MORE THAN JUST A GAME

BDW PROUDLY PRESENTS: “100 CREATIVE BDW PLAYGROUNDS” recently launched at one of Belgrade’s locations best fitted for such a project: Kalemegdan Park.
In partnership with the City of Belgrade and the company PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT as primary investors, Embassy of Finland in Serbia and Finnish company LAPPSET as partners, based on a project of a young architecture studio from Belgrade: MADA, and executed by Belgrade City Parks, during August 2013 Belgrade Design Week proudly opened the first „designed“ children’s playground in Serbia. This public-private partnership rightly became headline news in national media, which we also consider partners in this important project. This is only the beginning of a great creative adventure: it is the first out of 100 playgrounds to be built in Serbia.

Within two years we wish to give Serbia 100 not only new, but innovatively designed children’s playgrounds that can currently be seen everywhere in the modern world. Belgrade Design Week’s reputation is a guarantee this will be no ordinary humanitarian project. A new approach makes it possible for the creative community to be involved and apply creative industries’ most prominent inventions, which is what BDW is famous for: it has been active in this field, in Serbia and in the region, continuously for almost ten years. With an entirely fresh approach to the implementation of playgrounds project through collaboration with the best in the field of innovation and design, our goal is to build durable playgrounds that will comply with the highest environmental and sustainability standards, in line with the times we live in, and help the most vulnerable part of the Serbian population – children.

All the playgrounds will be built solely on public land, they will be selected in cooperation with local authorities in order to enable democratic approach and be accessible to all the children in Serbia. All the partners in the project can contribute strictly on non-profit basis, thus sending a powerful message about the importance of development of children in our society.

We hope this kind of social responsibility will transform not only the urban landscapes in Serbia, but more importantly, the lives of generations of children, that we will help them enjoy their childhood and make the first steps safely, easily, in an environment which stimulates their natural creativity through games and social contacts. The time spent at these playgrounds also implies educating the youngest about the value and possibilities of top-quality design. And that in itself is a great investment into our future.

Creative Kalemegdan Playground in national media: