‘What is natural in natural playgrounds?’: nature, sustainability and environmental education in Calgary’s natural playgrounds

Abstract

Although natural playgrounds have originated from an intention to provide greater access to nature for children, these play spaces offer a designed and regulated space that diverges from other natural contexts. This study investigated the perceived and sociomaterially constructed role of nature in natural playgrounds by examining what people (i.e. playground designers and users) perceive and experience as natural within five natural playground sites in Calgary, Alberta. Drawing from interviews with playground developers, caregivers, and children that use the natural playground sites, this study describes what features are perceived as natural within the playgrounds, what shapes these forms of nature, and how these forms of nature may contribute to sustainable learning environments. This study found several opportunities and challenges surrounding sustainability, including the use of sustainable design within sites, the tension of sharing sites with non-human users, and the potential for further environmental education embedded within site design.

Keywords:

• Natural playground
• nature
• sustainability
• environmental education
• political ecology

Acknowledgments

Miho Lowan-Trudeau is partially supported by Dr. Candace Nykiforuk’s Canada Research Chair in Community Environments and Public Policy for Wellbeing (Grant ID: CRC-2021-00450).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada under a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Doctoral Scholarship (767-2018-0042). Miho Trudeau is partially supported by Dr. Candace Nykiforuk’s Canada Research Chair in Community Environments and Public Policy for Wellbeing (Grant ID: CRC-2021-00450).