"During the past decade an elite few American architects, landscape architects, and sculptors, including Stanley Saltowitz, Walter Hood, and Mary Miss, have pioneered the restoration of aesthetic and developmental values to play areas for young people. Susan G. Solomon appraises these success stories and proposes fresh and urgent remedies that blend excellent design principles, innovative planning, and affordability - a vision for the future of the playground in America. Supplementing her impeccable command of primary and secondary sources with hundreds of hours of interviews with designers and clients, the author confronts a seriously under-developed topic with powerful and complex arguments rich in social history, law, theories of play and childhood, and urban planning. Readers will be inspired - and equipped - to take up the gauntlet of advocacy for superior American playgrounds. " "American Playgrounds will fascinate diverse constituencies, including parents, educators, policymakers, and art, architectural and cultural historians. For those commissioning, funding, designing, and overseeing playgrounds, it will be indispensable. "--Jacket.