Play is Serious Business, and it’s Time to Talk About It!
Imagine a room filled with the world’s leading minds in play, educators, urban planners, health professionals, and community leaders, all coming together to explore how play can shape healthier, happier, and more connected communities.
You don’t have to imagine! That’s exactly what’s happening at the IPA Asia Pacific Play Conference 2025. Whether you’re passionate about childhood development, designing playful spaces, or simply believe in the power of play, this is your chance to be part of the conversation.
We’ve got two big sessions to kick off the conference.
Hitoshi Shimamura will take us on a journey to map our memories and rediscover the value of play. Do you remember your childhood play?
David Engwicht is making this a play-ference, asking you ‘Why is play, not hard work, the key to creating a better world?
Urban Planning
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Design
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Education
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The Arts
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Health
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Wellbeing
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- Dr Sudeshna Chatterjee (India): Can we really plan child friendly cities without planning for play?
- Role of Play in Urban Transformation
- Christine Lee (Taiwan): Can play itself be a medium to drive broader social change?
- Workshop: Designing for Play: A Case Study of aProCh's Urban Interventions
- Mark Curr (NZ): How can a national play system be a driver for change in enhancing community wellbeing?
- In Conversation: Making Play an everywhere activity in cities and regions: Building a national play system
- Dr Damian Puddle (NZ): How many play opportunities did your city kill today?
- In Conversation: The Economic Rationalism of Play
- Workshop: How do we create Cities for Play: Shaping Liveable and Inclusive Urban Futures
- Cultural Reflection and Inclusion
- Building play into urban planning and design Play Café
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- Dr Brendon Hyndman (Australia): School Based Play beyond early childhood: Status Quo or time to overthrow
- Learning Efficacy Workshop: What if the journey to nature was just as important as the destination?
- Hitoshi Shimamura (Japan): Harnessing Collective Wisdom Extended
- Workshop: Rebirting the Curriculum: The way to rediscovering children’s curiosity
- Uno (Yu Nung) Ling (Taiwan): Children as Play Experts: Co-creating in alternative education
- In conversation: Reimagining museums, cultural institutions and the arts through a lens of play
- Dr Hiroyuki Kasama (Japan): Social innovation starts in the sandpit; reclaiming primordial play
- In Conversation: Resourcing for play in Schools and Children’s Services
- In conversation: Family engagement
- Public Awareness and Advocacy for play in education
- Play as the foundation for better educational outcomes Play Café
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- Prof Jill Sewell AM (Australia): Risky play - does exhilaration improve health and development and what are the dangers of ‘keeping it safe'?
- Play as a primary health care intervention
- Workshop: Empowering children in hospital through play - the magic bond.
- Workshop: Playing in life's unexpected places
- Rachel Jones (Australia): The Tyranny of Safety vs Freedom - How much risk is too much risk?
- In Conversation: Thriving with risky play - Creating a shared vision for risk in play
- Preeti Prada Panigrahi (India): If play is good for children and community, how do we ensure inclusion not marginalisation?
- In Conversation: Play as a Community Health Strategy
- Workshop: Joomanjie Land - A sanctuary for children
- Play as a support in times of crisis and devastation
- Play as a means to achieving better health outcomes Play Café
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Two days of thought-provoking sessions, hands-on workshops, and incredible networking opportunities await, are you in?
REGISTER NOW
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