In chapter 4, “Playgrounds”, Sicart revelals that Adventure Playgrounds were developed in Britain after World War II by Lady Allen of Hurtwood. He then explains that Lady Allen saw them as a way for children to reintegrate through play by letting them have a higher degree of freedom than that granted in Victorian playgrounds. She had also saw them as urban renewal projects to help to rehabilitate communities after the war.
In the paragraph before, Sicart said that playgrounds are supervised by adults, potentially interfering with children’s play. This is a bit ironic, that the space that was intended for children to use “freely” is now vey closely monitored and supervised. Is it possible that Lady Allen thought ever thought that the spaces she helped to develop would be so closely monitored in the future?
In chapter 5, “Beauty”, Sicart mentions the game “Ninja”. This game involves trying to touch the other players’ hand using quick movements, and only being able to pivot your feet while keeping one foot on the ground at all times. While I do not necessarily agree with Sicart that the game evokes a sense of “beauty”, I would agree that it does trigger an aesthetic response such that it grabs your attention and may cause you to look at the space that the game is being played in in a different light.