A Study on the Child-Friendly Indoor Play Spaces Characteristics of ‘City-Run Kids Cafe’

Recently, as the number of dual-income couples has increased, the demand for indoor play spaces where parents can raise their children in a safe and healthy environment while working has also increased. In 2022, Seoul City began operating and supporting the ‘City Run Kids Cafe’ to protect children’s basic ‘Right to play’. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the spatial characteristics of children’s cafes established by Seoul City and provide insightful data and recommendations for improving public indoor play spaces. The methodology of this study is as follows: First, five child-friendly indoor play space characteristics were derived based on academic literature on children’s developmental characteristics and indoor play spaces. Second, the characteristics of child-friendly indoor play spaces were analyzed through a field survey of selected cases based on the analyzed framework. As a result of this study, ‘City Run Kids Cafe’ was found to have different areas for each case, and there is a need to increase ‘Diversity’ by creating a play space suitable for the developmental classification of infants and toddlers. Meanwhile, since ‘Learning’ through interaction with parents and friends was well represented in the space where the program was held, if a separate experience and education space is provided depending on the nature of the program, space utilization will be further increased.