Children’s play areas
How do we play?
We want to know how people play in the city’s play areas. We want to know your opinion about these places and gather qualitative as well as quantitative data on the uses made of them.
Help us to improve play areas in Barcelona. Surveys are anonymous and only take five minutes!
Come and play!
Playing is not only fun, it is also essential for the integral development of children.
Children explore, learn, communicate and develop physical, emotional, social and intellectual skills through play. This is why it is essential that every child has sufficient space to play, especially in the open air.
The Barcelona play area network
Barcelona has almost 900 spaces dedicated to children's play areas, distributed throughout parks, gardens and squares. These spaces vary in shape and size, but they all share a design based on safety, sociability and equitable distribution, and have a uniform quality.
Where are they?
If you want to find out where the play areas are in your area:
What are they like?
Whether you have children or teenagers, Barcelona's parks are waiting for you with a wide variety of games for all ages and needs. Safe and fun spaces so that every child can enjoy their right to play.
Play areas are classified according to age:
Accessibility
Barcelona also has accessible and inclusive play areas, designed so that all children, regardless of their abilities, can enjoy playing.
These areas allow any child (with a disability or not) to enjoy outdoor play and ensure that they can experience, at the very least, the basic play activities: swinging, sliding, climbing and experimenting.
In the case of fully accessible areas, all leisure activities have an appropriate accessible play area.
The play areas are structured into areas of quiet play and dynamic play so that all children can feel safe. Accessible routes are also created or safe areas are marked out to make the spaces more visible.
Barcelona, a play-friendly city
How do we guarantee play in public spaces?
In Barcelona we defend children's right to play in public spaces and we are working to create a playable city that encompasses streets, schools, parks and beaches.
Therefore, urban planning is also designed to prioritise the well-being of the youngest children through children's play areas, the transformation of school playgrounds, improving safety in school environments, converting streets into pedestrian zones and harmonising nature with urban public space.
Super play areas
With almost a thousand public spaces dedicated to children's play, several super play areas stands out for the uniqueness of the facilities they contain.
You can view all the outstanding play areas of the playable city of Barcelona on this map (PDF).
Safety and maintenance
Safety is a priority in the design of these spaces. All areas are certified annually in accordance with current safety regulations.
What do we do?
- Preventive inspection to detect anomalies and defects (three times a week).
- Corrective maintenance: immediate repair of any defects detected.
- Airing and disinfection of sand pits with steam at 90º (every two months).
- Functional inspection to ensure structural and functional safety (every three months).
- Annual maintenance: the sand is replaced in 50% of the play areas and 40% of the children's playground elements are painted.
Improving playgrounds
Volumetric sensors are being installed in various playgrounds to gather more information on how they are used and improve their design. There will be around twenty units in all, rotating through the various playgrounds in the city.
