‘Ok to Play’: What is the role of hyper-local, resident-led, creative action in addressing barriers to children’s outdoor physical activity, play and independent mobility in their everyday, urban neighbourhood environments?

We aim to co-design hyper-local approaches to transform underused threshold spaces
(doorsteps, pocket parks, pavements, residential street space) into playable, social spaces
and sites of everyday creativity and connection within an urban community in Bristol.
Our research will address four research questions:
1) What is the geographical, cultural and contextual history of neighbourhoods for
children and families?
2) How do children in the community perceive their environment and threshold spaces
regarding play and physical activity?
3) What narratives exist around play, safety and community in the neighbourhood and
how are these shared across generations and communities?
4) What individual creative actions can encourage cultural shifts in using threshold
spaces and the wider neighbourhood?
Co-production is central to this project, employing an asset-based approach that encourages
residents to be producers of their own, and their communities, well-being. We will combine
archive exploration, creative q