Contest Inspires Families to Design Dream Playground

The winning design will be turned into a reality by playground specialists.

By Irina Titova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: October 10, 2012 (Issue # 1730)

A children’s playground to be designed by St. Petersburg families will be set up in one of the city’s residential complexes.

The winning design in the “Children’s Dream Playground” contest will be built in the yard of the Tridevyatkino Tsarstvo residential complex in the northeastern part of the city on the order of the complex’s developer, the Unisto Petrostal consortium.

Anyone can submit an idea through Oct. 20 in the form of a childish drawing with a description of the advantages of their playground. The ten designs selected by an open vote will be shortlisted for consideration by a professional jury consisting of specialists in child development and experts on playground construction and safety, said Svetlana Agapitova, children’s ombudswoman for St. Petersburg.

The winning design will be turned into a reality by specialists in playground construction, who will create an engineering model to be tested by experts.

“With this contest we want to draw attention to the problem of children’s playground safety,” said Arseny Vasiliyev, general director of Unisto Petrostal.

“We are used to seeing children’s playgrounds in every yard. In some places they are better, in others — not so good. Unfortunately rusty swings are such a common sight in the city that many people expect nothing more. However, the quality of children’s playgrounds is a matter of the utmost seriousness, for children’s health is at stake. Every detail, every screw should meet certain requirements. To build a safe children’s playground is maybe even more difficult than building a full residential complex. A developer should carry out that responsibility to the best of its ability and ensure it is financed adequately and not on a leftover principle,” he said.

To submit a design for the playground, people should send a scanned drawing of their playground with a description to the email address of the contest organizers: Tridevyatkino_Tsarstvo@mail.ru.

The principal consideration for voting will be the originality of the idea. It should also look attractive to city residents, the organizers of the contest said.