In the 1960s, New York's playgrounds were at the forefront of radical urban design. Not anymore:
[A 2011 New York Times article] cited recent studies in the US and Europe documenting how antiseptic safety-first playgrounds may actually stunt emotional and cognitive development and leave children not only decidedly bored and under-stimulated but with skewed abilities to manage real-world risk later in life. The research also suggested that claims (made by the manufacturers, who had lobbied for stricter safety standards in the first place) that injuries had decreased overall thanks to the new play equipment may have been incorrect, and that total injuries may have actually risen due to the illusory perception of a danger-free zone. Either way, researchers agreed that mastering challenges, negotiating risks, and overcoming fears were critical to healthy play.
(Partial view of The Instant Playground, a 1969 brochure advertising Richard Dattner’s PlayCubes)
The Dish 