miscellany

Swings in the Living Room, Volume 3

Considerations for designing kid-friendly public spaces.

chorui halim

17 Oct 2025 — 13 min read

In the first part of this series, I talked about the benefits of child-centered design (both for youth and for society in general). In the second part, I discussed strategies to make spaces within the home more kid-friendly. This time, I'm going to cover design principles for public spaces, both indoors and outdoors. In addition to my own ideas, I'm including recommendations developed by a team of youth researchers as part of the Yes Loitering Project. To learn more about youth spaces and how they've evolved over time, check out my last article.

Chorui's Recommendations

Indoor Spaces

Designing kid-friendly indoor public spaces is not all that different from designing kid-friendly spaces within the home. Many of the requirements are the same:

Space to run and play
Accessible bathrooms
Accessible furniture
Accessible food and water
Comfortable spaces to breastfeed and prepare bottles
Comfortable spaces to rest
Taking lighting, acoustics, etc. into account; having low-stimulation spaces available
Respect for privacy; anti-surveillance practices

Public spaces have some additional special considerations, though. Stores, public transit stations, and similar establishments need to have low counters and accessible pictorial signage to account for pre-literacy. The available food options need to account for a wide variety of common allergies and other dietary restrictions; though it's impossible to accommodate every intolerance, having a variety of gluten-free, peanut-free, vegan, and/or sensory-friendly options is a start.

Maintaining cleanliness is a much bigger task in high-traffic spaces, but it's critical work. Surfaces, toys, etc. need regular and thorough cleaning - most kid-oriented spaces already account for that. Clean water and air are just as important; however, they're often overlooked. Water sources should be periodically tested for contamination of heavy metals and other pollutants; mitigation should be budgeted for as well. Clean air reduces disease transmission and lung irritation; Corsi-Rosenthal boxes and N95 (or similar) respirators are cheap, highly effective ways of improving indoor air quality.

The effects of combining the use of face masks and the DIY cubes were also studied. When DIY cubes were operated without masks on the recipients, the relative exposure was reduced by 59% to 78% depending on filter thickness and fan speed. When the source and all recipients wore face masks (universal masking) but no filtration units were used, the relative exposure for recipients was reduced by 75%. However, when recipients were universally masked and the DIY cubes were operating, the relative exposure was reduced by 88% with 1” (2.5 cm) filters and the fan on low, and by 94% with the 2” (5 cm) filters and the fan on high.

"The Effectiveness of DIY Air Filtration Units," NIOSH Science Blog, CDC

Lastly, it's important to have easy, accessible ways for kids to ask for help. This requires having enough trained staff to attend to children's needs. Overworked employees in understaffed spaces are less likely to be able to help, and training helps workers understand the most effective ways to communicate with kids. Making critical resources (phones, printers, housing assistance, abuse awareness materials) available to kids should also be a priority.

Outdoor Spaces

Car-centric infrastructure is one of the biggest threats to young people in the US today. The massive danger that cars/roads pose to young children is the primary reason that they are largely prohibited from participating in public life. Over the last couple decades, cars and trucks have gotten huge. On average, pickup trucks grew 11% taller and 24% heavier between 2000-2018; now, they easily exceed 4,000 pounds. This Vox article explains the policy reasons behind the changes. As a result, pedestrian fatalities have been increasing, with children (especially those 12-23 months old) the most at risk. Heavier cars cause deadlier crashes, and tall cars also have massive front blind spots that contribute to the danger:

NBC News examined that front visibility with a group of elementary school children, ages 6 to 10, and several adults of different heights in the driver’s seat of four tall, square-hooded vehicles: Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra pickup trucks and Cadillac Escalade and Jeep Wagoneer SUVs. With the kids seated in a line stretching forward from the vehicle’s front bumper, it took nine to 11 of them before a 5-foot-2 driver could see a child’s head. Other demonstrations found similar results.

"America's cars and trucks are getting bigger, and so are their front blind zones. Children are paying the price," NBC News, Oct. 24 2022

In my opinion, moving away from car-centric infrastructure is the single biggest thing we can do to make public spaces safer and more accessible for children. Instead, we could massively expand public transit options with accessible guidance and signage designed to accommodate children. Prioritizing walkability, density, and mixed-use zoning in residential areas would also go a very long way in enabling the autonomy of young people.

There are many other ways to make existing public spaces safer and more comfortable for children, such as:

Establishing free, easy access to clean water and bathrooms
Testing and mitigating the pollution of soil, water, and air
Creating urban heat sinks such as biodense lots; these can go a long way towards reducing the temperature even in heavily developed areas

Most importantly, we need to let young people exist in public without consuming or being policed (whether by law enforcement or their own community). Wage stagnation and technological advancements have led to declining in-person socialization among people of all ages in the 21st century, but the lack of buying power has hit children the hardest (1, 2). Changing these trends involves a much larger-scale struggle against policing and capitalism in general; children's needs and contributions need to be prioritized within those efforts.

The Yes Loitering Project

In 2017, a team of 13- to 16-year-old students (Monserrat Ambrosio, Natalia Baez, Omar Campos, Giselle Rivas, Joe Nicholas Ureña, and Mario Ynfante) worked with designer Chat Travieso to develop a set of recommendations for designing youth-friendly public spaces. The list is available on their website, but I also wanted to highlight them here because they're very well thought out:

Youth Involvement

We believe youth should be involved in the decision-making process for issues that affect them. For youth involvement to work, the voices of young people must carry some weight. It’s not enough to invite young people to be part of a meeting then never listen to them as equals or implementing their ideas. Teens should not only be asked their opinion on already developed questions; they should have a say in what those questions are, in the issues that they bring up, and in how they are framed. There are some formal avenues for youth involvement in the city, like being a member of their Community Board, contributing to Participatory Budgeting, and joining The New York City Youth Council. But the city can do more to engage youth when it comes to public space design, school reform, and criminal justice reform.

We need to develop inclusive spaces that welcome youth from every background and allow them to be free without fear of being shamed, bullied, or harassed for their identity. We must acknowledge how certain groups have been historically oppressed and continue to be excluded. This includes but is not limited to youths who identify as a person of color, woman, LGBTQIA, low-income, homeless, immigrant, non-English speaking, religious minority, and/or person with disabilities. We must create spaces that center the experiences of those who have been systematically marginalized. At a minimum, an equitable public space would be free of cost with free or affordable amenities, would not have any pre-requisites for entering (like being above a certain age, having membership within an institution, being a resident of a specific neighborhood or building, or limiting the number of people in a group), and open late or never closes. In addition, to create a truly socially just place for youth, the city needs to put an end to broken window and zero tolerance policing.

Safety

We believe in community safety. Community safety is when members of a community come together and rely on one another to protect each other from harm or violence, instead of involving the police. Members of the community should de-escalate conflicts when they arise and put an end to them quickly. This means trusting youth to self-manage, engaging nearby residents, and when possible and appropriate (as in a park or community center), having someone who is trained in conflict resolution and can help mediate fights or other disruptions. In addition, it is useful to have a sympathetic adult or establishment nearby in case of an emergency; lighting throughout so people can go to the park late but also, so people feel safer; and at least two entrances/exits.

Location

Instead of having a small number of concentrated and designated places for teens to go, there should be a decentralized network of spots throughout all corners of the city where youth feel welcome and can call their own. This also includes an expanded idea of public space to not only include parks and plazas, but also sidewalks, train platforms, and public housing land. In addition, these spots should be close to public transportation and schools or be relatively easy to get to without a car, and should be near other attractions, such as restaurants, stores, and movie theaters.

Food

We believe a great spot to hang out would have an array of places to eat. Such food selections would consider New York’s great ethnic diversity as well as where the spot is located and offer a wide range of culturally sensitive options. Whether it’s a food truck, restaurant, or café, these places should be approachable, and the menu should be affordable. It also won't be strict on customer-only rules. Sometimes not everybody in a group has money to eat, but they still want to hang out. We need a space where if you aren't eating or if you bring your own food, you're still welcome. There should be plenty of tables and seats and there should not be any time limits to how long you can be there.

Seating

Any good public space has plenty of places to sit, whether formally with benches and chairs, or informally with steps and ledges. The placement of any seating element should consider the flow of people in a space, where they already gather, and where people would like to stop naturally. In addition to traditional benches, there should be other kinds of seating to encourage different groupings of friends, like stepped seating, L or U-shaped seating, picnic tables, seating as part of an art installation, and interactive and playful seating like swings. There should be plenty of movable chairs to encourage young people to create their own seating arrangements. Also, steps, ledges, and railings should be free of any dividers or spikes, allowing people to sit there. Finally, instead of fencing off lawns, we should have more open green spaces for people to chill without fearing getting in trouble for stepping on the grass.

Weather Protection

To create truly inclusive spaces for youth, we need to consider how our changing seasons affect where we can and can’t go. Besides providing shade and rain coverings, with trees, pavilions, and gazebos in outdoor spaces, we should also consider having more indoor public spaces for when it rains or during the winter. Most indoor spaces, like restaurants and movie theaters, require teens to spend money, and libraries don’t allow teens to talk and be loud. We could change that by creating more youth centers near existing parks where youth already hang out and create spaces in libraries and/or schools where young people can talk, listen to music, play games, and be themselves without getting shushed.

Tech

An ideal hangout space for teens would have free Wi-Fi and USB charging stations. While the city is making an effort to have Wi-Fi in more places, like the train stations and near LinkNYC kiosks, we hope they expand that to parks and plazas, that the Wi-Fi connects automatically after connecting once, and that it does not require one to register and sign-up for anything.

Sports

Spaces that are dedicated for teens usually involve sports. In addition to the usual basketball courts, tennis courts, soccer fields, football fields, and baseball fields, the city should invest in more spaces for skateboarding, BMX biking, rock climbing, parkour, tight-rope walking, and other non-traditional and riskier activities. While designated spaces like skateparks are good, the city should be more skate-friendly in general by accepting that skateboarding is a legitimate mode of transportation and decriminalizing it (New York City Administrative Code 19-176.1 prohibits “reckless operation of roller skates, in-line skates and skateboards”), eliminating skate deterrents, and incorporating intentional and legal skate elements throughout the city such as ramps, bowls, and rails. Also, the city should consider creating more informal spaces that allow for several sports and activities to occur at the same time.

Activities and Events

To create an active and engaging space, there needs to be regular programming for and by teens. This can include large events such as dances, exhibitions, and movie nights, as well as smaller or more intimate gatherings in which youth can organize for social causes, discuss issues with their peers, play games, or temporarily transform a portion of a space for an informal occasion. In order to ensure something like this is feasible, we would need an organization that can help with programming while allowing teens to lead in what happens in a space; have sound equipment, a stage, and an inventory of games from board games to foosball to ping-pong tables; have a variety of activities happening at once, allowing people to flow from one thing to another; and have plenty of undefined spaces with no prescribed function so youth can adapt them according to their shifting needs and desires.

Art and Culture

While there are many great art education programs throughout the city, there are few examples of places where youth can just create and experiment on their own while hanging out with friends. Some elements that can attract teens include a chalkboard wall, a legal graffiti wall, musical instruments and art materials on hand, speakers to connect one’s phone and play music, computers with audio and graphics software, tools to build things, and a sprung floor for dancing. Also, the space should be beautiful and artistic, with bright colors, public artworks, attractive places to take pictures with friends, a playful and make shift atmosphere, and non-precious areas wherein youth can construct their own spaces with salvaged materials (à la Adventure Playground, but for teens).

Maintenance and Comfort Stations

Besides regular maintenance from the city, there should be trash cans visible and easily accessible anywhere in a space, and recycling and composting should always be adjacent to all regular trash cans. To get youth to pick up after themselves, trash cans can have an interactive element like play music or lights up when trash is thrown in to make the activity more enjoyable. There should also be free and easy access to bathrooms and water stations. All bathrooms should be gender neutral. We want teens to stay active all day without having to worry about getting dehydrated and having to pay for a cold drink or having to buy a meal just to use the bathroom.

Conclusion

Designing youth spaces isn't a simple or easy task. Most of the principles and perspectives outlined above are overlooked in traditional design processes. This neglect has heavy consequences; the lack of consideration for children's needs and perspectives in designing public spaces is a big factor in their near-total lack of autonomy in the US today.

Many of the biggest hazards for young people - like car-centric infrastructure, environmental pollution, police brutality, and hostile architecture - are direct products of racial capitalism. So creating better, more accessible youth spaces requires working against racial capitalism; we won't be able to make any real progress if we're relying solely on existing structures of power. My conclusion regarding child-centered design is pretty much the same one that Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis drew way back in 1968 about progressive education reform: that if we want to see meaningful and lasting results, this fight needs to happen as part of a large-scale, intersectional socialist movement.