The Clariana de Glòries presented this weekend six games specially designed for sensory stimulation of autistic children. This initiative is part of a project called Play Aut the Box, which seeks to compensate for the lack of inclusive parks in the city.
The elements have been meticulously designed to meet the specific needs of autistic children, with the purpose of promoting play. They are simple, intuitive and are complemented by pictograms, an augmentative language commonly used to support this condition.
The project has been worked on by several urban planners from the UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), led by architects Raquel Colacios and Blanca Calvo, researchers from the Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratori group, who have also designed a global project of public spaces adapted to neurodiversity.
One of its main proposals is to generate calm spaces, shelters such as teepees or tents in more distant corners but within the same play space. It also proposes to organize urban elements to simplify spaces.
A new space, with adapted play elements, the result of research and development
The new space has emerged from the research done in four workshops, two of them at the UOC and the other two at Clariana de Glòries itself. Several children with ASD and their siblings were able to try out some of the game elements proposed in a prototype and finally those that caught their attention the most and where an interesting interaction took place have been chosen.
The last workshop was held in the courtyard of the Sants school, Jaume I, which offered many elements that could not be tested in a controlled environment. The design of the space has been very present in nature the benefits it has on people with autism are well documented.
Families ask to replicate the initiative in other spaces
The initiative has been very well received by family members of different associations such as Aprenem, who are very satisfied with the results. However, they call for “continuing to work for respect for the rights of people with ASD, including the right to play.”
In Barcelona there are some parks with some inclusive play elements but families claim that a single adapted play element does not make the space inclusive. Through the participatory budgets they have promoted an initiative called Primer Parc Inclusiu als Jardins de Massana, as they consider that there is currently no park that is fully inclusive.