ParkLife's Impact
By Dr Francis Gilbert
f.gilbert@gold.ac.uk
Hear from our participants:
I have become more interested in parks because of the Parklife project.
‘ I have become interested in: making the parks more beautiful for people. When I grow up, I might make a park of my own. I liked looking at the three parks where we went, Wapping Woods, King Edward Park, and St George’s. My favourite thing to do was writing poems and then making my own model park out of clay. My poems are now on display for everyone, including the councillor to see.’
10 year old at a Tower Hamlets' primary school.
‘The project clearly has had a big effect on the children, it’s made them really passionate about not just the park but their local area. They have had a chance to go out into the local area, talk to the public, and learn about what other people want as well as themselves. It has taught them about local democracy, and how to change things for the better, even in small ways. I’m really glad that councillors and governors listened to them as it shows all of us that the children’s voices are being heard, and not just within the bubble of the school. To see how their voices are valued in the wider community is great for the children.’
Teacher-school governor
Our social value
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Participants
10 Goldsmiths academics and 12 Goldsmiths graduates worked with a) 20-30 pupils at Deptford Green School (2022-2023),
b) 20 students at Bishop Justus, Bromley (2024),
c) 60 pupils at John Donne Primary School in Southwark,
d) 60 pupils at Hillmead Primary Lambeth (2023),
e) 60 pupils at Blue Gate Fields, Tower Hamlets (2024)
These young people were engaged in using creative techniques to research their local parks (Fordham Park and Cossall Park).
2
Engagement
Parklife has generated active engagement, change and a sense of ownership of local parks among young people. It has equipped them with the skills, agency and enthusiasm to continue to contribute to their communities.
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Areas of deprivation
Goldsmiths’ Parklife project engages young people in various London boroughs – some of the most ethnically diverse and economically deprived areas of the UK – with their local parks through creative research. It was rigorously designed using academic expertise and principles to deliver meaningful community engagement and impact. Participants, community members and local stakeholders including various council members have seen tangible benefits – and developed infrastructure, skills and networks to sustain these changes beyond the duration of the project.
happy participants (and counting!)
'I enjoyed...the fact that we actually got to talk to people who could make a change. Like our voices were actually being heard. And that people might actually do something because we were speaking to the right people for the job.' 14 year old pupil at London secondary school.
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Ecological awareness
Parklife methodology promotes agency and self-efficacy in individuals. It offers a model for community engagement and responsible civic relations. Environmental improvements such as improved lighting and litter-picking have self-evident benefits for the whole community.
Councils adopt the methodology
Key elements of the methodology were enshrined in policy in June 2023 : Lewisham Council now requires potential contractors (e.g. developers) to demonstrate that they will engage the community in meaningful, creative research-led consultation. Young people involved in Parklife spoke to local councillors and other stakeholders to advocate for this change.
‘ParkLife is a club where you can bring your friends and you can do stuff like painting, drawing and poetry! You will make a difference in the lives of both people and animals.’
Deptford Green School students.
