Playing is the dominant activity in children's daily life, but is the playground still the place where children have their first encounter with societal roles, norms and values of today’s society, through the act of playing? The playground functions as the place where children are forced to educate themselves, in learning to develop, to make decisions, to solve problems, and to regulate emotions. They look for risks in order to test and explore their physical limits. In this research, I will be focusing on the existing playground in the street of my childhood home aiming to gain understanding as to whether or not the playground still fits the needs of children. Is there still space to discover the basic guidelines of social behaviour and finding out one's personal limits? Looking at today’s playground, I see an over-designed, completely protected, safe-in-the-grid play area which leaves no space for one’s own interpretation and imagination and is not at all a suitable space for testing out your own limits. The play objects are already placed in a concrete form and can only be used in one specific way, eliminating any space for personal initiative. I am curious about how these playground designs arose, and whether there is any kind of communication with children about their needs and desires in the context of play. Which parties decide where and how playgrounds are built in the urban landscape, and why playgrounds are not connected with their urban surroundings, but instead form separated and isolated entities. This detached space often does not meet the demands of the children, resulting in them abandoning the designated playing area, and finding play areas of their own, including streets and abandoned buildings or wastelands, sometimes close to traffic, where they chose to play instead. Making the playground as safe as possible by placing the different kind of play equipment behind a fence is actually resulting in its opposite safety in that the children are looking for a different kind of place to play freely. Aiming to answer these questions, I studied the work of Aldo van Eyck and Bruno Munari, both architects who worked on playgrounds and used primary shapes in urban architecture. I am also focussing on the work of Mariana Brussoni, who writes about the importance of the element of risk in playing, and how this affects a child’s development and social behaviour. For this research, I am working closely together with the municipality and NIJHA Playground Equipment Factory to get a better understanding of the origins of playgrounds. Adding to this research, I conducted many conversations with children from different cities and neighbourhoods, with the aim to find out what the perfect play area is for children and how that fits in the urban landscape, or more specifically, in my own street.

This thesis aims to introduce a design proposal providing a special light-colour-space experience for preschool aged children. At this age, the basic aspects of visual perception are well-developed. However, unlike adults, children do not possess the experience and memories that enable complete visual perception. My goal was to create a space where children can play and, in the meantime, meet various stimuli that they are not used to, broadening their visual sensitivity by utilizing the rhythm of light and colour combinations. Based on earlier studies, I investigate three main areas: children’s perspective, their relationship with colours, and the learning process itself that takes place in their brain while embracing knew knowledge. Conclusions drawn from the literature review are complemented by studies of forms, shadows, and materials. The design of the installation itself is presented through conceptual sketches and models. As the main motive of the installation I chose a circular labyrinth where, during wandering, new experiences, colours, forms, atmospheres, and emotions reveal themselves as one progresses towards the centre. Darkness too plays an important role in the design. The changes in light level follow the steps of this external and internal journey, until in the last layer of the labyrinth children can experience almost complete darkness in a relatively safe environment.

Within the last few decades there has been an abundant increase in the amount of violent video games and movies shown within the media. Many of these violent videogames and movies include reckless driving behaviors or certain car scenarios that engross the viewer into wishing to imitate the actions they see on the screen. With that being said, majority of these viewers are adolescents or emerging adults who are beginning to drive and are prone to replicating what they see as adequate driving behaviors. The intent of this thesis is to indicate whether or not the amount of risky driving behaviors an adolescent or emerging adult is exposed to, the more likely they are to replicate these scenarios. Through the UCF sona system participants answered questions related to risky driving behaviors, safety habits, and how often they viewed or played certain videogames and movies. Overall, the results of the study indicate that participants exposed to risky driving behaviors in the media replicate these actions themselves. Further research and results should be taken into effect in order to raise awareness among adolescents and emerging adults who are at their early stages of driving.

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