PlayLink Universal

A social enterprise, led by Anna Ciliberto and Dr. Sanné Mestrom

Transforming Yesterday's Playgrounds into Tomorrow's Adventures

Australian communities face a critical challenge. Between 2005 and 2015, we installed over 100,000 playgrounds nationwide—vital infrastructure that has shaped childhood development for a generation. Yet as these installations approach their 10-25 year lifespan, councils confront an impossible choice: abandon playgrounds without accessible features or face crippling replacement costs that existing budgets cannot support. For children with disabilities, this often means continued exclusion from play spaces designed without consideration for diverse physical, sensory, or developmental needs.

PlayLink Universal reimagines this trapped asset problem as an opportunity for evolution. Our universal mounting system transforms aging playground infrastructure from a financial burden into a platform for innovation. Rather than wholesale replacement, our retrofit solutions preserve existing foundations while introducing contemporary play elements—including accessible features and inclusive design—that reflect current understanding of childhood development and accessibility requirements. We combine risk-positive play philosophy with genuine inclusive design, ensuring playgrounds serve all children, regardless of ability.

This approach delivers multiple benefits simultaneously. Communities retain their investment in existing infrastructure while embracing modern play philosophy that promotes beneficial risk-taking, physical challenge, developmental growth, and genuine accessibility. Councils avoid catastrophic budget impacts through scalable, progressive upgrades that progressively increase inclusive access. Most importantly, all children—including those with disabilities—gain access to dynamically evolving play environments that are both developmentally enriching and truly accessible.

PlayLink Universal represents more than retrofit technology—it embodies a fundamental shift in how we value and evolve community play infrastructure. By treating playgrounds as adaptable platforms rather than fixed installations, we ensure that every child experiences play environments calibrated to promote confidence, capability, healthy risk assessment, and genuine inclusion.