It may seem counterintuitive, but children’s playgrounds aren’t much fun unless they’re a bit dangerous. Every kid knows that. Yet overzealous grown-ups who want to prevent accidents have turned many playgrounds into restrained, unimaginative safety zones that thwart broken bones but hinder the important emotional development that happens when kids take risks. The Land features an “adventure playground” in North Wales, a sort of muddy junkyard, where kids are free to use saws, make fires, climb impossibly high trees, and curse with abandon. Professionally trained “play managers” assist but don’t interfere unless necessary, respecting the subtle difference between risk and hazard, growth and safety. Watching these kids manage their own relationship to danger is inspiring but at times surprisingly uncomfortable. Just as fascinating is the proper English landscape architect whose forward-thinking philosophy “better a broken bone than a broken spirit” helped inspire the movement decades ago.  RYS