The Week in Germany: Culture

Use it or Lose It: Nuremberg Considers Intergenerational Playground to Keep Aging Citizens from Acting their Age.

The southern German city of Nuremberg has hit on a novel idea to make activity more pleasurable for older people. It plans to open playgrounds for pensioners.

Generational play: Petanque players

There won't be any swings and merry-go-rounds, but there might be climbing frames, giant chess boards and a place to play petanque, says the city's deputy mayor and head of sports, Horst Förther. Förther said he envisaged a mix of play areas exclusively for the elderly or in combination with children's playgrounds.

This idea of "generational play" was developed in Finland where research by the University of Lapland showed that older people benefited from joining in activities with children in local parks. A study of 40 people aged between 65 and 81 found there were significant improvements in dexterity, speed and coordination after playing about on climbing frames and monkey ladders.

Once approval has been given for the Nuremberg facility, the city will start looking around for suitable sites before construction work can begin, probably in spring 2008.

Foerther said he envisaged smaller playgrounds in inner cities with overhead bars or stepping blocks where people can stretch their muscles and exercise their joints. More elaborate ones could be built in leafy suburbs where "older people could go for a jog or enjoy a game of badminton," he said.

dpa

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