The Davidson Prize

Our proposal draws inspiration from Manchester’s 1979 playground protests, when communities resisted the closure of their play spaces.

Parents, activists and young people came together to say homes, streets and neighbourhoods should support play, not suppress it.

This is Not a Road responds directly to that legacy by focusing on an ordinary residential street. The overlooked spaces that sit outside our homes. Instead of tucking play away behind railings, it becomes part of daily life. The street becomes a place for games, conversation and celebration.

Our proposal is to create a community-led toolkit. The toolkit will be a document facilitated by a team of designers. It will inspire and guide communities to build play opportunities into their streets in ways that reflect their specific needs.

The toolkit will include adaptable designs for play installations, alongside information on materials and how to build them. Rather than prescribing a fixed outcome, it is designed to empower communities. Enabling streets to evolve organically through collective action.

Cars should no longer be the priority. In their absence, the residential street becomes safe, slower and sociable.

Play is intergenerational and integrated. A shared community shed and makers’ yard foster reuse and mutual support: tools for fixing a door, timber for building a den, cake tins borrowed for a celebration.

Rooted in Manchester’s radical history, yet adaptable nationwide, the proposal reframes the street as social architecture: a shared space where everyday play is designed in.

Team

Jason Eccles, Architect, Artform

Carolyn Willits, Landscape Architect, CW Studio

Andrew Johnston, Town Planner, Made it Together

Pauline Johnston, People and Place Activation Consultant, Civic and Social

Camila Alvarado, Architectural Assistant, Artform

Eve Harvey, Architectural Assistant, Artform

Anna Syed, Landscape Architect, CW Studio

Jess Peach, Assistant Landscape Architect, CW Studio