Designing With Light: Sparking Creativity and Joy For Children in Public/Private Spaces

Children in Western countries spend 20 percent of their waking hours in school, and little is done to help children engage in formative experiences. As designers and planners, there is opportunity to incorporate elements in our public and urban spaces to enhance development in children utilizing the power of play in combination with built environments. Elements such as architecture, hardscapes, light, digital interactions within the interior/exterior spaces can spark creativity and joy in ways that previous generations could not.

• Learning Objective 1: Upon completion, the participant will have an understanding of the power and psychology of play in children to enhance healthy development.
• Learning Objective 2: Upon completion, the participant will have a greater understanding of how to utilize elements of Learning Landscapes that foster STEM, reasoning skills, and healthy development in public spaces for the well-being of the occupants.
• Learning Objective 3: Upon completion, the participant will be armed as an advocate that the proper lighting strategy and systems to instigate play for children in public/private spaces and be motivated to continue investigating opportunities that lighting can spark creativity and joy and healthy development.
• Learning Objective 4: Upon completion, the participant will be able to confidently articulate the importance of light and play for the healthy development in children.