FRI-A08: Play It Cool: Designing the Future of Play in a Warming World

Friday, October 10, 2025

8:30 AM - 9:45 AM CT

Location: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Room R08-R09

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, NY/HSW, FL

Speaker(s)

Meghan Talarowski, ASLA, PLA

Executive Director
Studio Ludo
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Benjamin Corotis (he/him/his)

Principal
ADBC Architecture
Oakland, California
Joshua Spitzig, Affil. ASLA

U.S. Lighting Lead
Buro Happold
New York, New York

As the climate changes, so must the way we design for play. This session brings together experts in play design, architecture, and lighting to explore how play spaces, parks, and public spaces must adapt. Addressing extreme heat, shade, and expanded nighttime activity ensures safe, inclusive, and engaging spaces for all.

Learning Outcomes:

Discover how rising heat will particularly impact our most vulnerable and why public space is a critical part of climate resilience.
Explore best-practice design guidance for extreme heat, shade, and expanded nighttime activity in parks, playground, and public spaces.
Understand how planning for heat equity is a multipronged approach that includes design, as well as management and maintenance.
Learn how collaboration across the disciplines of play, architecture, landscape architecture, and lighting is essential in climate-responsive design and development.