Everyone’s Park Project ～ A citizen group launched to provide diverse play opportunities for children of all abilities

Interview with Koji Yanagida

Everyone’s Park Project: Mr. Yanagida — Koji Yanagida, representative of the “Everyone’s Park Project”

We spoke with Koji Yanagida, representative of the “Everyone’s Park Project,” about the project’s activities and parks.

What inspired you to launch the “Everyone’s Park Project”?

Yanagida (surname only)

In the early 1990s, the Americans with Disabilities Act (commonly known as the ADA) was enacted in the United States.

At the time, I worked for a home appliance manufacturer, so I thought, “Could we be sued if people with disabilities can’t use our products?!” I spent about two years researching the impact of the ADA in the United States.

My research had originally focused on ITC-related topics, but since I had the opportunity, I also looked into architecture, various services, and a range of other fields.

As part of that, I also looked into recreational facilities and parks.

At the time, my child was about two years old, and I did my research while pushing a stroller.

I found the research on parks especially interesting. Looking at the play equipment, I learned things like, “So this is how they design it to make it usable by people with disabilities,” which was really inspiring.

A playground built in New York in 1993 in response to the ADA (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

Yanagida

After that, I left my job in 2004 and became a university lecturer.

Universal design was one of my research fields at the university.

The governor of Okayama Prefecture at the time was committed to universal design, and in 2005 established the Okayama Universal Design Advisors’ Council.

Yato, a former teacher at a special-needs school, and I were appointed as members, and that’s how we met.

Before joining the advisors’ council, Yato had lived in the United States for a while and was deeply moved when he saw a park where children with and without disabilities could play together.

That led us to say, “It would be wonderful if we could have universal-design parks in Japan, too.”

We decided to do what we could to help more people learn about the idea. Yato’s former colleague Hayashi joined us, and the three of us got started in 2006.

What kind of activities do you usually do?

An inclusive playground in Canada (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

What activities do you mainly carry out?

Yanagida

Our main activity is sharing information on our website about what we have researched firsthand.

We are not experts in playground equipment or park design, so our activities are more focused on the user’s perspective.

For our research on parks overseas, members visit them during business trips or vacations.

The three of us have visited some parks in Japan together. Sometimes we also evaluate parks with children with disabilities and their families, or with students, and post the results on our website.

We also interview parent groups of children with disabilities and disability organizations, and translate and publish information about overseas guidelines and initiatives.

Over time, we began hearing from government agencies and companies involved in park development that they wanted “a guide to inclusive playgrounds.”

So we compiled what we had learned into a book titled “Play for All Children: A Guide to Creating Universal-Design Playgrounds in Parks.”

Fortunately, interest in creating inclusive playgrounds has been growing in many places recently.

Over the past year or two, we’ve increasingly been asked for advice by residents who say, “We’d like a park like this in our town,” and by local governments who say, “We’ve drawn up plans for a park that’s scheduled for development; could you take a look?”

What features do inclusive playgrounds overseas have?

A rotating play structure that can be used from a wheelchair (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

What features do inclusive playgrounds overseas have?

Yanagida

There are all kinds of features designed to let children with diverse needs enjoy playing together, such as rotating play structures that can be boarded in a wheelchair and swings with a choice of seats, including ones with backrests.

For example, wheelchair users can’t touch the sand in a regular sandbox. But some playgrounds have an accessible deck inside the sandbox, with various features around it for scooping up, collecting, and pouring sand.

There’s also a sunshade overhead, and children with and without disabilities naturally gather there, making it easier for them to interact.

A sandbox with an accessible deck (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

Based on our research into pioneering initiatives in various places, we believe the five key elements of universal design for playgrounds are:

Accessibility
Choice
Inclusion
Comfort and safety
Fun!

With thoughtful, subtle design features, differences such as disability no longer become something special, and everyone can enjoy themselves together in their own way.

Some parks also hold regular play events, which are popular with children throughout the community.

Inclusive playgrounds are places for exchange not only among children with diverse needs, but also among parents and local residents.

A movement to create inclusive parks is growing in Japan, too

Minna no Hiroba at Kinuta Park, a Tokyo Metropolitan Park — “Minna no Hiroba” at Kinuta Park, a Tokyo Metropolitan Park (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

Is there a movement to create inclusive playgrounds like these in Japan, too?

Yanagida

Last year (2020), the first inclusive playground in a Tokyo metropolitan park was completed at Kinuta Park in Tokyo.

It received extensive media coverage, and a movement to “Let’s build one in our town, too!” is beginning to spread.

In the spring of this year (2021), inclusive play equipment was installed at a playground in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. This was made possible when the mother of a local child with a disability petitioned the local government.

Plans are also underway in Miyagi, Kyoto, Aichi, Hyogo, and elsewhere.

In some cases, local governments take the lead. In others, parents of children with disabilities and their supporters take the initiative, conducting surveys and petition drives, or preparing presentations on their ideal playgrounds to advocate to local governments.

This summer (2021), a second inclusive playground in a Tokyo metropolitan park is scheduled to be completed at Fuchu-no-Mori Park.

Creating a playground in these parks takes about two to three years: the first year for “research and planning,” the second for “design,” and the third for “construction.”

So I think that in two to three years from now (2021), examples of inclusive playgrounds will begin to appear in communities across the country.

What will it mean when inclusive playgrounds become the norm?

A variety of swings (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

What do you think will happen when inclusive playgrounds become the norm? And what kind of society would you like to see?

Yanagida

Unfortunately, many people still mistakenly think that an “inclusive playground” is a “special playground for children with disabilities.”

But if inclusive play equipment is installed in a park near us, or the news is covered on a local evening program, more people will learn about it, and I think those who use the playground will come to understand the value of an “inclusive playground.”

Then they’ll pass that value on to others, and people will say, “We want a park like this in our community, too!”

It may also become a topic of conversation among parents at special-needs schools, and local government officials may no longer be able to get away with “not knowing” about inclusive playgrounds.

When inclusive playgrounds become the norm, it will be ordinary for children of different abilities, ages, nationalities, and backgrounds to play together.

I hope that as parks become places for exchange for all local residents, people will develop a greater understanding of diversity, helping create an inclusive society.

What the Everyone’s Park Project aims to achieve

A swing co-designed by children and an artist (Image courtesy of the Everyone’s Park Project)

What are your goals for the future? What would you like to achieve?

Yanagida

As I mentioned in the example of the Kurashiki Health and Welfare Plaza, parks that took the needs of children with disabilities into account had in fact been built in various places since the late 1990s, when the concept of universal design was introduced to Japan.

However, each was a one-off initiative, and they were not followed by thorough evaluation and ongoing improvements.

Inclusive playground development in Japan is only now beginning in earnest.

There will be all kinds of successes and failures from here on.

We’d like to continue gathering and sharing information so that these insights and know-how can be widely shared and lead to overall progress.

Also, participation by local residents, including children with disabilities and their families, is essential to creating inclusive playgrounds.

I hope that as local governments and companies work together with diverse members of the community and continue their dialogue, they will share a vision of “the kind of park we want to create,” and the process of creating a park that people can call “our park” will become established.

From the Writer

Seeing initiatives like the Everyone’s Park Project, I feel that although it may take a long time, inclusive playgrounds will eventually become the norm.

Perhaps it should be perfectly natural for children with diverse needs to play together.

Children who grow up in such an environment may be kind to everyone.

As I imagine this wonderful future, I’d like to keep following the project’s activities.