A crisis hiding in plain sight: is the UK’s built environment failing children and young people?

The covid-19 pandemic revealed a troubling truth about the UK’s built environment: it often seems to be failing the youngest in society. While public discourse often focuses on housing supply and affordability, less attention is given to how new developments cater to children and adolescents. The lack of access to safe, recreational spaces – crucial for mental and physical well-being – remains a major oversight within many developments.

Only 6% of new homes in the UK are designed by architects, according to the RIBA, a fact that the institute believes is reflected in the poor design of many developments, which often fail to provide access to green space and areas for play. Research suggests that these shortcomings disproportionately affect young people, particularly in lower-income areas, and highlight the urgent need for solutions. This growing realisation led to the creation of a recent parliamentary inquiry.

In February, experts from the built environment and development industry informed MPs on the House of Commons housing, communities and local government select committee that the relative absence of design professionals in the housing development process is harming young people.

Developments that sideline young people

Although young people need space to exercise and stay fit, and outdoor space is known to be critical to achieving this, children and adolescents have increasingly been excluded and sidelined within communities and on our streets, as witnesses to the committee pointed out.

Jo McCafferty, director of Levitt Bernstein, told the committee: “Having worked in housing for the last 25 years, I can count on this hand the number of times I have been asked about the experience of children at a pre-app meeting or a design review panel for the design I am putting forward.”

I can count on this hand the number of times I have been asked about the experience of children at a pre-app meeting

Jo McCafferty, Levitt Bernstein

As a result, young people are missing out on vital recreational spaces – both parks and ‘doorstep playable spaces,’ which are designated landscaped areas with play features for children under five near their homes.

The problem is particularly acute in lower-income areas. The Design Council found that the most affluent 20% of wards in England have five times more parks or green spaces per person than the most deprived 10% of wards. Notably, this data excludes private gardens, which are often not included in affordable and social housing.

A University of Surrey survey highlighted the disparity further: nearly twice as many low-income respondents reported difficulty or an inability to access private or shared gardens compared with high-income respondents. Age also played a notable role. Almost a fifth of 18 to 27-year-olds struggled to access a garden, compared with less than half that number among 58 to 67-year-olds.

Lockdowns revealed inequities in urban space

My own experiences of the pandemic, spent in Ireland, highlighted the extent of these challenges. Close to where I lived during the lockdowns, in north inner-city Dublin, the passageway from the local flat complex to the nearest park was closed for weeks. While the green space itself remained open, the entrance next to the apartment block, which housed many young families, was restricted, whereas the opening next to terraced houses with gardens remained unaffected. The irony was clear: the young people who needed the outdoor space the most were the ones who had their access restricted.

The covid-19 lockdowns in the UK and Ireland underscored the limited access to outdoor space for lower-income households, which are not only more densely packed but also have fewer green areas. In 2021, high-rise purpose-built flats represented just 3% of total housing stock, but these dwellings are far more common in the social housing sector.

Tim Gill, a global advocate for children’s play and mobility and author of Urban Playground: How Child-Friendly Urban Planning and Design Can Save Cities, tells Building Design that the pandemic has had a long-term effect on how much time children and teenagers spend outdoors. He believes the pandemic accelerated a trend already developing over the past decade or two: children and young people are missing out on unsupervised, free play in their neighbourhoods. This is a crucial time when children typically learn important skills such as conflict resolution and peer relationship building.

“It’s likely that the children hardest hit by the pandemic are those already living in difficult circumstances,” says Gill, referring to young people without access to their own gardens or nearby green space.

“They didn’t have a room of their own, their families were perhaps worried about finances, and also the fear of illness,” he adds.

Gill acknowledges that the pandemic was challenging for everyone, but in the long run, “the ones that will struggle the most are the ones who were hit hardest and, right now, have the least wherewithal to deal with what’s happened.”

According to Gill, the pandemic has exacerbated an existing issue: “We now have a generation of young people growing up where a significant proportion are really struggling.” While he attributes rising mental health issues among young people to multiple factors, he identified the lack of recreational space as a key contributor.

The importance of play

Alice Ferguson, co-founder of Playing Out, shared similar concerns. “We started Playing Out as a group of parents who felt that our children – and children in general – were missing out on something vital for their happiness, health, and development: the ability to play outside with other children, on their doorsteps, in real life.”

Playing Out is a resident-led campaign that began in Bristol in 2009 and has since spread across the UK. It advocates for the creation of “play streets,” where residents temporarily close their streets to traffic, allowing children to play freely and safely outdoors. This model aims to support children’s health, happiness, and sense of belonging.

We felt that children were missing out on something vital for their happiness, health, and development

Alice Ferguson, Playing Out

Ferguson observes that children are increasingly losing space to play outside, with streets becoming more “car dominated”. She argues that the problem stems from both national and local decisions related to traffic and housing – decisions that often fail to consider children’s needs.

This loss of shared public space is particularly harmful to young people in socially deprived urban areas, where there are fewer gardens and well-maintained play areas within walking distance.

“If you’ve got a back garden and your parents have money and a car to take you to a park or the woods, it doesn’t matter as much that you can’t play on your street or walk to the local park,” Ferguson explains. “But if you don’t have those things, you’ve kind of lost everything.”

She also reveals that Playing Out is frequently contacted by parents, usually in social, council, or managed housing, who receive letters forbidding their children from playing outside. Some have even been threatened with eviction if their children continue to do so, with play often being confused with anti-social behaviour.

Ferguson describes this as a “constant issue.”

“We’ve seen letters saying, ‘Anti-social behaviour is becoming a problem on the estate. Children are scooting up and down corridors, and drugs are being dealt by the bins’ - as if these things are somehow equivalent,” she says.

Challenging the ‘No Ball Games’ mentality

Based on Playing Out’s experience of supporting tenants, Ferguson notes that in some cases it is the housing providers themselves who prevent young people from spending time outside. A major concern is the widespread use of ‘No Ball Games’ signs around housing estates, which send a clear message to children that they are not welcome to play in the spaces just outside their homes.

However, Ferguson highlights a shift in attitude among some larger housing associations, which are now working towards policies that support children’s right to play on their doorsteps. She cites the removal of ‘No Ball Games’ signs as a positive first step.

“That’s a really positive thing that’s actually happening – to give children back access to even a small amount of space, or perhaps not very good space, but at least trying to return access to that space on their doorstep,” Ferguson argues.

The inability to access recreational space, whether green areas or doorsteps, likely contributes to a significant disparity in the mental and physical health of young people from disadvantaged areas compared with their middle- to higher-income counterparts. According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, children in densely populated and deprived areas are three times more likely to be obese. At the same time, mental health charity Mind found that young people in the lowest income bracket are almost five times more likely to experience severe mental health problems than those in the highest income bracket.

Making space for young people

In response to these challenges, residential developer Mount Anvil partnered with the London Lions basketball team last July to create a series of free-to-use basketball courts in several estate regeneration schemes across London. The partnership followed a study by the Lions, which found that urban spaces lack room for young people. Their study revealed that 46% of respondents felt that having free space to engage in physical exercise was their most important mental health aid. An additional 16% reported that, without such outlets, they might have engaged in anti-social behaviour or crime during their upbringing.

The first step in the partnership is part of Mount Anvil’s redevelopment of the Barnsbury Estate in Islington. A basketball court on the estate will be co-designed by a group of 15 to 20 young people, aged around 8 to 16, from the local community, along with graffiti artist Stazzy, who grew up on the estate.

We can make [co-design processes] sound scary, onerous, and complicated - but it doesn’t have to be that way

Tom Beardmore, Mount Anvil

Tom Beardmore, social value and communications director at Mount Anvil, tells Building Design that there’s a “natural sweet spot” in the development industry. “The 40- and 50-plus age group are naturally very involved in the planning and consultation process,” he says. However, Beardmore notes that at the last few traditional pop-up events he attended, he could count the number of under-18s on one hand.

As a result, he sought to prioritise the involvement of young people in the design and planning stages of the Barnsbury Estate project.

“We can make [co-design processes] sound scary, onerous, and complicated - but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Beardmore explains. For him, the key is “making it relevant, making it fun, and finding ways in which young people want to get engaged, rather than how we [the developer] or the council want to.”

Rethinking urban spaces by listening to young voices

Dinah Bornat, director and co-founder of ZCD Architects and former mayor’s design advocate for the Mayor of London, explains to Building Design that to better adapt urban spaces for young people, it is essential to talk directly to them and understand their needs - through methods like a play space audit, for example.

Bornat emphasises that the design process for new developments involving young people should be play-oriented. It should involve “good dialogue, adults in the room listening, children talking to other adults in their community, and people being willing to listen.” She believes that consultation with young people must go beyond simply asking them to choose play equipment.

It’s still not a fair and equitable system if the space isn’t close by

Dinah Bornat, ZCD Architects

“If we’re going to change the power structures a little bit, if we’re going to live in really, really high-density cities – as that just seems to be what we’re doing – then we need to seriously consider how we maintain and manage these spaces,” Bornat says.

While the elements that go into areas where young people play and congregate are important – particularly to accommodate different needs, such as disabilities – Bornat argues that the location of these spaces is equally, if not more, critical.

“You can talk a lot about a single green space, but if it’s not on your doorstep – and by that, I literally mean on your doorstep, down the road – then it’s going to be quite a challenge for you to reach,” she explains.

“It won’t meet people’s needs if it’s nowhere near where they live,” Bornat adds. “It’s still not a fair and equitable system if the space isn’t close by.”

Looking to the future

The challenges around access to outdoor space and play point to a broader issue within the built environment: the needs of younger generations, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are often overlooked. As initiatives like Playing Out and community co-design projects show, there is growing recognition that the planning and design of urban spaces can have a significant impact on the wellbeing of children and adolescents.

The pandemic has highlighted these disparities, particularly in terms of access to recreational spaces, and has accelerated conversations around how to address them. By focusing on creating inclusive and accessible environments, it is possible to design developments that better serve not only young people but entire communities.

An approach that considers the perspectives and needs of all age groups – from children to older generations – can help create spaces that foster stronger connections and support healthier lifestyles. As the Boomers to Zoomers campaign continues to explore, approaching the design of our built environment from an intergenerational perspective offers an opportunity to rethink how we plan and develop our towns and cities in ways that benefit everyone.