12 July 2024, London – Earlier this summer, London Sport hosted its first policy event following the 2024 London Mayoral election, to discuss policy solutions that the Mayor of London – as well as any future Government – should prioritise for healthier and more active cities.
The event largely focused on the themes raised in our London Sport manifesto – from discussion on how planning and development processes can be reformed to better cater for physical activity, enabling spaces and places for children to play and move more, as well as creating welcoming environments for women and girls to be active.
To kickstart the discussion on active design, we welcomed Trevor Smith (Sportsmith Ltd) as our Firestarter presentation, who discussed the work he has done with Andy Mytom (David Morley Architects) to highlight the challenges and opportunities that exist around active design – so this blog sets out what they believe are the key issues to be addressed for effective policy in this space.
Context
In 2021, Sport England launched its 10-year strategy: ‘Uniting The Movement’, which includes 5 core pillars of activity – including a very welcome focus on the creation of ACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS and Active Design 3 followed shortly afterwards.
When Sport England articulated its refreshed vision for active environments, it identified what it called an “Implementation Gap.”
Where it acknowledged that the knowledge, skill, expertise (and resource) existed to create better, more active public spaces, but it was unclear who should be leading that and “doing the doing.”
At the time, developers were perceived as being one of the most prominent villains. However, it has become increasingly clear that a significant part of the problem is the planning system, which is too rigid, too safe, too parochial, too precedent-focused, too risk-averse, and too criteria-driven.
Our challenge is that what we see is that planning authority regulations and criteria – (different across different authorities), are restricting developers’ motivation to innovate, so they simply revert to providing what they are told to provide – the path of least resistance. So, we end up with more of what we have always had.
What is being done?
Last year, we joined developers, architects, landscape designers, national organisations and lobby groups and local authority representatives in discussion to unlock the conundrum of “who’s job is it to lead the change we want to see?.”
We heard from Sport England, Homes England, a local authority, an Active Partnership, and a self-professed active urbanist, and discussed what needed to happen from a planners’ perspective, a designer’s perspective, a local authority perspective, to make change happen.
Outputs were distilled to a few themes which included.
– Challenge the norm: Set to one-side play policies restricted by maintenance concerns and pitch numbers driven by formulas that only focus on a limited selection of sports. Instead, developers and planners should collaborate and agree the vision for a development where everyone in a community can be active in their environment for life using the knowledge, skills and resources we have available.
– Be bold: for developers to positively challenge planning criteria and processes where they felt they could achieve better outcomes for people by doing things differently.
– Build trust: Above all, we agreed we should work together to help planning officers to be more comfortable saying “yes” to new ideas.
Our Aim
To expand the success of an active environments case study where residents said living there, ‘hit their subconscious to be more active, they don’t know why but they like it!.’
What next?
We propose a cross-sector approach to work with Government (nationally and locally) to challenge our planning system to be brave and bold and help us deliver environments which engender positive relationships with movement and physical activity – perhaps something for a new Government to convene and drive?
Case studies
Case studies (such as Loughborough University’s Active Campus) show that innovation is possible. We can have environments that “look after the people,” but we need to allow:
– Flexible planning requirements for open space – not the same as a typical housing developments; and
– Trust in developers – collaborating constructively with local authority planners to bring out the best environments possible.
We can also take ideas from examples that have been effective internationally:
- In Sweden, in Canada, in Australia, municipalities are actively consulting, collaborating and innovating on new developments and on transforming public spaces – with a vision to create spaces and places which fit the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s population – where traditional public spaces are slowly being transformed to give people permission to play, or interact in their own way.
- In many countries, particularly the Middle East at present, new communities are being designed and built around a foundation aspiration for an active community. Street plans encourage active travel, there are communal open spaces co-located with sports areas and picnic spaces all within eyesight of each other. Even in some established cities, like Doha (Qatar) the urban environment is being retrofitted with pocket parks, dedicated cycle routes, physical activity opportunities and more friendly, walkable streets.
To find out and read more on Trevor and Andy’s work on Active Environments, read more here:
https://www.sportsthinktank.com/live-manifesto.html
You can also contact them by email here to discuss these issues further:
- Trevor Smith: [email protected]
- Andy Mytom: [email protected]
Background:
Andy Mytom, from David Morley Architects, and Trevor Smith, Managing Director of SPORTSMITH, both share a mission to enhance lives through thoughtful design. Andy aims to invite and enable people to be active, understanding the diverse needs individuals have at different life stages. Similarly, Trevor, with his extensive background in public sector leisure services, sports development, physical education, and culture and heritage, advocates for physical activity and literacy. Together, Andy and Trevor collaborate with planners, designers, and developers to champion the creation of more active public spaces, fostering environments that promote health and well-being for all.
About London Sport
London Sport is a charity that exists to help ensure more Londoners live happier, healthier lives through access to sport and physical activity.
Supported by Sport England and the Mayor of London, London Sport collaborates with those that share our vision, running and supporting projects that help children, young people, and the least active adults to embed sport and physical activity into their lives.
For more information on London Sport, visit www.londonsport.org
For further comment or interview opportunities, please contact: [email protected]
19 June 2024, London – London Sport has attended this year’s School Games National Summit, participating in workshops to take learnings from School Games and offering valuable insights and transferable learnings from the Opening School Facilities (OSF) fund, which is administered by London Sport in the capital and currently supports 173 schools.
Launched in 2010, School Games aims to promote young people’s enjoyment of physical activity by providing inclusive opportunities to participate in sport competitions. Since its inception, the programme has delivered over 13.4 million competitions across England. It’s also provided over 70,000 leadership opportunities to young people in the last year alone.
In July 2023, the School Games Network committed to three pledges: tackling inequalities, embedding youth engagement, and ensuring physical literacy. Each workshop at this year’s summit was dedicated to one of the Network’s pledges:
For young people by young people – moving to co-design
This workshop was led by League Leaders and an SGO who collaborated with a secondary school to engage a cohort of disengaged young people. They discussed a range of strategies, such as the involvement of ‘Sport Leaders’ — students in Years 5-6 who lead activities for younger pupils and interact with them in a relaxed setting to uncover interests that might not otherwise be shared. This approach offered several benefits; it not only engaged inactive youth in co-design processes, but also mobilised students through leadership experiences and fostered connections between different age groups.
Key tips on how to communicate with young people before, during and after School Games events to enhance their experience
This session delved into some of the ways school games can be made more accessible to young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The workshop highlighted common differences between neurotypical and neurodivergent communication, and offered strategies to promote inclusivity. These included providing a checklist of what to expect at each competition and sharing videos of venues in advance. The workshop underscored that inclusive communication isn’t just about style or format; it’s about being prepared to think outside the box and challenge our ways of working to ensure that pupils feel confident, prepared, and valued.
Creating Equal Opportunities in PE and School Sport
With a focus on helping schools achieve the new School Games Mark, this workshop explored the hidden challenges that schools face, including the low percentage of girls who wear sports bras during school sports activities. The workshop facilitators discussed the negative effects of this, citing research from Women in Sport which reveals that over 69% of girls feel restricted in their ability to jump or run freely. We discussed the need for sports bras to be regarded as essential kit for girls, with a focus on making them more accessible and affordable for all.
In their shoes: applying physical literacy from the perspective of young people
During this workshop, participants were assigned a student profile and asked to engage in a range of activities while empathising with that particular profile. This approach encouraged us to delve deeper into how people think, feel, move, and connect with physical activity in unique ways. It highlighted the value of creativity in adapting games, particularly for fostering a sense of ownership over movement and offering diverse opportunities for enjoyment.
Sport England’s Executive Director of Policy and Integrity, Jeanette Bain-Burnett, led an insightful Q&A and underscored the vital role that SGOs play in enabling physical literacy in schools, noting that we can’t achieve this goal “without boots on the ground.” She advocated for an intersectional approach to equity in sport, reinforcing the ‘In Their Shoes’ workshop message: to enhance physical literacy among inactive young people, we must keep the diversity of their experiences front of mind. The Q&A was followed by a keynote speech from self-described ‘resilience ninja’, Jaz Ampaw-Farr, who called on us to be “10% braver” and discussed the transformative impact that courage has on driving positive societal change.
If you’re interested in learning more about School Games or would like to get involved, you can do so here.
About London Sport
London Sport is a charity that exists to help ensure more Londoners live happier, healthier lives through access to sport and physical activity.
Supported by Sport England and the Mayor of London, London Sport collaborates with those that share our vision, running and supporting projects that help children, young people and the least active adults to embed sport and physical activity into their lives.
For more information on London Sport, visit www.londonsport.org
For further comment or interview opportunities, please contact: [email protected]
