A Place to Play: Working Towards Fairness of Place for All Children

Play and access to safe green spaces – like parks and playgrounds – support a child’s healthy growth and development. Yet access to safe, stimulating, and joyful play space is not equally distributed. Structural forces, such as zoning regulations and funding gaps, have led to inequitable access to quality play spaces in communities across the US.

Panelists share examples of community-led solutions to address gaps in play space equity, as well as discuss what still needs to be done to ensure our built environments support child development and lifelong health.

Speakers & Panelists:

• Leah Anyanwu, Programme Specialist, Children on the Move, Children’s Learning and Development, The LEGO Foundation (Moderator)
• Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University; Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Co-Founder, Playful Learning Landscapes
• Lysa Ratliff, Chief Executive Officer, KABOOM!
• Cynthia Briscoe Brown, Atlanta Board of Education, Seat 8 At Large
• Le-Quyen Vu, Executive Director, Indochinese American Council
• Melissa Rivard, Assistant Director – Innovation Strategies, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (Host)

To learn more about how the built and natural environments—and the systemic factors that shape those environments—interact with each other and with a child’s social environment in deeply interconnected ways, check out our working paper, Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development.