Back in 2015, whilst working in Madrid, I took time to explore the city’s greenspaces. From an online search, I had spotted the Rio Madrid Park. It piqued my curiosity because of its size. It is a huge community space that meanders along both riverbanks of the River Manzanares that runs through the centre of Madrid for ten kilometres.
It includes a broad mix of features including some efforts to improve the biodiversity of the riverside. My favourite areas were the spaces between the 17 play parks and other clearly defined features. There were constant choices about how to move along – and the seating tended to be steps, curves and other landscaped spots.
As you can see from the fountain above, there’s exploration opportunities abound. Aside from paddling in the fountain, as I child I’d also relish walking along the edges of the defined space which are also very sittable.
Many of the play features were simply a short step off the main pathways. So invitations to play clear!
Most of the play spaces have been designed and installed by the internationally-renowned Richter Spielgerate. This German company has been at the forefront of playground design for decades. The chances are that if you haven’t visited one of their playgrounds you will have encountered their designs that have also inspired others.
They have included recycled materials and natural elements into their designs from the outset. They also recognise children seek the sand as much as the structure above it! One thing we seem to use less of in the UK is the strips of black rubber seen in one of the photo below. It reminds me of a conveyor belt and I wonder if that was the original inspiration.
I loved how different environments were used to provide a variety of play possibilities. Under one overhead motorway was a swing park.
My main recollection is of a huge tyre swing that took some effort to use. This is the curious thing about swings. The longer the pendulum, as a general rule, the harder they are to swing, especially at high speed. You can see me trying in the top LH photo below.
Some areas of the Rio Park are aimed at specific user groups. If I remember correctly, the photos below come from a playspace designed for young children and families. There were also spaces for older people to do fitness workouts too.
I’m a quiet fan of skateboard parks. My experience is that many are well-used and there’s something about the concrete dips and hollows which is fascinating. They are also one of very few playspaces which enable users to go below ground level.
The sheer size and scale of some of the play areas was breath-taking. For example the climbing stacks below took a long time to clamber through.
I’ve previously blogged about the High Ropes Playspace in the Salon De Pinos. This is the largest rope play area. However in recognition that most visitors don’t have the time or possibly even the stamina to spend the whole day walking and playing along both riverbanks, there are smaller rope features that can be explored.
Finally, I also blogged about the magnificent slide park which is one of the best I’ve ever seen for the sheer choice all in one small area. Normally water parks do this well but less so public play parks that are free to use. You can also see over a 1000 photos on the Trip Advisor website to whet your appetite! Sadly I lost the photos from this time period so this blog post was created on material I had stored here on my blog.
