J Magazine Spring 2018

lennials who may choose to live in the urban core
before having children, but decide to relocate
to the suburbs as their families grow. That trend
has only been accelerating. The exodus of young
families from city centers saps these areas of their
vibrancy and stability.
Instead, cities — Jacksonville included — must
take a more proactive approach to attracting and
retaining families within their urban cores. That
means, in particular, designing housing that can
accommodate families, not simply studios and
one-bedroom apartments. It also means creating
spaces that families can enjoy together — including
playgrounds.
In downtown Detroit, basketball and sand volleyball
courts fill a street at Campus Martius park.
“In Detroit
they even
closed a street
and put in
basketball
courts, foosball
tables and
things like
that. Toronto
took a road
median and
put swing sets
in the middle
of it.”
ENNIS DAVIS
URBAN PLANNER
+ DEVELOPER
Around the world, cities are actively working
to add play spaces to their urban architecture.
Urban95, for example, a project of the Bernard
van Leer Foundation, is challenging communities
to re-create themselves in ways that
will promote positive child development. The
initiative is funding various innovations in cities
globally, including creating spaces for children
to play and explore nature.
Urban planners and architects are also rethinking
what child-friendly cities should look
like. It’s led to a renewed sense of what an urban
play area should be. What they’ve come up with is
something entirely novel.
“Various cities are going back and just redeveloping
the public spaces they have to be more
interactive,” says Ennis Davis, an urban planner
and developer who lives in the city. “Jacksonville
should be marketing the Downtown area to more
than just millennials and empty-nesters. I’ve always
been surprised that Jacksonville hasn’t figured
that out.”
A statement from the Mayor’s Office noted that
there 14 city parks with playgrounds located less
than two miles away from downtown. But that’s
different than parks located within Downtown.
“To support needs in communities like Downtown
where there may be fewer playgrounds, the
city utilizes Joint Use Agreements in partnership
with the school district that provides community
use of school facilities.”
Elsewhere, the spaces being designed within
downtowns aren’t just the swing-and-slide playgrounds
of old. They’re spaces children of all ages
can explore and utilize from skateboard parks for
teenagers to adventure playgrounds that provide
children with opportunities to explore and experiment.
And, they’re spaces that take into account
everyone who might be taking advantage of them
— from the youngest to the oldest.
“In Detroit they even closed a street and put in
basketball courts, foosball tables and things like
that. Toronto took a road median and put swing
sets in the middle of it,” Davis says. “Lakeland took
a road and made a 50-foot linear park through
their Downtown corridor.”
Some designs are even simpler.
“Some of the best places are just a piece of art
that kids can climb on,” says the Project for Public
Spaces’ Kent. “They include places that have
benches where people can sit and drink coffee. Or
places in the shade where they can drink lemonade
while they’re watching their kids play.”
Philadelphia has attempted to capitalize on
the changing nature of play through its Community
Design Collaborative. In 2015, the collaboration
selected three underused sites within its city,
then called for an international design competition
to design them as play spaces.
“In Philadelphia we have a lot of play spaces
but they needed to be thought about in a different
way, particularly for pre-school children,” says
Linda Dottor, communication manager for the
collaborative. “The end game here is to open people’s
eyes to the possibilities.
The group received 40-some designs from
around the world. And the possibilities were endless,
ranging from more-traditional play spaces to
designs that took great advantage of nature. Now
various partners are working to raise money to
make the designs come to life on the three lots.
A similar approach could certainly work within
Jacksonville’s Downtown. Currently 97 “vacant”
pieces of property are owned by the city
within the boundaries of the Downtown area.
Although some of them contain vacant buildings,
others are simply bare property. Or, owners of
privately owned property within the urban core
might be willing to transfer ownership of their
property to the city or a nonprofit if they received
a tax deduction.
The possibilities are infinite. And so are the
benefits.
Paula Horvath is an editorial writer and
Editorial Board member at The Florida Times-Union
and teaches multimedia journalism at the University
of North Florida. She lives in St. Nicholas.
COME PLAY DETROIT
52
J MAGAZINE | SPRING 2018