Changes in Play and Playgrounds Within Recent Informalising and Reformalising Cycles of Parent-Child Relationships (1950–2020)

This chapter analyses the recent development of the free/supervised play balance in children and in the design of playgrounds within the parent-child relationship in Western countries from a figurational perspective. It aims to further Norbert Elias’s analyses on the civilising of parents by introducing Cas Wouters’s ideas on informalisation. During the informalisation phase of the 1960s–1970s, a more even balance between generations ensued during the welfare state. Children’s play featured a prevalence of more freedom within ‘adventure playgrounds’ and ‘novelty playgrounds’. The informalisation phase was followed by a long reformalisation period (since the mid-1970s, but especially in the 1980s) characterised by more control and risk averse attitudes in parents and the emergence of a more restricting approach of ‘standardised playgrounds’. A rising informalisation trend gained momentum since the mid-2000s, leading to a moderate approach in the design of ‘integrated playgrounds’ in which risky play’s positive influence was acknowledged.