I got involved with our local tenant management organisation over a single issue, that they had proposed to remove the disused playgrounds and replace them with nothing for the children on the estate, writes George Arkless.
Dealing with prejudice and preconceptions it was obvious that I needed to take on a long term strategy, but getting caught up on the governance of the organisation it has taken me three years to get to the point where I can seriously tackle the issues
Three years of course is a long time, and priorities change. So as well as being Chair of the TMO I am the co-ordinator for the TMO Liaison Committee, a volunteer inspector for the Good Governance Kite Mark and have been co-opted onto a LACOG steering committee providing training for board members of TMOs across London. Long term aims and sustainable change are pointless if organisations are poorly run and risk being shut down.
During these three years I have had time to research, and to influence ideas and choices to open up doors and possibilities so that the children on the estate are not ignored. My views however have changed a great deal during this time and this blog will explain why and how I see the best way forward.
One of the first things I had to accept was that the strength of feeling on the estate that replacing disused play equipment for more equipment would be a waste of time. The first thing was to keep the children at the top of the agenda in the regeneration program, followed by finding ways to break down the barriers between the generations.
The loss of a structured play area was not much of a loss, the two we had have never really been available, but if not play equipment then what?
But I am getting ahead of myself, before answering that question lets look at the nature of play equipment. While there may be some variations the key components remain the same, swings, slides, climbing structures. They are designed to give our children exercise, but much more on top. Interaction, social order and just as important it provides an area where risks can be taken in as safe as environment as possible. It does however have one drawback. By putting in play equipment you ‘define’ the use of the area.
A lot of money has been spent in Southwark for this type of play area and so is easily available to residents and children locally. As a side note, in all the projects where play equipment has been installed there has been a glaringly obvious omission in provision. There is play equipment which is suitable for wheelchair users but these are rarely used in public play areas helping to further isolate and segregate not only young people but their families as well.
So if not play equipment what do we do?
Well actually a lot more. By not defining an area as a play area you free it up for a much wider range of play activity. Despite the misconception that children are very different today to how they used to be they are not. The same things and games we enjoyed playing as children today’s children enjoy. The trick then is to design an area which encourages imaginative play without making it obvious, without restricting the area for other activities. In a sense it is recognising the potentials and then designing it all in.
In an earlier blog I mentioned that I don’t like metal fencing, but I am realistic enough to recognise it is required – actually I’m not convinced but that is another story. As I mentioned the problem with metal fencing is it is a barrier, designed to look like a barrier. In part because we are conditioned to see them as such, in part because to do more with them costs more money. But with a little thought metal fencing can serve other purposes.
By attaching external notice board to a fence surrounding a play area you open up a range of opportunities and activities you can do with children. Give them a camera you can get the child to capture what is important to them about their local area, environment. Give them a pen and paper and the options are limited only to their imagination and capabilities. An essay, a poem, a drawing. Give them glue as well and they can create collages from the material available. The fence is no longer just a barrier, but a community resource, nor does it have to be restricted to the children, if you are building a community garden.
I know one fence where an artist was commissioned to draw local people, then created silhouettes in sheet metal, and these were incorporated into the fence.
Where we remove the disused playgrounds creates a dip in the area, in effect creating a ‘natural’ auditorium. Ideal for inviting a range of people along to do work with the children and their families, including youth theatre groups, artists, a local story teller. Or with a little thought and work we can put up a screen and show a film.
Much of the anti social behaviour is not the behaviour itself, but where the behaviour is exhibited. Leave a child in an area with earth they will dig it up. There is a natural curiosity about the world around them which we try to stifle. By involving them with the planting in their garden you help to encourage this curiosity by providing an area where they can do what comes naturally in an acceptable way and place. Getting them involved in an annual ‘bug audit’ is also a good way of encouraging this curiosity and with the right person they have the opportunity to learn more about their environment.
Every year around Mothers Day flowers suddenly disappear around the estate, but with a family garden you can get children to grow their own flowers for their mum.
Low walls offer a range of uses. It can be a top to rest things on, a seat to sit on, something to walk on, a road for toys or any number of things a child’s imagination can create.
As you may be beginning to suspect I am a great believer in objects serving multiple purposes. One idea I am particularly keen on is using paving stones for multi purpose use, though I have no idea if it is practical. Why can’t paving stones be engraved/embossed with numbers? Rather then children having to mark out hop scotch, why not lay one out for them to encourage them to play? In a similar way why not a chess board, allowing children to play chess, draughts, fox and hounds or other games which can be played on such a board.
The scope for creating such play areas, not just for children, but families and adults by using simple ideas, if possible, is limited only by the imagination of those who create such areas.
George Arkless is Chairman of Haddonhall Residents Tenants Management Organisation in the London borough of Southwark.
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