GROUND-UP CITY. PLAY AS A DESIGN TOOL MAPS THE CONTINUING HISTORY OF AN URBAN DESIGN STRATEGY FOR PLAY IN THE CITY. LIANE LEFAIVRE HAS DEVELOPED A THEORETICAL MODEL FOR TACKLING PLAYGROUNDS AS AN URBAN STRATEGY. SHE STEPS OFF FROM A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF PLAY AND THE LUDIC IN ART, ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN, FOCUSING PARTICULARLY ON THE POST-WAR PLAYGROUNDS REALIZED IN AMSTERDAM AS JOINT VENTURES BETWEEN ALDO VAN EYCK, CORNELIS VAN EESTEREN AND JAKOBA MULDER. THE ARCHITECTURE FIRM DÖLL - ATELIER VOOR BOUWKUNST EXPLORED THE POSSIBILITY OF APPLYING THE MODEL IN TWO URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AREAS IN ROTTERDAM, OUDE WESTEN IN THE INNER CITY AND MEEUWENPLAAT IN HOOGVLIET, AN OUTLYING POSTWAR DISTRICT, REFINING IT INTO A PRACTICAL DESIGN STRATEGY. A SECOND LAYER IN THE BOOK GIVES AN INSPIRATIONAL AND REFRESHING NEW LOOK AT PLAY IN A PICTURE ESSAY WITH A WELTER OF REFERENCE IMAGES ILLUSTRATING PLAY AS AN URBAN PHENOMENON.
GROUND-UP CITY PLACES THE PLAYGROUND HIGH ON THE AGENDA AS AN URBAN DESIGN CHALLENGE. IT ALSO SHOWS HOW SPECIFYING A GENERIC, ACADEMIC MODEL FOR A PARTICULAR SITUATION CAN LEAD TO A PRACTICALLY APPLICABLE DESIGN RESOURCE.
'A MOST IMPORTANT WORK - CAREFULLY RESEARCHED AND SCHOLARLY, YET WITH HUGE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRESENT-DAY DESIGN. IT CONVINCES US THAT PLAYGROUNDS HAVE MORE POTENTIAL FOR FACILITATING THE SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF DIVERSE PEOPLES THAN ANY OTHER DESIGNED FORMS.'
WLLIAM SAUNDERS
EDITOR, HARVARD DESIGN MAGAZINE