Ensuring fun in the sun

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Use of natural and artificial shading at Zabeel Park.

In a region where temperatures can rise as high as 50°C, designing playgrounds that are safe for children to use has an extra level of challenge. Commercial Outdoor Design looks at the most important stages involved in climate friendly playground design.

For most children, a trip to the local playground is a joyous occasion: a chance to run around, try new things, meet friends.

But for the unlucky some, it can prove more hazardous, ending in tears or in the most extreme cases even a visit to the casualty department of the local hospital.

Playgrounds nowadays are designed to high safety standards but as temperatures rise, the risk of harm increases, according to the findings of an informal study by US not-for-profit watchdog NYC Park Advocates.

According to a report in US paper New York Post, the organisation, part of whose remit is park improvement, found in an informal test of playgrounds in Manhattan in the summer that as temperatures in the city rose, playgrounds became increasingly hazardous.

The black, tiled mats used under jungle gyms across the city were shown to have a temperature of 166.9 degrees Fahrenheit at the hottest points of the day in comparison to 136 degrees in partial shade, while the seats of swings reached 138 degrees.

The group cited the example of one child, an 18-month old, who ended up with second-degree burns after running barefoot out of a sandbox.

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