Leeds is quietly doing something radical: treating play as an essential outcome in its own right.

In this episode of Play Attention, host Beth Cooper is joined by Emma Bearman, Founder of Playful Anywhere, and Jenny Rutherford, Play Strategy Officer at Leeds City Council, to explore how Leeds is blazing a trail for play sufficiency, and what other towns and cities can learn from it.

Together, they discuss how play sufficiency moved from an idea to action, why play isn’t just a tool to deliver other outcomes but something worth valuing in and of itself, and why making space for play is everyone’s business.

What you’ll hear about:

• How Leeds got play sufficiency off the ground, and what made it possible
• Why legitimising play as the outcome (not the means) is such a powerful shift
• How play helps cities tackle complex challenges and imagine better futures
• The value of water play in urban environments
• What it really means to embed play across policy, practice and place, beyond the playground

Find out more:

Playful Anywhere

Child Friendly Leeds

Lucicology

Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay — exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.

Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.

Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr

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