We are seeking to create the conditions that make it easier for those less active to be physically active in the spaces and places they live.
Our Place Work
By ‘place’ we mean an area within a defined geographic boundary e.g. a borough, ward, an estate.
The term ‘space’ relates to somewhere that can be used for the purpose of being active and includes informal space such as parks, rivers and public realm (e.g. high streets) or built facilities such as leisure centres and community centres – these create local or hyper-local places within which the work focuses.
Whatever the location, we are working within the system of that place across multiple sectors.
We use the Sport England model (right) which is based on the health sector’s person-centric system model.
It recognises that for sustainable change to occur we have to consider the individual at the core, and then consider the layers of the world around them that impact on their decisions and actions.
As each layer moves further away from the individual the influence that layer exacts becomes less direct but potentially no less powerful.
For each place, the situation context and the needs of the individuals within that community are unique. Therefore, the specifics and focus of the system change ‘effort’ will vary between them.
Through the work we do in places across London we are seeking to not only improve that place but to also understand the conditions that have made that system work more likely to achieve not only our ambition of a more active London. We seek to understand how physical activity is effective as a tool to achieving the outcomes of individuals and the system around them. We seek to:
- Gain a deeper understanding of the audience and their experiences within their place.
- Improve processes and policies through analysis to create the conditions for increased activity levels to occur.
- Test adaptions and interventions designed to increase activity levels to create recommendations on what, where and how resource within the system is used to best effect.
Understanding and sharing the how and why of the work will help ensure the whole of London is able to benefit and develop to tackle the persistent inequalities of access and opportunity to lead an active life. We call this ‘blueprint’ for how London can work Model Borough.
Our Areas of Work:
Our Place work encompasses our efforts within defined spaces and places of London. The over-arching impact we are seeking is to create the conditions that make it easier for those who are less active to be physically active.
To do this, we have five areas of strategic focus:
We want to increase the use of built spaces such as leisure, school, and community facilities for physical activity among priority groups and communities.
This creates a deeper understanding of the needs of different communities and priority groups in relation to the impact of the built spaces and the workforce that operates them.
We work across several places allowing comparisons to help identify the elements of system change that are bespoke and those that are consistent enabling frameworks to be developed for undertaking similar work in other places.
This will impact on both the workforce, the behaviour of deliverers and support staff e.g. centre reception, and the physical environment for being active.
We want to improve the policy and processes that allow communities to access and use public space for sport and physical activity.
This focus has been developed in response to the issues that arise around policy and process being inconsistent and contradictory across London’s open space management.
This was identified by the Our Parks Turn Up Tone Up project and corroborated by consultation with national governing bodies, GLA Environment Team, Parks for London, Local Authority parks and sports development teams, park management companies and Sport Tech Hub alumni.
Such policies and processes make it hard for delivery agencies to establish their practices, co-ordinate across service provision, and for participants to find and access activity.
We want to create recommendations and templates for other authorities/management companies to implement in the management of public spaces (open space and formal facilities) for access by target communities, whilst the asset itself is maintained to high standards.
We want to increase the use of public spaces (e.g. parks, rivers and car parks) for physical activity among priority groups and communities.
Our aim is to ensure programmes delivering in the public realm are better connected to the communities that surround their location (both workforce and participation) and reduce the inequality of access to programmes.
Projects should build connections with other programmes, community services and agencies influencing participation of target communities.
We aim to develop whole-system approaches that utilise physical activity and sport to achieve societal outcomes.
We focus on aligning council departments and strategic bodies (e.g. NHS Trusts) to protect resource invested into physical activity and sport.
It tests frameworks for initiating cross-department working, engaging director-level support, aligning resources and increasing the evidence base for using physical activity as the tool for achieving community engagement and successful impact of non-sport outcomes.
We want to support local delivery partners and communities to connect and lead change using physical activity.
We put in place the insight, policy and process that supporting the traditional sport sector to reach equality of engagement from under-represented groups in the full span of their offer from employed workforce, fans and participants in community programmes.
This project will focus on getting a greater understanding of what impacts on inequality of engagement for individuals at every level of the system – social networks, organisations, environment and policy.
Learning from each major event should inform future event approaches.
Place Updates
BLOG: Relationship Manager Jolyon Whaymand has been delving through Sport England’s Putting It Into Practice toolkit, the tools it contains to support tackling inactivity, and how it links with London Sport’s own efforts. Read his blog here.
CASE STUDY: This 10 minute video from Croydon Voluntary Action showcases the work of community organisations across Croydon in supporting women through the This Girl Can Croydon programme delivered through 2019-2020 and navigating the changing restrictions of the pandemic to reach 465 women across 25 activities.
NEWS: The cross-departmental working project with Enfield and Harrow councils has entered the narratives building phase of the framework, with London Sport build the case for physical activity connected to the existing strategies of the non-sport sector directorates within each local authority.
REPORT: The end of project evaluation for the This Girl Can Croydon programme is now available. This place-based project led by Croydon Voluntary Action has worked with community organisations and groups across three target areas of the borough to reach women not already accessing activity. Throughout the last 12 months the project has adapted to the conditions enforced by the pandemic to positive effect.
NEWS: London Sport have begun working with Enfield and Harrow councils on cross-departmental working using a newly developed framework. The next six months will apply a test and learn approach to increase the relationships between sport and physical activity, and health, parks and social care in the two boroughs.
REPORT: The findings from the London Sport and Audience Net research into the influencing factors behind activity levels of women in East London has been released alongside resources exploring participant journeys, and the role of partner agencies. See the full report and resources here.
REPORT: A new report from the Mayor’s Major Sports Engagement Fund programme have shown that the return of elite sport to the capital will, in time, bring with it meaningful benefits for communities of Londoners in every part of the city.
Despite major disruption due to the pandemic, the wider impacts of the Mayor’s Major Sports Engagement Fund have been captured in a new project review, available here.
NEWS: London Sport are linking up with research agency AudienceNet to learn how physical activity and sport is perceived, delivered and led by women in some of the most ethnically diverse areas in East London. Read more.
CASE STUDY: We’ve completed work, commissioned by Haringey and Enfield Councils, to explore rates of participation in physical activity among Turkish and Kurdish residents across the two north London boroughs. Read our full case study.
Resources and Learnings
Learnings
Read our end of project evaluation for the This Girl Can Croydon programme.
This place-based project led by Croydon Voluntary Action has worked with community organisations and groups across three target areas of the borough to reach women not already accessing activity.
Check out our video covering the project outcomes (right).
Resources
- Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot story will take you on a journey over the four years to 2021, and the challenges and milestones of implementing a place-based way of working across 12 communities around England. Read their summary.
The local delivery pilots and Sport England have co-produced a new resource Putting it into Practice – tools to support tackling inactivity through system change. This resources brings to life some of the approaches, models and tools shared as part of the publication People and Places – The story of doing it differently which explores the journey of the pilots in tackling inactivity through implementing place-based systems change.
London Sport has worked with many boroughs to support the development of local Disability Physical Activity and Sport networks. We’re created a Developing Disability Networks Toolkit full of useful information to support partners in this area of work.- Get Out Get Active (GOGA) is a UK-wide programme supporting disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy being active together. This report measures the ongoing success of GOGA’s programme under four key criteria: Impact, Delivery, Sustainability and Learning.