ShanghaiJune 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Coinciding with International Day of Play, Ingka Centres held a “Dare to Play” insights sharing session and the launch ceremony of the Livat Summer Play Season at the Hongqiao Living Room, a multifunctional office space in Shanghai Livat. The event officially released the latest edition of the Play Forward: Community Life Report and simultaneously kicked off the Summer Play Season series of activities across its ten Livat locations in China. The event gathered industry guests, brand partners, and media representatives to discuss the positive value of play for personal well-being, community connection, and urban public spaces. Through more immersive and interactive experiences, it transforms “play” from a concept into a tangible everyday lifestyle, continuously creating warmer and more vibrant gathering experience spaces.
Redefining the Value of Play
Following IKEA’s release of the IKEA Play Report 2024 on International Day of Play in 2024, which focused on play behaviors within family settings and home well-being, Ingka Centres now releases the Play Forward: Community Life Report. This report extends the perspective beyond the home, focusing on adults’ need for play in public spaces, social connections, and community life experiences. It explores how future meeting experience centers can integrate play into more people’s daily lives through space and experience design.
Ingka Centres officially releases the Play Forward: Community Life Report
In the fast-paced modern life, play is often seen as exclusive to children or a dispensable pastime for adults. However, the Play Forward: Community Life Report shows that play is not only an important part of adults’ daily lives but also a crucial need for promoting well-being, social connection, and emotional health. The report finds that more and more adults are re-recognizing the value of play and actively making room for it in their busy lives. As one of the active advocates of the United Nations International Day of Play, the Ingka Group firmly believes that play is not just a personal experience but a vital force for stimulating community vitality and fostering connections between people.
Ms. Zhu Jiemin, President of Ingka Centres China, stated in her opening remarks: “Play is not just for children; it is everyone’s right. By releasing the Play Forward: Community Life Report, Ingka Centres aims not only to gain a deeper understanding of our customers’ genuine needs for play and social interaction but also to translate these insights into warmer, more engaging gathering experiences. This injects vitality into the community while enhancing our own business resilience. In the future, we hope to work with partners to drive industry change, viewing play as a key value for the operation of future meeting experience centers and continuing to deepen our presence in the Chinese market.”
Ms. Zhu Jiemin, President of Ingka Centres China, delivers opening remarks
During the insights sharing session, Wang Pengpeng, Head of Market Insights at Ingka Centres China, provided an in-depth interpretation of the report’s key findings. She stated: “We have found that more and more Chinese customers want to truly integrate play into their daily lives, not just limit it to holidays or specific occasions. For them, play means relaxation, companionship, self-expression, and building more authentic connections with the community. For Ingka Centres, the shopping center of the future is not just a place for consumption but should also serve as an important platform for inspiring ideas, building relationships, and releasing emotions.”
Wang Pengpeng, Head of Market Insights at Ingka Centres China, interprets the report’s key findings
The event also invited Xiao Jingqing, Vice President of Leasing at Ingka Centres China; Luc Mougel, General Manager of Shanghai Livat; Liu Wen, Senior Sales Director of IKEA China; Chen Yifan, brand representative from Benchmark Climbing Gym; and Wu Chunfeng, Chairman of Daxing Entertainment, to participate in an industry dialogue. They engaged in in-depth discussions on topics such as adults’ need for play, the concretization of “play” in meeting experience centers, and how to measure the value of play. Together, they explored how to naturally integrate play into daily life through more playful and inclusive space design, offering new inspiration for future meeting experience centers and community scenarios.
Event guests engage in an industry dialogue around “play”
Bringing Play into Daily Life
As the pace of urban life accelerates and the ways people connect with nature and their communities evolve, there is a growing desire for spatial experiences that offer greater interactivity, creativity, and emotional connection. The Play Forward: Community Life Report points out that compared to the global average, Chinese customers not only enjoy playing more but also want to integrate play into their daily routines and gain something from it. The future gathering space is not just a place for consumption but should also serve as an important platform for inspiring ideas, building relationships, and releasing emotions. Based on this insight, Ingka Centres is simultaneously launching the Livat Summer Play Season this summer, extending the “Dare to Play” concept from theory to real-world scenarios. Through immersive space creation, diverse interactive experiences, and themed activities across ten Livat locations, it aims to create more joyful, exploratory, and connected play moments for Chinese customers.
From June to August, Livat locations across various cities will create summer experience spaces that blend storytelling, interactivity, and participation around the core theme of “play.” Not only will they continue the collaboration with the Swedish national treasure IP Pippi Longstocking from last year to create whimsical and imaginative themed scenes, but they will also launch a variety of activities such as fun challenges, interactive games, reading experiences, and light competitive sports. Customers can relieve stress and stimulate creativity in immersive experiences while creating unforgettable memories with family and friends. At the same time, the creativity and sense of connection fostered by play will extend to Livat’s office spaces, creating a more dynamic and inspiring work experience for office tenants.
Ingka Centres launches the Summer Play Season activities across its ten Livat locations in China
From community life insights to immersive play experiences, Ingka Centres continues to use play as a bond to explore warmer and more connected ways of interaction between people and between people and their communities. During the summer vacation, Livat will roll out more themed activities and experiences, allowing customers to feel the happiness and community vitality brought by play, truly becoming a play destination for the public to release joy, gather, interact, and create summer memories.
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