LONDON LEGISLATES PLAY SACES FOR CHILDREN

This is so exciting!!!!!
In accordance with the UN Convention for the rights of the child, and quoting the desire for a 'child-friendly city' , the mayor of London has formulated a supplementary planning guideline (SPG) requiring the provision of informal and interstitial play spacesfor children. It includes guidelines for navigating the design and the legal terrain. I can't wait to see the effect this has on the city of London. Briefings are being prepared to housing and other industry bodies by third party advocacy groups. WOW! We only need now for Australian cities to take play seriously!

On my brief perusal, the report talks about play paths, local pedestrian access, natural and artificial surface selection, objects as frames and locators for activities, monuments and stimulii, appropriate detailing, connecting ludic infastructure to each other and BEING REASONABLE ABOUT LITIGATION. It's lovely to have a bit of british common sense written down for all the american'esque 'sue-their arse' dolts to read every now and then

NB: It looks like CABE was very influential in writing the legislation. Like many other things on the UK's list of expendatures, it is seeing severely reduced revenue lately. It's great to see this as part of it's legacy. Hopefully it will be around for a long time yet despte the budget cuts!

JUMP

PS: ENGLAND I LOVE YOU!!!!

PLAY IN THE CITY: radio feature 612 ABC Brisbane

PLAY in the CITY featured in a radio interview with Phil Smith of 612 ABC Radio Brisbane on Saturday morning.



Follow the link for the soundbite :)

So many memories

On my return from the eddBE conference this afternoon I wandered through the MOB on Ann Street to look at the collection of Robert BrownHall.

Reminding me of the pallate of Jeffrey Smart, many paintings immediately ellicted memories of brisbane and the sunshine coast. Besserblock walls. External pipework. heat. light. rain. wind. pavement.
Blown head gasket immediately reminded me of the time I blew the head of my parents' old mitsubishi nimbus at Dickies Beach.
One work immediately reminded me of the work of Pieter Brughel:







In another, the yellow light was so accurate that I could feel the humid afternoon heat on my neck:







And this last one took me immediately back to the front verandah in the January rains:






Beautiful memories resound instantly from these and the many other paintings like it.
When i find this pleasure again in my memories of Brisbane, I wonder afresh what it is that defines this place. It's not a gateway to everywhere else - a 'non-place'... it does have a magnretism, an attraction, a pace, a place for me...
.. but is ever so elusive and difficult to define for some strange reason. Is it the sound of cicadas that greet you at the airport in summer, or the crisp breeze in winter? or the ghostly raggedy gum trees irregularly formed and placed, each with their own face and story to tell?

EddBE2011 - best paper award

"PLAY in the CITY: Parkour and Architecture" recieved the prize for best paper at the close of the inaugral postgraduate sustainable wellbeing conference. In the last few days I've given two phone interviews and tomorrow I will be interviewed by Phillip Smith live on 612 ABC breakfast radio. It's so encouraging that the research is finding fertile reception.

This week has been very exciting, and a dramatic learning curve for me in many respects.

Thank you very much to Craig Cowled and the organising comittee for the conference at QUT. Thank you also to Mirko Guaralda, my supervisor, for his encouragement and guidance.

eddBE 2011 inaugral conference

Today was the first day of proceedings for the inaugral 2011 eddBE conference focusing on sustainability and wellbeing in the built environment. Papers and speakers presented a lot of interesting research from different fields, from the design of underwater oil pipelines and the aeronautical fibre-reinforced-plastics coatings, to the design of aged care homes and night clubs.

I have been privelidged to present my paper on Play and the City, and the QUT media did a write up with photos of me jumping off stuff at qut.



http://www.news.qut.edu.au/cgi-bin/WebObjects/News.woa/wa/goNewsPage?newsEventID=35715

By being a part of this event, I have recieved a lot of encouragement and support from my peers and mentors. Many thanks to Mirko Guaralda, Craig Cowled, QUT and my friends and family who I have lived life with.

Privately Owned Public Space

Reading around I found some cool links which document the extent and location of privately owned public space throughtout NY and LA. There are also some intersting discussions.



I have been meaning or some time to document the extent of POPOS in Brisbane city, and also cataloguing their methods of governance and their behavioural exceptions as a result of city ordinances.

One such example is the Queen Street Mall, and whose operation exists under seperate legislation entitled The Local Government (Queens Street Mall) Act 1981 and is subject to management ordinances not found elsewhere in the city.
Similarly South Bank Parklands is entirely owned by The South Bank Corporation, operating under the auspices of the South Bank Corporations Act.

Some rules and regulations surrounding behaviour in these public places have since been repealed by the new Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000.

The results of this can be seen in discussions within the parkour community, and in Maps they have generated for comunicating places of potential (desire), and places of conflict (fear).

The POPOS in the photo described above was the first place in Brisbane to 'ban' parkour and 'parkour-like' activities: Mincom Plaza.

Again, we find hidden terrains of desire and fear imbedded deep within our city.

Play quote by shane clairborne

"Once, there was a small group of kids who decided to go to a park in the middle of the city, and dance and play, laugh and twirl. As they played in the park, they thought that maybe another child would pass by and see them. Maybe that child would think it looked fun and decided to join them. Then maybe another one would. Then maybe a business man would hear thm from his skyscraper. MAybe would look out the window. Maybe he would see them playing and lay down his papers and come down. Maybe they would teach him to dance. Then maybe another businessman would walk by a nostalgic man, and he would take off his tie, toss aside his briefcase and dance and play. Maybe the whole city would join the dance. Maybe even the world. Regardless.. they would enjoy the dance." Claiborne