Permission to play: taking play seriously; making sport playful
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Playfulness is an innate human trait crucial for making sense of the world, creativity, development of social skills and positive emotions. It is a trait which is strongly encouraged in children and young people but increasingly is being squeezed out in adulthood amidst the pressures and technologies of contemporary western society. It is often viewed as 'juvenile' and 'unproductive' use of time. Yet playfulness is celebrated in different forms within some arenas - particuarly the creative arts and sport - where the act of play is viewed as offering positive health and well-being benefits, actively encouraged as part of community cohesion agendas and providing spaces for creativity and entrepreneurial thinking.
By engaging actively with these the arenas of creative arts & culture and sport, and drawing on the experiences and practices which encourage and celebrate playfulness, the proposed research will seek, firstly to characterise attributes of playfulness and, secondly to identify new research questions concerning ways in which it might be fostered in adults in order to promote flourishing, resilience, creativity and therefore enhance wellbeing for both individuals and communities. It will thus also explore how playfulness can help to reconnect people and communities, assisting to overcome conflict and dissonance but reducing isolation, stress, and alienation.
By engaging actively with these the arenas of creative arts & culture and sport, and drawing on the experiences and practices which encourage and celebrate playfulness, the proposed research will seek, firstly to characterise attributes of playfulness and, secondly to identify new research questions concerning ways in which it might be fostered in adults in order to promote flourishing, resilience, creativity and therefore enhance wellbeing for both individuals and communities. It will thus also explore how playfulness can help to reconnect people and communities, assisting to overcome conflict and dissonance but reducing isolation, stress, and alienation.
Planned Impact
Improving the mental and physical health and well-being of the population as a whole, and not just individuals experiencing illness, has become a key objective of central and devolved governments and agencies in the UK, spanning areas of culture, sport, economic activity as well as community regeneration. Well-being and mental resilience is seen as critical to supporting social and economic benefits, and the absence of this has often been associated with and reinforcing social and health inequalities in deprived communities.
Confident and sustainable communities are those who have the strength, safety, resilience and inclusiveness to foster supportive social networks, and who are themselves connected communities. Finding approaches and mechanisms to support improvements in health and well-being within communities has drawn together academic disciplines from across the humanities, social sciences and sciences. It has seen for example community arts projects being based in hospitals, reading groups being used to explore issues of community identity, and sporting and cultural events fostering greater community cohesion.
This research will add to this important area of academic and policy engagement through its focus on how playfulness can enrich these connections. It will have impacts thus not only in key policy areas, supporting the UK government's policy on Confident Communities, the Scottish Government's joint health & wellbeing and sustainable communities initiative, and the Welsh Assembly Government's Communities First partnerships.
Through direct collaboration with partners in London Philosophy Club and Glasgow Life, and with the team's connections with policy makers and practitioners in local areas, the impact of this research will be disseminated into practice within local organisations. These include those involved in directly in connecting arts and health at national and local scales (The Reader Organisation, Merseyside Arts in Health Initiative), organisations such as Centre for Applied Research in Inclusive Arts and Design who are researching wider issues of wellbeing and inclusion, and national community-focused collaborative art charities in the NVA.
Active engagement with these through the workshops will provide mutual learning and sharing.
Beyond these specific groups who have involvement with the project directly, we envisage contribution in both commercial games sector and third sector organisations involved with community involvement. Commercial companies developing and designing products for play, the games industry, and researchers working in the area of Human Computer Interaction e.g. Creativity and Cognition Studios at University of Technology Sydney, Georgia Institute of Technology, and in the arts management and technology (eg Carnegie Mellon) will benefit from the insights on how playfulness can assist with such involvement.
Confident and sustainable communities are those who have the strength, safety, resilience and inclusiveness to foster supportive social networks, and who are themselves connected communities. Finding approaches and mechanisms to support improvements in health and well-being within communities has drawn together academic disciplines from across the humanities, social sciences and sciences. It has seen for example community arts projects being based in hospitals, reading groups being used to explore issues of community identity, and sporting and cultural events fostering greater community cohesion.
This research will add to this important area of academic and policy engagement through its focus on how playfulness can enrich these connections. It will have impacts thus not only in key policy areas, supporting the UK government's policy on Confident Communities, the Scottish Government's joint health & wellbeing and sustainable communities initiative, and the Welsh Assembly Government's Communities First partnerships.
Through direct collaboration with partners in London Philosophy Club and Glasgow Life, and with the team's connections with policy makers and practitioners in local areas, the impact of this research will be disseminated into practice within local organisations. These include those involved in directly in connecting arts and health at national and local scales (The Reader Organisation, Merseyside Arts in Health Initiative), organisations such as Centre for Applied Research in Inclusive Arts and Design who are researching wider issues of wellbeing and inclusion, and national community-focused collaborative art charities in the NVA.
Active engagement with these through the workshops will provide mutual learning and sharing.
Beyond these specific groups who have involvement with the project directly, we envisage contribution in both commercial games sector and third sector organisations involved with community involvement. Commercial companies developing and designing products for play, the games industry, and researchers working in the area of Human Computer Interaction e.g. Creativity and Cognition Studios at University of Technology Sydney, Georgia Institute of Technology, and in the arts management and technology (eg Carnegie Mellon) will benefit from the insights on how playfulness can assist with such involvement.
Organisations
- University of Strathclyde (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- The Reader Organisation, UK (Collaboration)
- Northern Ireland Office (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW (Collaboration)
- Cardiff University (Collaboration)
- Scottish Centre for Regeneration Advisory Board (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL (Collaboration)
- The Reader (Project Partner)
- NVA (Project Partner)
- Glasgow Life (Project Partner)
Description | The research project included engagement with a number of third sector organisations based in communities who used playfulness towards educational and community engagement. Our research has assisted the Liverpool project to make a submission for grant funded to extend their work with adults. The project findings also assisted Dr Treadaway with research co-funded in Australia on measuring playfulness. |
First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | Academic member of Scottish Centre for Regeneration Advisory Board repsonsible for 'Skills and learning for regeneration in Scotland' |
Organisation | Scottish Centre for Regeneration Advisory Board |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Participant : Work on advisory panel to industry or government or non-gov organisation : Academic member of Scottish Centre for Regeneration Advisory Board repsonsible for 'Skills and learning for regeneration in Scotland' |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Invited contribution to Northern Ireland Office workshop on "Attitudinal and behavioural change: sustainable energy production and consumption", Belfast |
Organisation | Northern Ireland Office |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Advisor : Consultancy (in kind) : Invited contribution to Northern Ireland Office workshop on "Attitudinal and behavioural change: sustainable energy production and consumption", Belfast |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Joint research with University of Cardiff |
Organisation | Cardiff University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | University of Strathclyde researchers worked on this project with researchers from University of Cardiff |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Joint research with University of Glasgow |
Organisation | University of Glasgow |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | University of Strathclyde researchers worked on this project with researchers from University of Glasgow |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Joint research with University of Liverpool |
Organisation | University of Liverpool |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | University of Strathclyde researchers worked on this project with researchers from University of Liverpool |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Joint research with University of Manchester |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | University of Strathclyde researchers worked on this project with researchers from University of Manchester |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Joint research with University of Warwick |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | University of Strathclyde researchers worked on this project with researchers from University of Warwick |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Project partnership with Culture and Sport Glasgow |
Organisation | Glasgow City Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Culture and Sport Glasgow worked with the research team and assisted/contributed to the project outcomes |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Project partnership with The Reader Organisation, UK |
Organisation | The Reader Organisation, UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The Reader Organisation, UK worked with the research team and assisted/contributed to the project outcomes |
Start Year | 2012 |