Designing parks and public places with tamariki.
We partner with schools, councils, communities and funders to create meaningful change.
Place Cadets brings children into public space projects.
Place Cadets creates opportunities for tamariki to help shape parks, school grounds and public spaces - where their insights directly influence outcomes.
Place Cadets demonstrates that children aren’t just users of places, they’re imaginative and capable designers. When children are listened to, supported, and given genuine opportunities to participate, the results are more inclusive, meaningful, and connected to the communities who use them.
Projects
-
Paiaka - Hoon Hay Park
Students from Te Kōmanawa Rowley School co-designed and built a play space in their local park inspired by local wetland history, supporting curriculum learning, community connection, and hands-on experience in design, model-making, and construction.
Images: Petra Mingneau
-
Te Kōmanawa Rowley School
Guided by the Samoan value of Tauhi Vā, students from Te Kōmanawa Rowley School designed and built a play space that supports quiet time, small group play, and connection with others, woven into the school’s native forest and everyday school life.
Images: Petra Mingneau & Centuri Creative
-
Te Huarahi Linwood Avenue School
Students from Te Huarahi Linwood Avenue School identified gaps in their outdoor play space. Drawing on their school’s cultural narrative and mahinga kai, they designed, tested and built new structures - gaining practical skills, confidence, and a stronger connection to their school and community.
Images: Petra Mingneau & Nancy Zhou
-
The Imaginarium - Phillipstown Hub
Children from the Phillipstown Community Hub OSCAR programme worked with designers, whānau, and local makers to design, prototype, and build a modular play structure, strengthening connections with their wider community while developing practical skills and creating a place shaped by their own ideas.
Images: Rhiannon Josland
-
Children speak with Christchurch City Councillors
An early project connecting tamariki and councillors around the future of Doris Lusk Reserve. Children’s models and ideas helped inform the project brief and decision-making process.
Images: Wendy Hoddinott
-
Design Brief - Doris Lusk Reserve
Residents and children from Christchurch’s Inner City East worked with designers to shape a brief for interactive play at Doris Lusk Reserve.
Images: Wendy Hoddinott