Provincial Awards

Garden City Community Park Play Environment
City of Richmond

The City of Richmond’s new Garden City Community Park Play Environment has changed the way parks are planned, designed, and constructed and provides residents and visitors with an extraordinary outdoor place that is unique within the city, and perhaps even the local region.

The design of the site brings elements of nature back into the scene, bringing forth a playground that not only encourages new ways to play and have good fun, but also healthy social interaction, and cognitive and physical development. Traditional slides, climbing nets and swings are placed alongside old growth stumps and logs, banks of sand, rocks and water channels, and a variety of planting to encourage children to use all five senses as they explore the site. The goals were to provide children and adults alike with rich opportunities to express creativity, participate in physical activity and come together in social gathering.

The projects’ design was based partly on recent work done in Europe, as well as on research pioneered at the University of British Columbia that explored how children between the ages of 2 and 5 used their outdoor environments at local day care centres in Vancouver. This information was combined with input received from local schoolchildren - the users themselves. In a series of workshops held at Anderson Elementary School, kindergarten, grade four and grade seven students described their ideal play space providing the project designers with great insight into what the children thought makes a great place to play.

The project has been recognized nationally with a 2009 Award of Excellence from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, a National Merit Award in the category of Design, and a Design Exchange Best of Category award in Landscape Architecture by Canadian Business in 2008.

The Garden City Community Park Play Environment shows no sign of losing its ability to attract and engage the residents of Richmond. It has provided the setting for numerous community based events and functions, recreation programs, and organized activities such as arts and crafts for neighbourhood three to twelve year olds. The Play Environment has also contributed towards the City or Richmond’s drive to develop in a more sustainable fashion.

For its innovation, creativity and excellence in concept, design, and development the BCRPA proudly presents the City of Richmond with a Parks and Open Spaces Award.