In increasingly densely populated cities, playing and the culture of free street play are gradually disappearing from public squares and streets. Public space is heavily structured according to functional and traffic-related considerations; commercial use, car traffic, and safety concerns are usually the determining factors. However, playful experiences should not take place exclusively in designated play areas or playgrounds. For a playful engagement with the existing urban structures opens up new possibilities for use that go beyond their intended purposes or commercial orientation. Through playful activities in public spaces, we also experiment with how we can and want to use our streets and urban spaces.
Parkour, freerunning, urban bouldering, and skateboarding are — physically demanding — examples of this reinterpretation of the urban landscape. Miniature golf has yet to make a significant mark in public spaces and is currently confined to increasingly endangered miniature golf courses. Yet miniature golf is the quintessential urban trend sport. As a sport that involves navigating and overcoming built structures and formations — requiring also some degree of skill — this most beautiful of all sports can essentially be played on the very same architectural structures found in urban spaces. Curb stones become lane markers, steps turn into obstacles that must be carefully navigated, and the ball is put in the next storm drain grate. The creative and responsible use of urban architecture does not constitute an intrusion, but rather a reinterpretation of the urban environment.