01 The Playground Is Not a Neutral Space
My grid showed where children and adults appeared during the observation periods, but it could not explain why they used these areas.
To investigate this, I researched the history and design of Chilton Square.
Chilton Square was developed as part of the regeneration of King’s Cross. According to the design information I found, the playground was designed by Root And Erect and completed in 2025. It was primarily designed for children aged 4–12, while remaining open to the wider public. Children also took part in workshops that informed the design.
Learning about the design process made me question what children’s participation in design could tell me about the finished playground. Although children’s feedback helped inform the play areas, I still needed to examine how children used the completed space. Participation in the design process did not, by itself, establish whether the final layout matched their everyday behaviour.
This made me question whether the routes provided by the design correspond to the ways children actually move through the playground.
02 What Does the Spreadsheet Hide?
The spreadsheet helped me compare repeated patterns of spatial use, but it also reduced behaviour to position, colour and density. This made some differences between children and adults easier to identify, while leaving out the interactions and decisions that might explain those differences.
03 Where Do Children Gather, and Why?
In the first area, children climbed, lay down and hid underneath the structure. The same structure supported several different activities.
In the second area, children gathered around a long hanging rope and used it to swing. Their activity was closely associated with one particular piece of equipment.
In the third area, a climbing frame marked the beginning of a route through the playground. Here, the position of the structure appeared to relate to how children moved between areas.
Across the three observation periods, the areas where parents were observed were associated with seating. This suggested a recurring pattern in the recorded data, although it did not establish whether seating alone explained where parents chose to stay.