Helsinki Playground Experience

Developing more attractive, accessible and immigrant-friendly playgrounds for the City of Helsinki

2020-2021 / Client project at Pentagon Design / Client: City of Helsinki

Team: Virva Haltsonen, Nuppu Gävert, Linda Vanni, Simon Örnberg, Erik Bertell, Antti Käkelä

My role in project: Service design / Concept design / Content creation
and graphic design for manuals / Co-creation and workshop facilitation
/ Research, analysis and insights

Welcome to Helsinki Playgrounds!

There are nearly 70 playgrounds in the city of Helsinki that provide playing facilities and guided activities for all families free of charge. Using playgrounds can have a number of societal benefits, including advancing the integration of immigrant families, strengthening social ties in the community and improving the wellbeing of all families.

Despite being a visible element in the urban landscape, it has been identified that many families are not aware of the service - especially immigrant families are not using the playgrounds actively despite the growing number of international residents living in Helsinki.

The goal of the city is to turn playgrounds into lively places and communities in city neighborhoods that attract all local families to use them and, ultimately, contribute to more sustainable and inclusive social and urban development.

Our team at Pentagon Design was assigned to help the Department of Early Education and Care and the Public Works Department to achieve this goal, by gathering insights on the obstacles hindering citizens from using the playgrounds, and creating a set of solutions for increasing the accessibility and attractivity of public playgrounds.

“The goal of the city is to turn playgrounds into lively places and communities in city neighborhoods that attract all local families to use them and, ultimately, contribute to more sustainable and inclusive social and urban development.”

WINNER OF SILVER AWARD IN VUODEN HUIPUT 2021 DESIGN COMPETITION

“A well executed service design project with an important goal to increase inclusion at its core.
A text book example of co-creation from research to concept, proving that inclusive design can improve the service for all users.”
Vuoden Huiput 2021 Award Jury

Challenge

It has been identified that many families are not aware of the playground service - especially immigrant families are not using the playgrounds actively despite the growing number of international residents living in Helsinki.

According to research and our findings, there are many reasons behind this: for example, playgrounds are often mixed with day care facilities, and the concept is not marketed in channels that would reach potential users.
The goal of the project was to identify means to increase awareness of the playground service and improve the accessibility and appeal of the service for families, focusing on immigrant families residing in different parts of Helsinki.
Approach

The process was based on tight co-creation together with different city departments and playground staff, with families and potential users also participating in different phases.

Altogether over 600 people took part in creating the concept through surveys, workshops and interviews.

Through the process, communication was identified as the most important thing to develop in order to improve the accessibility and attractivity of the playgrounds.
Outcomes

As the outcomes of the project, a citizen experience concept for playgrounds and a set of design and communicative solutions were created.
The concept includes a set of physical and digital elements that aim to make playgrounds more identifiable and attractive. These elements are currently being piloted at selected playgrounds across the city.
Furthermore, design and communication manuals were created, targeted for the designers and staff members of playgrounds. Their purpose is to aid the creation of more citizen-friendly and accessible playgrounds, acitivities, communication and visitor experience in both the physical and digital environments.