Playgrounds Bring Slum to City
#73. Playgrounds Bring Slum to City
Project panels and presentation images for play spaces in a Buenos Aires slum, 2007 © PlaySpace Foundation
In opposition to typical approaches to slum improvement that clear large areas for new systems of infrastructure and housing, the Playspace Foundation proposed to integrate the Villa Tranquila slum with the city of Buenos Aires through a system of connected playgrounds. Connection, not containment, was the goal for improving the quality of life for children, who make up 40 percent of Villa Tranquila’s population. Non-traditional play spaces were designed based on the work of Aldo van Eyck in Amsterdam. The intention was to create areas of interaction for adults and children, not sites of anonymous and standardized physical activity. The PlaySpace Foundation was created in 2006 to present and fund the project.