Play, Creativity and Wellbeing Project

Chief Investigators: Cathy Hope (Lead, UC), Adelaide Rief (AGAC) and David Caffery (Dionysus), Tait Network

Funder: Canberra Renewal Authority, ACT Government

Haig Park Experiments continued into 2020 with the design of a program of activations that assisted the community to safely return to the park through gradual escalation in program scale in response to changing COVID-19 public health emergency protocols. From June to December, we delivered 34 COVID-safe events in the park targeting diverse groups.

On July 10 2019 in the glorious city of Goulburn the Play, Creativity and Wellbeing Project in the CCCR presented a line-up of speakers whose work in regional place-making, creativity, the arts and health inspired us to think differently about the many possibilities for enriching regional environments and improving community wellbeing.

We also showcased some of the fantastic and impactful work in Goulburn and hear from the local legends who are making it happen.

The programme (attached) included:

Councillor Bob Kirk: Mayor of Goulburn

Bridge to Sing Disability Choir (+ ukes!)

Dr Kylie Bourne: Major Research Projects, Regional Australia Institute

Jeremy Smith: Director Community, Emerging and Experimental Arts, Australia Council for the Arts

Sarah Nash: Director, Plunge Cultural Festival, Clarence Valley

Sarah Robin: Coordinator of the Healthy Towns Initiative and Program Coordinator, North Coast Primary Health Network

Carolyn Ardler: Coordinator Maclean Healthy Towns Initiative

Kane Sparks: (award winning) Youth Coordinator, Swan Hill Council, Victoria

The event is sponsored by the Southern NSW Local Health District and supported by Southern Tableland Arts.

Download program here.

This ACT Health Promotion project involves the development and trial of an evidence-based, transferable and scalable framework for engaging statistically less active segments of the ACT population in the daily required physical activity in natural environments.

This pilot project in the first instance will deliver six distinct, co-designed programs to engage 30 older people in the required daily physical activity in three distinct natural environments - the Aboretum, Lanyon Homestead and Tidbinbilla. These programs will then be rolled out by the three destination sites for older adults across the ACT.

The broader aim is for these programs to break down any barriers between participants and engagement in physical activity in green spaces, and thus to encourage both more physical activity in activity outdoors, and more diverse outdoor physical activity.

The project framework will then provide an ongoing tool for the effective design of programs that motivate non-traditional users of natural environments to undertake physical activity in a range of green spaces.

Three ACT destination sites with three different natural settings – the Aboretum, Lanyon Homestead and Tidbinbilla – have partnered to:

• provide a broader cross-section of outdoor experience
• collaborate on program design to attract population segments not currently engaging with nature in physically active ways.

With UC and Active Canberra, these sites will collaborate with two older adult groups in Canberra (Woden Seniors and COTA ACT) to co-design and trial the programs.

This project is innovative in that it seeks to break down barriers to physical engagement with, and activity in, green space by co-designing programs with non-traditional users to increase likelihood not only of initial engagement but also of repeat behaviour. This project draws on the principle of engagement: of designing programs that actively encourage incidental physical activity via recreational experiences built on the many positive affordances of the natural environment.

Funding: ACT Health

Partners: Active Canberra, Council on the Ageing ACT, National Arboretum Canberra, Lanyon Homestead, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve

Chief Investigator: Cathy Hope

Other Investigators: Bethaney Turner (UC) , Daniela Castro de Jong, Tom Bevitt (UC)

This project aims to provide the City Renewal Authority (CRA) with a suite of 5 informed, transferable, scalable and incentivised research tools to evaluate activations in the city and to engage community in a continuous dialogue that assists the CRA in co-constructing a more vibrant city with both activators (artists, community groups, local business etc) and the community, and in meaningful ways.

The Play, Creativity and Wellbeing Project, University of Canberra will design and trial five different research models that examine the role and impact of the activations in the city.

These 5 research tools will provide the CRA with data on 5 activations. These tools can then be replicated or adjusted for ongoing use by the City Renewal Authority.

Funding: City Renewal Authority

Chief Investigator: Cathy  Hope

Other Investigators: Bethaney Turner (UC); Glen Fuller (UC)

This Project aims to inform the design of the West Basin play facilities with an Audit of Canberra’s key destination and city playgrounds that combines a facilities audit with community surveys on playground usage and attitudes to Canberra destination playgrounds.

The Audit, combined with our previous research on best practice in Australian and international playgrounds will:

• Inform the planning of play facilities to enact the vision, place principles and objectives of the City to Lake Project Strategic Urban Design Framework, and the Principles for Sustainable Development in the Territory Plan;
• Identify those features of play facilities that offer unique appeal at West Basin to Canberra publics both as a viable visitation site and as part of Canberra’s vibrant and distinctive cultural heritage;
• Engage Canberra publics in this process through community feedback on usage and attitudes toward Canberra’s current destination playgrounds

The data from the Audit can also be used as a resource for ongoing maintenance and development of play spaces in Canberra more broadly

Funding: City Renewal Authority, ACT Government

Chief Investigators: Cathy Hope; Dr Kate Bishop (UNSW)

Investigators: Bethaney Turner (UC); Glen Fuller (UC); Louise Curham (UC) Deborah Cleland (ANU)

The Alinga Street Bridge Exhibition Series is a proposed play-themed series of installations (the title of the exhibition is currently under development) to be co-curated by Art Not Apart and the Play Activation Network, as part of an applied research project managed by the Play Creativity and Wellbeing Project, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra.

The aim of this project is:

• to enliven an under-activated zone in Canberra city with art installations on the Alinga Street Bridge
• to develop and implement
  • “An Impact Study of Art Installations on the Local Community and Environment”
  • An Evaluative Report for the funding body (City Renewal Authority) and the Play Activation Network

Phase 1: Peak Stuff

Peak Stuff is an art installation by Sydney’s Gas Studio, and proposed by Art Not Apart and the Play Activation Network for the City Renewal Authority’s 2018 initiative: Enlighten in the city. Peak Stuff will remain on the Alinga Street Bridge for a month, and then be exhibited in Civic Square for 3 hours to enable a more immersive engagement with the work.

Funding: City Activation Team, City Renewal Authority ACT Government

Chief Investigator: Cathy Hope

Investigators: Bethaney Turner

This project seeks to contribute to the development of a vital and sustainable public realm in Canberra through identification and analysis of international exemplars of urban activation. It will highlight examples of urban play that can contribute to the realisation of the five Place Principles of the ACT Government Strategic Urban Design Framework –connected; vibrant; responsive; diverse; green.

Funding: Land Development Agency, ACT Government

Chief Investigator: Cathy Hope

Investigators: Bethaney Turner, Glen Fuller, Sam Hinton and Erin Hinton.

This project informs the thinking and design of playspaces that will form part of Canberra’s urban renewal sites. Key to current international urban renewal strategies is the activation of sites through the integration of fixed and transient play elements (Stevens, 2007; Stôger, 2016). Within this context, designated play spaces – as public sites for gathering and for play in its various forms – can contribute in significant ways to urban activation, and to the development of a healthy, vibrant, green and liveable city more broadly.  Play spaces are vital for urban environments, acting as counterpoints and complements to the commercial imperatives that dominate the built environment. This project provides an international benchmark study of playspaces in urban environments, and an audit framework for Canberra’s destination playgrounds to identify needs and opportunities for Canberra playspace design.

Funding: Land Development Agency, ACT Government

Chief Investigator: Cathy Hope

Investigators: Bethaney Turner, Carlos Montana Hoyos, Glen Fuller, Erin Hinton