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Play Attention Podcast
Introducing Timberplay’s brand new podcast - Play Attention exploring how play shapes our world — from childhood development and urban design to health, creativity and community.
Hosted by independent play consultant, Beth Cooper, each episode invites thinkers, designers and changemakers to share stories and ideas that champion the right to play, and challenge us all to build more playful spaces, cities and lives.
Episode 3
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Play Equipment: The Most Underrated Urban Infrastructure
In this episode of Play Attention, Beth Cooper is joined by Anamaria Castillo, Landscape Strategies Director at KALQ Studio, who argues that if landscape architects want to design for play, they need far more in-depth training to do it well.
She shares why play is still often treated as a “tick-box” extra rather than core urban infrastructure, and why education in play design should be as fundamental as planting, drainage or materials.
From Dubai to Costa Rica, the US to Europe, Anamaria gives a global perspective on how climate shapes play, why flexibility and capacity matter in urban spaces and why one group is consistently overlooked: teenagers, who - she says - still very much want to play!
They also discuss inclusive design, listening to children’s voices, and what it would take to create cities that genuinely support play for everyone.
Find out more:
Episode 2
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Legitimising Play as the Outcome
Leeds is quietly doing something radical: treating play as an essential outcome in its own right.
In this episode of Play Attention, host Beth Cooper is joined by Emma Bearman, Founder of Playful Anywhere, and Jenny Rutherford, Play Strategy Officer at Leeds City Council, to explore how Leeds is blazing a trail for play sufficiency, and what other towns and cities can learn from it.
Together, they discuss how play sufficiency moved from an idea to action, why play isn’t just a tool to deliver other outcomes but something worth valuing in and of itself, and why making space for play is everyone’s business.
What you’ll hear about:
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How Leeds got play sufficiency off the ground, and what made it possible
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Why legitimising play as the outcome (not the means) is such a powerful shift
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How play helps cities tackle complex challenges and imagine better futures
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The value of water play in urban environments
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What it really means to embed play across policy, practice and place, beyond the playground
Links to find out more:
Episode 1
In this debut episode of Play Attention host Beth Cooper sits down with Eugene Minogue, Executive Director of Play England, to explore the long-awaited push for a new national play strategy in England - 17 years after the last one.
What you’ll hear about:
- Why embedding play in planning and design matters now more than ever
- What a “play-sufficiency duty” could mean for every child’s access to time, space and freedom to play
- How adults, designers and communities can support this shift in mindset, beyond the playground.
Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay — exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.
Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.
TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE CLICK HERE!
Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay, exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.
Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.
Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr.