Alan McMullen, Environmental Regeneration Manager of the trust, is keen on creating areas for teens as they often seem to be forgotten and are sometimes the most difficult group to cater for. In deprived areas the need for activity spaces for young people can be viewed as less important than health, employment and housing if resources are scarce, and this can lead to a prevalence of vandalism and antisocial behaviour. It has been demonstrated, however, that provision of such facilities can indirectly address some of these wider social issues by promoting active and healthy lifestyles. Alan McMullen stresses that when working with young people, including them and preferably the whole community in the planning of leisure and play spaces is critical for long-lasting success. Another critical factor of the trust’s work is to respect the specific needs of young teenage girls for outdoor activities. 

“A reason to be there”
“Generally speaking, the teenagers want places to be – but they also need reasons to be there. In my experience, simple teenage hang-outs with no added activities are not doing the job. The grown-ups who want to do something for the young teens’ activities often think of sport solutions first, but in our consultations with young people they tend to prefer what they call ‘adventure play’. Activities they want themselves would be, for instance, cableways, mountain biking, swings – especially giant swings,” Alan McMullen tells us.

“We will normally take the teens on tours to show them a variety of playgrounds and play spaces. The young people often have limited experience of what is available elsewhere and can therefore only suggest what they know, so we present them with different existing solutions.”

“Design should come from the community”
Allan McMullen’s advice is that the participation processes need to be shaped to suit a range of different responses from young people. It is paramount that the local community accept that there is a teenage play space in their neighbourhood and whilst there may be some localised impact, the overall benefit can be wide-reaching. Concerns were raised when a teen space was proposed to be situated in Rosshead, Balloch next to older peoples’ houses. After discussions which brought together both the teens and the older residents, it was agreed that the space should not be used after 8 pm. This has itself proven to be of great benefit, with significant improvements in developing inter-generational dialogue and understanding.

In Haldane, also near Balloch, the young people were actually trained in doing their own consultation with other young people and the wider community. There was a particular focus to encourage teenage girls to engage in non sport-based active lifestyles as well as creating opportunities for social interaction. The outcome of the consultation was to create a fitness trail which could also be used for play within a new linear park.

In Clydebank, an action group of concerned parents and a couple of young people initiated a play space project:

“The Clydebank project is part of an environmental action plan for this deprived area of the former Glasgow shipyards. The local park had fallen into a dilapidated state, with most of the playground equipment removed. The community consultation had identifieda great need to do something for the younger teens, the 10–16-year-olds. A lot of the teens were quite distrustful and there was a high degree of vandalism and youth disorder in the area. Through discussion and a tour of other areas, the teens were gradually won over and, after considering a range of proposals, decided on a KOMPAN FREEGAME multi sport pitch together with KOMPAN GALAXY spinning and climbing activities for the girls,” says Alan McMullen.

“It has been a big success: the young people have somewhere to go, and later in the evening the area is often occupied by young adults. This demonstrates our experience that designs should come from the community to ensure long-lasting success. It is also important to continue to maintain contact with young people, and in Clydebank we will shortly undertake a workshop to create a ‘graffiti wall’ between the play area and the neighbouring industrial estate.”