultants engage with residents at events and gather their feedback. This collaborative approach has led to positive outcomes in active travel, air quality, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities. 

PlaysMaking promotes inclusive and playful use of public spaces using participatory approaches. The Let’s Play Cork initiative leads this effort, through collaborative actions that engage the community and infuse play into events and festivals, and Play Streets for City Centre Renewal Schemes. This approach motivates organisations to embrace the play philosophy. Participation is further enhanced by training community-based Play Leaders to bring play to local neighbourhoods, and by libraries where community groups can access playful resources for community events and street parties.

A cross-directorate team within Cork City Council promotes placemaking. Members of this team attend bi-monthly Let’s Play Cork meetings, along with senior representatives from Health, Education, Community, Cultural and private sectors. Together, they identify ways to use play strategically to support community and urban redevelopment. The Play Development Officer, funded by Healthy Ireland, validates the participatory approach and the community-focused outcomes of play in support of health. 

Playsmaking links play and placemaking by establishing an inter-agency network, across health, education, culture and sports, to promote new partnerships, shared ownership, and new opportunities.

This contributes to: 

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).  

• The Urban Agenda for the EU. 

   

Combining a playful approach with the principles of placemaking enables meaningful engagement with citizens, and facilitates dialogue between urban development experts and local communities. A keen interest in this approach been expressed by cities across the WHO Healthy Cities Network in Europe, of which Cork is a member. 

Cork City has consulted with the Department of Children to update the national play policy, READY, STEADY, PLAY! The city has also aligned its work with that of Play Scotland, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes the right to play. Apart from Italy, most EU countries have only a nascent understanding of play policy and Cork’s good practice can help address this deficit.

The URBACT National Practice Transfer Initiative (NPTI) is a collaboration between Cork City and Donegal Town, Portlaoise, Rathdrum, Rush and Sligo Town, in which Cork can inspire others to more confidently become playful places. The success of this NPTI has demonstrated the transferability of the practice beyond the distinct Cork setting.

Cork is developing a transfer plan, defining the elements of its innovative strategy and building on the work of its partner city Udine on the Playful Paradigm. Successful transfer will depend on cities being able to develop cross-sectoral networks that link civic authorities, private consultants, and the community sector. 

in 2021, Cork was the first Irish city to deliver an inter-country transfer plan based on Playful Paradigm. Five Irish towns completed an 18-month programme to implement some of the processes developed in Cork. 

In 2023, Cork assisted with a cross-border Active Play programme between communities in Donegal and Derry, creating the first ever cross-border, cross-community play project, involving more than 500 people from three towns and two religious communities.