The Brisbane Olympics and children’s play: Tim Gill’s reflections after the TQKP / Play Matters seminar, October 2023

The opportunity moment offered by the Games is huge, but also time limited. From what I saw in London, sporting mega-events quickly develop a momentum that is all but unstoppable. The engagement, commitment, and depth and breadth of expertise of the attendees at the joint Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership (TQKP) and Play Matters Australia seminar on 30 October was striking. But there is an urgent need to move from discussion to action, and to work up a clear set of asks of senior decision-makers.

What might these asks look like? That is for others closer to the action to figure out in detail. But two things are clear. First, the pattern of failure to boost children’s participation in formal sport – seen in pretty much all previous Games - makes a compelling case for trying more innovative, playful approaches.

As Norway’s Olympics story shows, this does not have to mean Australia lowering its sights for the medals that politicians and the public crave. Even modest pilot programmes, if designed with scaling in mind and robustly evaluated, could pave the way for a youth sport revolution that expands the bottom rung of the ladder leading to elite performance.

Boosting Queensland’s culture and opportunities for play – across all ages and all places – would contribute to a real, inclusive, and worthwhile legacy for all Queenslanders.

Second, the major physical transformations to the urban fabric created by the Games - new and improved venues, the athletes’ village, public space improvements and transport projects - will all leave their mark on the Brisbane city region.

If – as the legacy consultation paper ambitiously proposes – children are to be central to the legacy vision, these construction projects must be designed for ‘playability’ and delivered with children in mind.

If these site-based opportunities are to be seized, advocates will need to work out which schemes are most amenable to a ‘children’s lens’, and to push for child-oriented masterplans and design briefs.

Progressive voices from the built environment professions could be invaluable allies in this, given the fact that sustainable, healthy, equitable places and spaces look and feel a lot like child-friendly ones.

Designing and building for ‘playful precincts and facilities’ could in turn shape more playful cities, towns, and neighbourhoods across the state. That’s a great way to create natural, built, and digital environments that build healthy brains and bodies, and communities.

How might TQKP, Play Matters and others support such action? I suspect it comes down to rapidly finding one or more people – perhaps via dedicated roles or secondments – who have the energy and expertise to be effective catalysts and change agents, supported, and informed by a task group from its membership and wider network. Securing one or more high-profile public champions, building the alliance, and engaging in dialogue with designers and decision-makers, would also be all but essential.

All this may sound a tall order. But the truth is that with a project as complex and gargantuan as the Olympic Games, significant shifts in delivery are unlikely to happen through people working off the side of their desks.

The consultation paper’s vision - to give Queensland’s current and future generations of children “more opportunities in life, in an inclusive society and a connected region” - is surely on the money.

Fleshing out and realising this vision, in the face of the pressure to deliver a successful Games, will take focus, fast footwork, opportunism, collaboration and creativity.

Tim Gill

Independent researcher, play advocate and author of:

Urban Playground: How child-friendly planning and design can save cities.

Find more at: https://rethinkingchildhood.com