Cases

An open-access leisure site for youth

Nadine Seyfried, physical activity specialist, spoke to sports manager Allègre Hervé and play worker Gilles Denis, Le Mée, France

The suburb Le Mée outside of Paris has around 20.000 inhabitants and a big need for open outdoor leisure solutions for young people. With 39% of the inhabitants of Le Mée below the age of 25 and 32.5% under 20, the big outdoor activity area is well used. A large proportion of the inhabitants are immigrants, predominantly with African, Arab or Asian backgrounds.

The local authorities have worked zealously with outdoor leisure areas for the neighbourhood since 2001. Nadine Seyfried, physical exercise expert, spoke to play worker Gilles Denis and sports manager Allégre Hervé about the work for and with young people in Le Mée.

The area you have created here seems quite successful
“It is successful because it is never empty. The only disadvantage could be that the waiting time for the matches and competitions the young people like tends to be long. In Le Mée we only have a few basketball nets spread around the area. This is the only outdoor leisure area with open access and varied play and sports solutions. Users sometimes come from neighbouring parts of town.”

What do you think is the reason for the success?
“Well, the facility is used by more than just one generation – adults are present, too, which is useful,” says Gilles Denis. Hervé Allègre adds: “And we are able to welcome ‘non-organised’ members of our community. The reference person here is also involved in the school and he can help and guide the young people towards the kind of activities they want. It is a good thing to have an open offer, with activities that the youth can choose if they want.”

So you organise activities in the play space?
“Yes,” says Gilles Denis, “regularly. I’ll be here every day and initiate activities to bring life to the site and make it a safe place to be. If the children want to play by themselves, they can do that. But it is possible to have events arranged as well. During the holidays we have 7 major sporting events for the 7 to 14-year-olds from the whole town. We award fair play diplomas and the young people from the local youth council help us make the list of criteria for the diplomas. We do this to attract the non-organised youth.”

The youth council you mentioned, has it been involved in planning and evaluating this site?
“The youth council consists of 13–17-year-old teens from the area and they comment on the places, and the places they would like, in the town. But we could do much better with dialogue – for instance, involving more young people and  creating a checklist for the development of new places,” according to Gilles Denis. Hervé Allègre continues: “As for evaluation, we have the framework of ANRU (Agence Nationale de la Rénovation Urbaine – National Agency for Urban Renewal). Here we have a questionnaire directed at the residents and district meetings. Then we have a chance to hear the residents’ views on existing and proposed solutions in the area.”

How has it changed the area to have a play space for the young people here as well?
“With the multi sport pitch there are more groups of young users than before. They engage in more varied activities (basketball, badminton, mini tennis – and, of course, mainly football. The young adults come with their music and meet at the multi sport area. The mixed area with its play area and free-access sport/leisure areas attracts the entire population of the town, whereas before the users stayed in their own neighbourhoods. We have schools coming from the neighbouring districts as well. All in all, this play space is truly identified as an open-access outdoor leisure centre.”