Learning through play: improving our environments using pre-activation

Imagine a fruit store -- but all the fruit is in the back.

You've only ever eaten an an apple, so thats what you'll ask for. And despite your sweet tooth, you end up with a tart Braeburn. The shopkeeper gave you exactly what you asked for, but is it what you wanted? Are you going back for more?

Now imagine the store owner took some time. They asked you about your favourite colour. They had some taste tests to determine if you preferred sweet, tart or sour. They learned about a little about your lifestyle: did you want fruit on the go, or something to sit down and take your time with?

You leave with a kumquat, a fruit you had no idea about -- you even had to double-check its spelling for this blog -- but its perfect for you, you're hooked.

Co-design has great value, but in a world where movement, sport and physical activity have been built out of our environment, what context do those who are inactive have to describe an environment that would enable their mobility?

How do we get meaningful insight from those for whom activity is --as Sport England describe in their adaptation of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change 'not on their radar'?

My proposal is 'PRE-ACTIVATION' and I've written a few pieces to explain what I mean by that.

First up, how does it differ from traditional consultation? How it can deliver environments to support the inactive, rather than the already active? And why should 'capital' funders be supporting this test of 'social' feasability just as much as they do structural feasability studies?

Next, if everyone is trying to reach the 'hard to reach', but change is slow. How do we avoid those with 'lived experience' feeling listened to be not heard? I also review a couple of technological solutions to pre-activation from Oslo kommune and LINES by CityLegends that reach beyond traditional consultations. Plus other insights from N?rrebro United and Lokale og Anl?gsfonden

Finally, some thoughts following my conversation with Jorick Beijer of Blossity . With more examples from Street Space and GAME that review the importance of expert involvement for the narrative translation of what we are told by participants, and what it really means.

Finally -- and you may need google translate for this one -- a story of how Boogieland [Kick] Boxing Club responded to COVID with incredible imagination, overcame the usual redtape with a pre-activation approach that first saw boxing bags made of tyres pop-up on the streets of Amsterdam overnight, and now the branded bags on today's cover image have become a regular site on the streets of the Dutch capital. They've even got a clever plan for when the bags break (check out the second link).