As a child growing up in the damp Pacific Northwest, I assumed that playing in mud was a part of going outdoors. Whether I hiked up trails or played flag-football at the playing field, slippery conditions were a part of the game, and we all expected to come home a muddy mess. Then, towards the end of my adolescence, many playfields and schoolyards started to sprout synthetic, grass-like turf. In those days, I didn’t think about the way design was changing open green spaces. I only thought about how the new material on the ground let me play in all kinds of weather. Artificial turf is now something we expect on our playing fields; it’s a standard “amenity” here in the Northwest.
