Architect Malikov named five mistakes in landscaping courtyards: not to break a child’s psyche

Adult Russians often say that they dream of having a fountain, pergola and wi-fi in their yard. But if you interview children, they will not show much interest in either fountains or even swings. “Children think differently. Give a child a puddle and he will be happy,” says architect Nikita Malikov, who advocates a radical change in the approach to arranging courtyards and, in particular, children’s playgrounds.

The number one mistake, says the expert, is to force our idea of ​​the urban environment into a strict framework, including using GOSTs and various types of building codes.

Why do we need playgrounds? “They began to appear only during the active expansion of cities,” says Nikita Malikov. – The essence of the playground is to form command patterns for an immature child with open emotional intelligence and a creative mind, to instill in a little person standards of behavior in an urban environment. Children are psychologically “broken” by imposing rules for being in a certain place, because outside it they can fall, get dirty and suffer in some other way.”

Growing up, the child absorbs these rules – and now he imposes them on his children.

It is accepted that when building houses, each resident must have at least a certain number of meters of playgrounds for children, sports, and adults. The most stringent requirements are for children’s playgrounds: a minimum of 0.7 meters per person. But there are no rules that would prescribe what a playground is. You can put up a horizontal bar, plant a lawn, and even grow a small birch grove – all this will be considered a children’s playground. But do children need these elements? More often than not, no.

The second mistake is to achieve a “wow effect” in your yard so that you can post beautiful pictures on social networks and show off to your friends, continues Nikita Malikov. But after a few days, residents stop paying attention to the children’s playground, which initially seemed fashionable and stylish, and after five years the amenities will become old, the turnstiles will rust, and the swings will break. And these factors irritate people more than the lack of platforms.

“Once my colleagues and I did a so-called involvement project in the capital: we invited shareholders and together we designed a yard,” says the architect.

Residents were asked what exactly they wanted. Most adults said without saying that they want to have trampolines, spinners and swings. When the designers asked them why, they explained: they say, for our children. After this, the designers asked the children themselves – what do they want? It turned out that in the children’s dreams there were no trampolines, no spinners, no swings.

The designers again returned to the adults and asked them to justify their “want.” After a series of leading questions, many residents answered that they were thinking not so much about the children as about themselves. 45-50 year old men admitted that they themselves would not mind jumping on a trampoline from time to time. “This is a very important point that Russian architects, and even more so officials, miss,” says Nikita Malikov. “But in Europe, for example, they have been building parks for adults for several years now, meaning that children can also go there.”

The third mistake is to equip courtyard areas with expensive attractions and exercise equipment, which a person uses once or twice, after which he loses interest.

An interesting experiment was carried out by specialists in Yekaterinburg. The residential complex was still under construction, and shareholders were offered to “design” the yard themselves. As a result, the future residents rolled out to the maximum the set of elements that should be present: a sandbox, a house, a slide, a swing, a court, a climbing frame, a pergola (an open gazebo with a lattice roof on poles), an exercise machine, a table, an art object, an amphitheater, fountain, skate area, wi-fi. The developers fulfilled all wishes.

Three years later, experts gathered these same people and asked what yard infrastructure they, their children and grandchildren used. As it turned out, the residents only found the sandbox, swing and climbing frame useful. It turns out that 80% of the funds for the arrangement were wasted.

“Well, okay, when the residents themselves want everything at once,” says the architect. – But we also have professional marketers who strive to saturate our yards with everything. And not only in commercial residential complexes. Urban improvement is done according to the same principle.

Fourth mistake: designers create sites from their own height. No one tries to squat down and see how children actually perceive the territory.

-Have you ever walked around your yard on all fours? Have you seen what the child sees? Believe me, it’s completely different there; children perceive the same yard completely differently,” the expert continues.

But even this is not the main thing, because mistake number five is the creation of children’s playgrounds in principle, says Nikita Malikov. He emphasizes that the best yard is one in which there is nothing but greenery, paths and lighting: “Believe me, children will have a lot of fun in such a yard. And if you put a standard playground nearby, the child will have more fun in the green area than on the playground. Such experiments were also carried out. The only thing is that you can make playgrounds for children under three years old, fenced with a symbolic fence, with a mini slide and a sandbox.”

Those over three years old do not need to create ready-made solutions, the expert recommends. “If you want to ruin your child’s childhood, order him a playground in the shape of a boat or the Kremlin, some developers do this,” says Nikita Malikov. “The most important thing for a child is to run, jump, play ball, and try to invent something.” Therefore, create spaces where you can show your imagination. This is the only way a little person will develop and socialize.”