The story of Lambeth’s Triangle Adventure Playground reveals the broader mission for access to safe spaces for young people across the capital.
Tucked away in the heart of the Oval community in Lambeth is the Triangle Adventure Playground, London’s oldest on-site adventure playground.
Triangle acts as an oasis for local children, offering them the freedom to climb towering wooden structures, glide across the playground on a zip line, or learn how to ignite a fire in the pit.
Beyond the fence, you can hear the hum of the city, and the flourishing natural green environment of the Triangle stands in complete contrast to the surrounding urban density of the Ashmore estate’s high-rise blocks.
At the Triangle Adventure Playground, the philosophy of free play is central, giving local children the opportunity to feel free in a space designed to create and develop without being dictated by rigid rules.
Inspired by the 1950s Scandinavian movement, this approach, adopted by the Triangle, gives children freedom within reason, allowing them to engage with nature and the tactile world through access to nature-focused environments.
The children can use their time at Triangle however they want, whether that’s to “go outside, use tools, engage with nature, build stuff, make stuff, break stuff,” and they have “the freedom to play and also the freedom to make mistakes,” said Gabriel Green, the deputy senior play worker at Triangle.
Giving children a space which lets them interact with the environment around them without the restrictions that they might face in other public spaces.
Founded in 1957 by Marjorie Porter, the headmistress of the neighbouring primary school, the Triangle Adventure Playground has strong links to the post-war evolution of London’s landscape.
Whilst many adventure playgrounds originated from the bomb sites of World War II, the Triangle was instead reclaimed from the leftover wastelands of what was originally Victorian slum housing.
Over the 70-year history of the playground, Gabriel said: “Some of the kids who play now, their parents and their grandparents played in this same playground.”
The playground plays a central part in “the history of the people of the Oval,” he said, as they continue to welcome children aged 6-17 from a wide range of diverse immigrant communities.
The need for safe and accessible places to play is more important now than ever, as recent studies carried out by University College London argue that in cities like London, space for play is becoming increasingly designed out of urban childhoods.
Adventure playgrounds like Triangle allow children to have fun in a safe space, “helping them develop socially, physically, emotionally and culturally,” said senior play worker Jon Choo.
Alan Sutton, the Chair of Triangle, said, “Since the 1950s, there’s been a gradual recession of play space”, which is altering how children interact with the city around them.
“Some of the kids who play now, their parents and their grandparents played in this same playground.”
Gabriel Green
As a child growing up in the city, “If you want to feel the power of a city, you want to be able to interact with the environment around you”, said Gabriel.
For young people, public spaces are becoming less welcoming. Both explained how there’s a level of restriction inside areas such as public parks, where simple childlike acts of exploration are deemed out of order. Giving children another reason to be confined in their rooms and tied to screens.
The survival of the Triangle is a testament to community resilience at a time of changing financial and political landscapes. Before 2010, the Triangle heavily relied on local government council funding, helping cover the majority of operating costs, including wages for staff.
That changed in 2010, however, when “the government cut all the money to the council, so the council cut the money given to us”, Gabriel said, forcing the Triangle to become a fully independent charity reliant on donations.
In 2011, the Triangle also faced the possibility of being converted into a car park for the neighbouring secondary school. It was the impact of the children and staff at the Triangle who marched through the streets of Lambeth with placards declaring their right to play that the council was able to renew their lease.
The issues faced by the Triangle are far from an isolated case, but rather a representation of London’s recession of play. Over the last two decades, safe spaces for play in London have shrunk significantly, with the number of adventure playgrounds falling from over 100 to around 70 across the capital.
“Since the 1950s, there’s been a gradual recession of play space”
Alan Sutton
The scale of this issue can also be shown by organisations such as London Play Design; they work with corporate and student volunteers to help renovate and repair adventure playgrounds affected by underfunding around London.
Business director Luis Espindola explained that the main priority of the organisation is to “ensure that children have a place to play and become themselves in London.”
With many children having less access to green spaces, helping to restore adventure playgrounds enables kids to have “a safe environment so that they can explore, allowing them to be playful and be like a child” is a primary concern.
Having access to adventure playgrounds like Triangle remains essential for healthy childhood development, especially in cities like London, where urban density makes it difficult for many children to have access to spaces like this.
Adventure playgrounds offer way more than just a place for children to play, fostering creativity, exploration, and social bonds in a way that cannot be replicated in more structured environments.
Prioritising play and the protection of adventure playgrounds within London ensures that children, no matter what socio-economic background they come from, have the opportunity to play safely and freely.
As Gabriel puts it, “If we care about the future generations of children, then there should be places to play all over London.”
Featured image by Gabriel Green