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Purpose: To synthesize evidence regarding the physical design features and non-physical aspects of public playgrounds that facilitate/hinder outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion; identify design recommendations; and explore the current discourses and concepts around designing for outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion in public playgrounds in the context of Universal Design (UD)., Methods: Published studies addressing public playgrounds, inclusion, and design, were identified via a systematic search of eleven databases from health, science, education, and humanities., Results: Fifteen documents met the inclusion criteria. Three main themes were identified concerning physical design features and non-physical aspects of public playgrounds that facilitate/hinder outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion, with associated design recommendations. Although UD is recognized to have the potential to support the design of public playgrounds, no studies examined UD solutions for playgrounds or tested them for effectiveness., Conclusion: We cannot yet determine whether UD can support outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion in public playgrounds. Research to date has mostly focused on understanding users' perspectives; future research should continue to be informed by diverse users' perspectives to address gaps in knowledge concerning children's voice from migrants, lower socioeconomic communities, and intergenerational users with disabilities alongside researching design solutions for play.Implications for rehabilitationChildren, particularly children with disabilities and their families, continue to experience marginalization and exclusion in public playgrounds, despite a commitment to inclusion in international treaties.Universal design is recognized to have the potential to support the design of public playgrounds, however, the evidence is currently very sparse.While accessibility is an important consideration for playground design, it does not ensure that play occupations can take place.Extending knowledge on universal design as it applies explicitly to playgrounds and play occupation requires multi- and trans-disciplinary collaboration that includes a play-centered perspective.

Universal Design (UD) is promoted internationally for the design of public playgrounds that support outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion. Despite this international recognition of UD, there is a lack of research evidence concerning the applicability of UD for playground design. Instead, municipalities need to rely on best practice guidelines to inform the design of public playgrounds for inclusion. Internationally, numerous grey literature guidelines have been produced for designing public playgrounds for inclusion, resulting in a lack of consensus on core principles for applying UD. Thus, this scoping review study aimed to synthesise findings from a review of international grey literature guidelines to strengthen the knowledgebase for designing public playgrounds for inclusion. Three themes were identified that characterise core considerations for good design: (1) design approaches, (2) design principles and (3) design recommendations. Although UD is recognised as having potential to support the design of public playgrounds, inconsistent design approaches, principles, and recommendations, were communicated within these guideline documents. Still, the core concept of inclusion underpinned all guideline documents and a tailored application of UD dominated. Consequently, to fully realise the design of public playgrounds for inclusion, UD may need to be tailored for play; however, further research is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]