Study of Play Areas for Children on Podium Floors in Mumbai

Abstract

The city of Mumbai has been known for its opportunities and its immense development and growth yearly, attracting people all over India and the world to come live in Mumbai. The increasing population of Mumbai, reaching 20.7 million in 2021 with a growth rate of 1.26%, and the scarcity of land, leading to an outrageous increase of land value yearly has led to the increase in high-rise apartments. According to the current increase in population, high-rise housing shall be the viable housing typology for the current and upcoming future, which will have a major impact on the children’s growth and deployment. Play areas play a major role in the development of children. Due to the Scarcity of space, play areas are now designed on podium floors, while there are many apartments where the architects and builders have neglected podium floors or not providing any play areas for children, leading to the children playing in parking areas or coming out on the streets to play. There are no specific norms or guild lines for play areas on podium floors that have impacted the increase in accidents related to children. This is also a major reason why many parents don’t send their children to play, therefore reducing the level of interaction and development of children. The purpose of this study is to understand the existing high-rise apartments with podium play areas and mapping the issues and safety standards of these play areas. Observing how children respond to space and also understanding the parent’s perspective towards these play areas for their children. The study will be focusing on children aging five to twelve years, as Piaget’s stages of development state major child development during this period