KEYNOTE SPEAKer
The power of play in times of uncertainty
A national observatory of children’s play experiences during COVID-19.
Dr Kate Cowan, Senior Research Fellow at UCL Institute of Education
PLENARY PRESENTATIONS
Children’s right to play
How a child rights-based approach helps communities to champion play
Naomi Danquah, Programme Director, Child Friendly Cities & Communities, UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)Klopp
Play and wellbeing in the context Covid-19
From lockdown to recovery
Prof Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology, University of Reading
Can child-friendly planning and design really save cities?
Lessons and insights from Europe and beyond
Tim Gill, writer and researcher
Place, pedagogy and play
Creating opportunities for play and learning in Bangladesh
Dr Matluba Khan, Lecturer in Urban Design, Cardiff University and co-founder of A Place in Childhood
Designing child-friendly high-density neighbourhoods
Natalia Krysiak, Cities for Play
Proper play
A matter of urgency
Ash Perrin, The Flying Seagull Project
Kerbs and curbs, desire and damage
An affirmative account of children’s play and being well during and emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic
Prof Alison Stenning, University of Newcastle
and
Dr Wendy Russell, Independent writer and researcher
Playwork: a unique way of working with children Alexandra (Ali), Long, Course Director, Childhood Development & Playwork, Leeds Beckett University
CO-CHAIRS
Professor Peter Kraftl, Chair in Human Geography, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham
Andrea Davis, Doctoral Student and Communications Co-ordinator of the Children and Childhood Network, University of Birmingham
INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
Adrian Voce, director of Playful Planet
PROGRAMME THEMES
Conference themes, developed through a high calibre programme of keynote speakers, plenary sessions and parallel workshops, included: -
Play and learning
Street play, planning, and the built environment
Playwork
Play in the early years
Crosscutting themes
Each theme included a mix of research, policy and practice; and two cross-cutting themes:
the impact of the pandemic on children’s play
play and inequality
who attended
Play 2021 was a cross-professional conference for practitioners, researchers, students, public officials and policymakers concerned with issues of play and space in childhood. It considered planning and traffic as much as playwork and pedagogy – with the common theme of advocacy for children’s rights: to play, to enjoy the built and natural environments and to fully participate in the life of their communities.
The conference was attended by: -
playworkers, play activists, teachers, youth workers, and early years practitioners;
architects, landscape architects, planners, designers, highways engineers, and developers;
parks and recreation managers, leisure officers and public health officials;
policymakers, political advisers and politicians
researchers, lecturers and students of play and playwork, children’s geographies, childhood studies, child development, children’s rights, and related disciplines.
