Humane cities center around the relationships between people and places. Communities thrive on shared resources, public spaces, and a collective vision for their locality. To nurture happy and healthy cities, designers and the public apply methods of placemaking to the urban setting. Placemaking—the creation of meaningful places—strongly relies on community-based participation to effectively produce magnetic public spaces.
One way people can participate in place-making is through play, a form of active engagement with the city. Through play, one can sense, move and act with the built environment, fabricating sustained mental links with the place. Playful urban spaces are more relatable, allowing people to connect with them on a human scale. Playful public activity is an indicator of an energized urban space and successful placemaking.
