Tirana hosts the RE:PLAY international conference
Tiranë, 24.-26. Nëntor 2023 - Një grup ekspertësh të lojës nga e gjithë bota u
mblodhën në Tiranë për të diskutuar lojën dhe pjesëmarrjen e fëmijëve në
formësimin e ambjenteve të tyre.
2023-12-16 22:43:05
TiranaPost
The closing conference of the RE:PLAY project brought together 5 teams of experts in
children's play from the cities of the Western Balkans to share knowledge and
experiences won as the culmination of a 3-year project co-financed by the Creative Europe Program. RE:PLAY jointly researched and implemented play spaces in response to climate change, in schoolyards, co-designed with children in 5 various locations in the Western Balkans
50 designers, officials, academics and local child development experts
attended the conference alongside renowned international professionals from
Studio Ludo (Philadelphia, USA .B.A); Metalude (Montreal, Canada); Superpool
(Istanbul, Turkey), Filter Café Filtré (Brussels, Belgium) and Grün macht Schule
(Berlin, Germany).
RE:PLAY is an acronym for Redesigning playscapes with children in the Western
Balkans, Re-designing playscapes with children in the Western Balkans,
project supported and set up within the Creative Europe program. The project
facilitated the cooperation of five organizations located in the
Western Balkans in order to provide more opportunities and access to the game and
inspiring playgrounds for the cities of the region: Pazi!park in Ljubljana), Kreativni
Krajobraz in Zagreb,, Škograd in Belgrade, Gradionica in Bar and Center
Relationship in Tirana.
The conference was co-chaired by the Director General of the
Parks and Recreation Agency, Ms. Anisa Ruseti, who shared Tirana's efforts to improve children's access to playgrounds through various initiatives. These include the Schools Community Center program whichkeeps the doors of schools open for use after school hours. The NEW Team:PLAY piloted green yard interventions and shared new good practicesranging from play equipment design to play policy making intown.
“We see this as an investment in the future of the city, not just innovation in
the way play spaces are designed,” said Mrs. Ruseti. "This initiative to reconceptualize large gray and asphalted spaces can be further expanded to
other schools in the city if it proves successful with the residents. Mothers and
grandparents who want to go for a stroll in the stroller in a quiet place off the
road in the afternoon may be surprised by how well schoolyards can
be ideal spaces for this purpose.”
RE:PLAY's pilot projects emphasized the process of comprehensive activities with
the users of these spaces themselves. The partners worked closely with the children of the schools in question, encouraging them to share their needs and desires and to co-design meaningful play spaces which are now part of the schools. /span>them.
The successful closure of the project marks the beginning of a journey in redefining
what we offer children as play, equally for all and how
response to the urgent need for the adaptation of cities to
extreme weather conditions. This project has laid the foundations of a future where the principles of creativity, inclusion and high standards in the design of game spaces will be the norm. RE:PLAY not only changed the school landscape in 5schools in the Western Balkans but set a precedent for a global movementin providing rich natural environments for children of urban areas.
