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Ken Worpole explores Dinah Bornat’s call for child-friendly neighbourhoods and asks why the UK continues to fall behind its European peers in providing them

A Dutch review of All to Play For has been published on Urban Springtime, highlighting the blind spot in housing design when it comes to children.

Rooilijn, a leading Dutch platform for knowledge exchange in spatial planning, reviews All to Play For, noting that  'British architect Dinah Bornat highlights this blind spot in the housing sector and presents several ingredients that can help create a more child- and play-friendly environment near residential complexes.' (translation from the original Dutch)

In this episode, Fran Williams is joined by Dinah Bornat. Together they discuss: A new House of Commons report demands a greater role for children in urban design // UK architectural businesses face growing financial strain // London’s affordable housing ratio slips amid a watering down of development guidelines // And the architects picked for the long-awaited pedestrianisation of Oxford Street are revealed

Gemma Hyde has given Dinah Bornat's book, All to play for a lovely review in the latest Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) magazine. 

For the latest in BD’s Boomers to Zoomers series, Mary Richardson went to meet the team of local people helping to shape the Earls Court redevelopment in west London as part of a wider programme of inclusive community engagement

In her new book, All to Play For, Dinah Bornat of ZCD Architects argues that child-friendly design creates housing that benefits everyone, writes Julia Thrift

Dinah Bornat talks about her career and the work she has been currently leading at  with The Earls Court Development Company and also with Van Leer Foundation. 

What if housing policy and design started with children in mind? In this episode, Jay Morton speaks with Dinah Bornat—co-director of ZCD Architects and author of the upcoming All to Play For: How to Design Child-Friendly Housing—about how play, community, and public space are being squeezed out of our cities.

Architects, urbanists and advocates Tim Gill, Dinah Bornat, Petra Marko and Jonny Anstead reflect on the growing international movement for child-centred urban planning, speaking at the ‘Start with Children’ summit in Bratislava.

In this episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast, architect, urban designer and founder-director of ZCD Architects, Dinah Bornat, discusses her new book, All to Play For: How to Design Child-Friendly Housing (RIBA Books 2025). Drawing on research and real-world case studies, we discuss the crucial role of design in shaping inclusive, playful cities, and sustainable communities.

In this edited excerpt from her forthcoming book, Dinah Bornat explores how housing design can better meet the needs of children and young people – and why engaging with them can lead to more inclusive, vibrant communities

Dinah joined Building Design's "Boomers to Zoomers: Designing for the Generations" campaign as an editorial panelist. The initiative examines design for all age groups, focusing on intergenerational spaces in housing, workplaces, and education. It aims to promote inclusive community planning through expert insights and best practices.

The article discusses the importance of designing child-friendly housing to meet the needs of children and families, highlighting the impact of neglecting these needs on health and quality of life in UK housing developments.

Hosted by Antonio Capelao co-founding director at Architecture for kids CIC, and coproduced with the Built Environment Trust, the Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University. Dinah was invited to talk about all the great ideas happening around built environment professionals with young people.

Dinah Bornat of ZCD Architects joins Rachel and Louise to talk about what she has learned about building trust and connection with young people from running wild camping adventures in the countryside with young people.

As a response to the ongoing Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry, Dinah writes about the importance of child-friendly planning and participation, highlighting the benefits it brings and the support it needs for national policy reform.

Our Public Realm Inclusivity Panel (PRIP) was featured in the latest issue on the Developer magazine, focusing on community review panels around London and their transformative potential.

In the first episode of this new podcast series, Dave Hill explores the history of Earls Court alongside the upcoming regeneration plans for the 40-acre site. Dave interviewed some of the members of the Public Realm Inclusivity Panels that ZCD have been working with for over a year. 

ZCD Architects were highly commended in the 2023 AJ Retrofit Awards under the hotel, retail and leisure category.

Dinah Bornat was invited to take part in a roundtable to discuss amongst industry leaders how green spaces can help tackle key challenges facing communities.

ZCD Architects, Jan Kattein Architects and Curl La Tourelle Head are among the practices collecting awards in a programme that champions work to empower young people to shape the built environment.

Dinah Bornat was invited as guest speaker for the Londown, a weekly podcast covering breaking stories in London's architecture and built environment.

Shawn Adams talks about the power of engaging with young people in urban design, highlighting ZCD’s youth engagement for the Aberfeldy Estate masterplan.

The Landscape Journal showcases projects striving for positive change which improve our understanding of and ability to achieve greater inclusivity.

"ZCD Architects has drawn on its research into child-friendly cities to create a pocket community focused on spaces to play on an unpromising site in rural Buckinghamshire"

New Architects 4 is the latest edition of Architecture Foundation’s long running series featuring the work of 109 notable emerging British architectural practices.

"…young people should be asked more often what they like about their neighbourhoods… Bornat is optimistic about the growing willingness in the industry to listen…"

Dinah Bornat wrote an article on what makes good youth engagement and its importance.

Dinah Bornat was guest speaker for Open City's podcast series, where she discussed ZCD's Voice Opportunity Power toolkit for youth engagement.

Dinah Bornat explains the thinking behind the Voice Opportunity Power toolkit and its application on the masterplan vision in Cambridge Road Estate, Kingston.

This article talks about  Child Friendly Planning in the UK, a report drawn up in collaboration with Dinah Bornat.

Dinah Bornat was interviewed by The Guardian in response to segregation between richer and poorer children within a London housing development.

Dinah Bornat was invited to speak with The Developer for their podcast; ‘The secrets and barriers to child-friendly places’.

Our research has been picked up by the Mayor of London and the Evening Standard to discuss the importance of London becoming more child friendly.