Tearing out playground equipment
Lin, who sports a pixie cut, recalls how changes to children’s playground spaces first caught her attention. “Originally, when I heard that the terrazzo slides at Taipei’s Zhixing Park and Indigenous People’s Park were getting torn down, I didn’t think anything about it. Then they also tore down the terrazzo slides in the Taipei Youth Park near my house. I called to inquire about that, and the PSLO simply replied that ‘they were torn down because they were unsafe.’”
“The Taipei Youth Park had three outstanding historical installations of playground equipment: metal slides, terrazzo slides, and a ‘space fort’ commemorating Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon. These feature prominently in memories that are dear to many locals.” So that her daughter Xiaoxia could experience the same pleasures, Zoe Lin, who had been an assistant manager at Deloitte Taiwan before becoming a full-time mom, prepared a report with text and graphics for a Taipei City councilor representing the Wanhua District.
This “defense briefing,” which was named “Children’s Right to Play,” brought with it an emphasis on children’s rights of expression and on the power of public participation. Beginning in late 2015, the report was passed along from the city councilor to the PSLO director, then to the director of Taipei’s Public Works Department, and finally to Mayor Ko Wen-je. Listening to public opinion, the city government budgeted over NT$10 million to build more than 30 themed playgrounds. It became one of the accomplishments that Ko’s 2018 reelection campaign touted with regard to making Taipei a “child-friendly city.”
A similar situation had occurred at Daan Park, near the home of Ariel Zhang, PfC’s secretary general. Zhang says, “In 2015, 60 of the original 76 terrazzo slides in the park were torn down for safety reasons, leaving only 16.”
Zhang had previously been a brand manager for a trading company. Feeling that the city government was handling these decisions about playgrounds in a thoughtless and perfunctory manner, she and Lin started to share their thoughts with other mothers around them and connect with them on social media. In December of 2015 nearly 100 mothers and their children held a demonstration in front of Taipei City Hall. “No generic solutions for parks!” they chanted. In this manner, they knocked on government’s door and launched the “children’s playground revolution.”
PfC’s calls to fight against “generic parks” have resulted in a revolution in Taiwan’s playgrounds. (courtesy of PfC)