On Longevity and Lost Toys: Sustainable Approaches to Toy Design and Contemporary Play

This chapter summarizes and synthesizes key developments within the industries of play and contemporary toy design that address sustainability in toys from two perspectives: first, from the design and production perspective, and second, from the use or play perspective. By drawing on insights from earlier work in the fields of toy and play research, a summary of key points regarding sustainable approaches to toy design and contemporary play is suggested. Good toy design aims at producing play value derived from raw material, aesthetics, mechanics, relations to storytelling and so on, but as a vague and subjective measure, play value can present different things for designers and players of different ages, depending on their ideas on the life cycles of toys and their qualifications for sustainability. Instead, relevant and more tangible aspects of play value are the physical durability of toys, which may refer to the ecological dimensions of the raw material used for toys (such as textile, wood or plastic), their functionality (afforded, versatile and enduring functions for toys such as mechanics) and the thematic durability of toys (such as intriguing backstories that invite the player to long-term play). When the toys' play value is considered thoroughly from these perspectives, the affective responses to the plaything are strengthened. In the chapter, the concepts of longevity and becoming lost are discussed as issues worth of deliberation not only within the toy industry, but in terms of player actions with toys.