No Particular Place to Go

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NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO

NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GOA Step-by-Step Guide to Consulting Young People about Transforming Open Space

Dr Giovanna SpecialeGroundwork London

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ContentsAcknowledgements 4

Background 5Who is this pack for? ............................................................................................5

Why involve young people? ..................................................................................5

The bigger picture: young people’s consultation as part of the wider community

consultation process ............................................................................................6

The step-by-step process 7

Step 1: Work our how much say the young people will have 8

Step 2: Make a list of the things you want to find out about 10

Step 3: Decide what you aim to do at each stage of the consultation 12

Step 4: Work out how you will access the young people 13Who? .................................................................................................................13

How many? .......................................................................................................13

How? .................................................................................................................13

Step 5: Decide on the consultation method(s) to use 15Questionnaires and semi structured interviews ...................................................15

Participatory methods ........................................................................................15

Step 6: Design your tools 18The questionnaire and semi-structured interview ................................................18

Participatory methods ........................................................................................24

Step 7: Make sure your consultation is ethical 36

Step 8: Build in evaluation 38

Step 9: Analysis 39

Step 10: Present your f indings 40

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Appendix 1: Young person,s open space consultation planning sheet 41

Step 1: Decide to what extent the Young People will participate in the process ..41

Step 2: Make a list of the things you want to find out about ...............................42

Step 3: Divide the consultation into stages and decide what you aim to do at each

stage..................................................................................................................43

Step 4: Work out how you will engage young people in the consultation ...........44

Step 5: Decide on the consultation method(s) to use .........................................45

Step 6: Design your tools ...................................................................................46

Step 7: Analysis .................................................................................................49

Step 8: Make sure your consultation is ethical ....................................................50

Step 9: Evaluate your consultation .....................................................................51

Appendix 2: Stages and aims: worked examples 52

Appendix 3: An example open space questionnaire 54

Appendix 3: An example participatory workshop session plan 58

Appendix 4: Queen Caroline Consultation case study 64

Appendix 5: Jubilee Way Playscape case study 66

Bibliography 68

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Acknowledgements Many thanks to all those hard working members of the community team who took the time to talk me through what they have learnt about consulting young people about transforming open space. Particular thanks to: Moira Herring, Naomi Pietersen, Carla Diego-Franceskides, Sarayu Shah, Virginia Nimarkoh, Sarah Potter, and Catriona Andrews. Thanks to Lucy Gannon for providing invaluable comments and suggestions.

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BackgroundThis toolkit has been developed by Groundwork London as part of a Big Lottery funded project called ‘No Particular Place to Go’. The project was funded over five years and aimed to empower young people to actively participate in the design of outdoor community spaces.

In total, 982 children and young people were engaged across ten project sites in activities that facilitated their involvement in the design and creation of new play spaces. These activities aimed to equip young people with the confidence, skills and resources to play an active role in shaping their outdoor space and to provide a sense of empowerment and ownership.

Groundwork London is a leading environmental charity in developing and implementing community engagement and land improvement projects.

Who is this pack for?If you would like to engage young people in transforming and improving open spaces and would like some guidance, this pack is for you. You might be a resident involvement officer, a teacher, a youth worker, or a parks officer. You may be wishing to create or improve a play space, a park, a community garden or a school playground. You may wish to work with children or teenagers. This pack will take you through some of the things you need to think about when designing a process that will engage young people in the transformation of a space.

Why involve young people?Involving young people in the design (and sometimes the creation) of a new play area, park improvements or a new garden means:

1. Greater Ownership. Those young people who have taken part in the design process, who have contributed their ideas and seen those ideas incorporated are likely to feel a far greater sense of ownership over the space.

2. Meeting Needs. The young person’s experience of a space can be very different from the adult experience. You may find that the things that young people like and dislike or find scary, delightful, or good play value are unique to them. Equipping them with the skills and understanding to feed into the redesign of the space and incorporating their ideas should result in the design of a space that better meets their needs.

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3. Safer Spaces. A space that is owned by the young people that use it and that meets their needs will be better used with greater surveillance and therefore safer. There is nothing quite as off-putting as a deserted play space.

4. Better Cared-for Spaces. Spaces over which young users feel a sense of ownership are likely to be places that are better cared for and less frequently vandalised.

5. A Relationship of Trust. Consulting the users of a space and taking on board their ideas is all part of a process of building trust between the managers of a space and the users of a space.

The bigger picture: young people’s consultation as part of the wider community consultation processOne proviso before we begin: involving young people in the (re)design of a space should be only one part of a comprehensive consultation process. A good consultation about open space should engage all stakeholders – everyone who currently uses the space or who might want to use the space in the future. Consultations about play areas should not only seek to engage young people but also engage their parents, local residents, dog walkers and other park users, parks maintenance officers, local councillors, and local residents’ groups. Even where you are seeking to transform a school playground the consultation should engage pupils, staff, parents, caretakers, dinner ladies, and playground supervisors. Before embarking on a consultation, it’s a good idea to make a list of all the stakeholders in a space and think about how you intend to engage each of them.

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The step-by-step process

Step 10: Present your findings

Step 1: Work out how much say the young people will have

Step 2: Make a list of the things you want to find out about

Step 3: Decide what you aim to do at each stage of the consultation

Step 4: Work out how you will access the young people

Step 5: Decide on the consultation method(s) to use

Step 6: Design your tools

Step 7: Make sure your consultation is ethical

Step 8: Build in evaluation

Step 9: Analyse

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Step 1: Work out how much say the young people will haveAs we have said earlier participation in the transformation of an open space engenders a sense of ownership. The International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) suggests that there are five levels of influence an individual can have in any public participation process. They call these levels of influence as follows: Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate, and Empower. Each of these levels of participation entails a promise made:

1. At the inform level you aim to provide young people with balanced and objective information about an open space development and to enable them to understand your reasoning for a particular (re)design of a space solution. Your promise to the young people is to keep them informed.

2. At the consult level you aim to get feedback from the young people about a proposed open space development. You promise to keep them informed, to acknowledge concerns and wishes and to feed back to them on how their input resulted in changes to the sketch design (if at all).

3. At the involve level you aim to work with the young people and ensure that their wishes and needs are taken into consideration when designing the new development. At this level, you promise that that the young people’s views will influence the design of the open space and that you will feed back to them how their views are reflected in the design of the space.

4. At the collaborate level you aim to partner with the young people. You promise to take a lead from the young people and incorporate their ideas to the maximum extent possible.

5. At the empower level you place the final decision making in the hands of the young people and you promise to implement whatever they decide.

(Adapted from The Institute of Public Participation 2006 ‘Planning for Effective Participation: Student Manual’)

You need to decide which of these levels of influence the young people can have in the (re)design of a space. Think about this carefully: whatever you decide will affect all subsequent steps since you would generally use differing consultation techniques at each level. The more you hand decisions about a space over to the young people the greater the gains in terms of young people feeling ownership of a space.

However, it’s important to remember that you are often constrained by how much time you have: it takes a lot of time (and therefore money) to work at the collaborate or

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the empower level. The flexibility you have to respond to the ideas of young people is often constrained by all kinds of factors such as landowner, budget, planning or funder restrictions. Similarly, young people are never the only stakeholders in a space. Working at the collaborate or the empower level often means bringing young and adult stakeholders together to make decisions about an open space unless you find yourself in the rare situation where adult stakeholders have decided to completely devolve all decisions about a space to young people.

Because of the difficulties of working at the collaborate or empower level you will often find yourself working at the involve or consult level with young people. This means collecting views of both youth and adult stakeholders then weighing up the (sometimes conflicting) needs of different stakeholder groups and making recommendations to a landscape architect whose role it is to translate what you tell him or her into a design. Please note that you must be honest with the young people as to how much they can influence the process and help them to understand what the constraints are on the amount of influence they are able to have (see the section on ‘managing expectations’ on page 36).

In this manual I use the word ‘consultation’ to describe the process of giving young people a say in the transformation of open space - to a greater or lesser extent. This does not mean, however, that this manual only describes processes to be used if you are working at the consult level; it’s simply a useful overall term.

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Step 2: Make a list of the things you want to find out aboutA consultation process is all about finding out some ‘stuff’ from the stakeholders. The stuff you need to find out often depends on the nature of the space and what you are hoping to do with it. It’s a good idea at this stage to make a big long list of what you need to find out from the young people. In making this list, talk to the key people such as:

• the landowner;

• the funder;

• the landscape architect; and

• representatives of the community.

You may find that the funder expects you to find out certain information from the young people in order to demonstrate that you have achieved the outcomes of the project they have funded. For example if you said that your open space transformation project will make young people feel part of the community then you may need to ask young people how much they feel part of their community at the beginning of the project (baseline) and at the end. Similarly, the landscape architect may be able to tell you what aspects of the design the young people can influence (and what aspects of a space cannot be changed) and therefore what kinds of things you need to ask the young people about. For example, the young people may be able to influence what play equipment is chosen but not the location of the path because of legal constraints on location of a right of way. Obviously, the nature of the things you need to find out also depends on how much influence the young people are able to have over the final design and whether you are seeking to inform, consult, involve, collaborate or empower. Nonetheless, the kinds of information that you are typically looking to gather from young people as part of an open space transformation project are as follows.

• How young people currently use the space.

• What the young people value about the space.

• What young people dislike about the space.

• How young people access the space and whether there are any issues about access (including for those with disabilities).

• Young people’s views about the maintenance and cleanliness of the space.

• Young people’s views about the safety of the space.

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• What activities young people would like to do in the redesigned space.

Once a sketch designed is produced, you may also need to gather information about:

• what young people like about the sketch design; and

• what changes young people would like to see made to the sketch design.

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Step 3: Decide what you aim to do at each stage of the consultationA Consultation Process can normally be divided up into a number of stages and at each you are typically hoping to achieve something different. It’s a good idea to define what those stages are; this will depend on whether you are seeking to inform, consult, involve, collaborate or empower the young people. Take a look at Appendix 2, which gives a set of worked examples of what these stages and aims may look like depending on whether you are seeking to inform, consult, involve, collaborate or empower the young people involved.

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Step 4: Work out how you will access the young people

Who?In any open space project the people who you should wish to engage in the consultation are current and future users of the space. In an ideal world, you would engage every young person who is a possible current or future user of the open space. Unfortunately, in the real world this usually isn’t possible. The solution to this problem lies in involving as many current or future users of a space as you can and in working to ensure that this group of young people is ‘representative’ (typical) of the kind of young people who would want to use the space.

How many?There is no strict mathematical formula for working out how many young people you should engage in the consultation. Involving a greater number of young people usually means getting a better and more representative picture of the needs and wants of young people in relation to a particular space. Take a common sense approach; ask yourself ‘are views of the young people engaged in my consultation genuinely representative of the views of young people who are likely to use the space?’. If your honest answer to the question is ‘no, I haven’t engaged enough young people to get a clear picture of what young people typically think about this space’ then you should find a way to engage a greater number of young people.

How?You next need to work out how you are going to engage the young people in the consultation. There are two common methods: work with a school or a youth group or do street-based or door-to-door work.

Working with school or youth groupsHolding consultation workshops during a school lesson time or as part of a regular youth club session is often the simplest way to engage young people in a consultation process. If you are working with a school, you will need to identify the year groups most likely to use the park and teachers most enthusiastic about getting their classes involved. Don’t forget that you will need to get parental permission to engage a child

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in a consultation. Remember to start the process of sending letters home to parents seeking permissions well before you hope to be running your consultation sessions.

According to a recent Natural England survey 66% of all visits to green space are within a two mile radius of home1. Children and young people often only use green space that is very local to their home. This makes working with secondary school pupils problematic because they often draw their pupils from a wider geographical area than this two mile radius of green space use. If working with secondary school pupils try to identify pupils who live within the vicinity of the space you’re working on or consider supplementing your school based consultation with some street-based or door-to-door work. Similarly, involving the Pupil Referral Unit or the SEN school local to the green space within the consultation means that your consultation doesn’t exclude young people not represented in primary or secondary school classrooms.

Street-based or door-to-door workBy street work I mean standing on the street or in the park or open space and approaching young people who pass by for their views. This can be a great way to engage the young people most likely to use a particular space and, what’s more, it doesn’t exclude young people who are unlikely to engage in a school based consultation such a young person excluded from school.

Doing door-to-door work can be a great way to access the opinions of those who live closest to a space and who are therefore key stakeholders in it.

According to the ethical guidelines of the MRA (Market Research Association) you should gain parental permission before consulting young people under 14 in a public place (such as a park) and under 16 in a semi-private space such as the door-to-door context. For street-based work this means only consulting with young people under 14 who are in the company of their parents who can give permission on the spot and for door-to-door work only consulting a young person when the parent is at home and able to give permission (see the section on ethics for advice about informed consent2).

Whatever the setting for your consultation - a school, a youth club, on the street or on the doorstep - it’s a good idea to offer something (such as entry into a prize draw or a gift token) to incentivise participation.

1 Natural England (2011) Monitoring of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE)

2 The ethical code of conduct of the Market Research Society advises that consultation with young people above 14 years of age in a public place is permissible as long as an explanatory and thank you note is given.

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Step 5: Decide on the consultation method(s) to use There are a number of methods you could use for consulting with young people about open space. These fall into two categories, as follows:

Questionnaires and semi structured interviewsQuestionnaires and interviews mainly rely on asking young people questions – written or verbal. Questionnaires can be self completion questionnaires (either paper based or online) or face to face. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews differ from one another in that, with a semi-structured interview you may sometimes vary the questions you ask, ask additional probing questions, and explore and develop ideas, whereas with a questionnaire the order or nature of the question is the same for each and every participant.

Participatory methodsIn contrast participatory methods do not rely on questions. Instead, they may involve:

• Doing a task -

Examples of participatory tasks include taking photos of parts of the space that the young people like and dislike, building a model of their redesigned space, or in small groups inspecting a particular aspect of the space.

• Using something visual to stimulate discussion -

Examples of such participatory tools are asking young people to mark comments about the space on a map, or use of a ‘bean voter’ (asking young people to place sticky dots beside their preferred options).

Participatory methods are often used in the context of a workshop but they can also be used one to one. Similarly participatory methods are flexible and can be used in both a classroom context or as part of a site visit or street-based work. We will talk a lot more about specific activities that fall under the heading of participatory methods in the tools section.

The next important step involves choosing a consultation method(s) for each stage: which of the following methods do you want to use?

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• A paper based questionnaire

• An online questionnaire

• A semi structured interview

• A participatory interview

• A participatory workshop

You may find you need to use a number of different methods to capture the views of the cross section of young people who are likely to use the space.

Choosing the right method for each stage of the consultation is a matter of asking yourself four questions:

• What level of influence do the young people have?

• Do I need qualitative or quantitative information (or a mix of both)?

• What mix of methods will be most inclusive?

• What do I have the time and money for?

The answers to these questions should give you all the information you need to make a good decision about what methods to use at each stage.

1. What level of influence are you working at?Are you seeking to inform or involve or consult or collaborate or empower young people? Participatory methods generally allow for a greater amount of dialogue and discussion, sharing of ideas and co-working with other participants and are therefore more appropriate for situations in which you are seeking to give the young people a greater amount of influence in the project (involve, consult or collaborate).

2. Do I need to collect mainly quantitative or qualitative information?

• Quantitative information is that which demonstrates how many people hold a particular view or have a particular characteristic. So, if you are looking to find out ‘how many’ young people indicated that they would like a particular piece of equipment or ‘how satisfied on a scale of 1 to 5’ young people are with the space then you will be collecting quantitative information. All quantitative data comes in the form of a number.

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• Qualitative information is usually about thoughts and feelings. So if you are looking to find out ‘why people hold a particular view’ or what exactly their feelings are about an issue you are looking for qualitative information. All qualitative information comes in the form of text.

Some funders will generally say that they prefer ‘hard facts’ - quantitative information from a large number of young people - as evidence for need for a revitalised open space, while others prefer more in-depth qualitative information from a smaller group of young people. Either way, ask yourself ‘do I want to collect mainly quantitative or mainly qualitative information?’ Some methods such as self completion questionnaires naturally lend themselves to the collection of quantitative information whilst other such as participatory interviews or workshops will provide qualitative information.

3. What mix of methods will be most inclusive?It’s important to choose a mix of methods that is inclusive.

• Literacy: Any method that relies on participants being able to read and write (such as self completion questionnaires) may exclude young people who struggle with literacy.

• Ability to draw: Some young people find drawing really challenging. Any method that relies solely on drawing will exclude some young people.

• Ability to concentrate: Some young people struggle to concentrate for more than a few minutes. Any consultation method that demands that children focus on a boring task will exclude young people who are likely to be most in need of quality open space provision.

• Disability: It’s important to consider the needs of young people with disabilities and choosing a mix of methods that will allow young people with disabilities to contribute.

Your best bet is to select a mix of methods that will engage all young people at some point in the process.

4. What do I have the time and money for? Some methods take more time than others and therefore cost more money. Typically, self completion questionnaires are quick and cheap to administer whereas organising trips or participatory street work can be more time consuming and more expensive. You will need to consider your time and your budget when choosing a consultation method.

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Step 6: Design your toolsThis section is divided into two parts: the first part deals with questionnaires and interviews (since the design considerations are similar for both of these) and the second deals with trips and participatory processes (workshops and interviews).

The questionnaire and semi-structured interviewThe skill in utilising both of these methods is the same: it’s all about asking a good question.

About questionsBroadly speaking, there are two different types of question: open and closed questions.

• Open questions are questions that allow for any kind of response e.g. ‘How do you usually get to the park?’

• Closed questions provide possible responses to select from. ‘How do you normally travel to the park: on foot, by bike, by bus?’ There are a number ways of asking a closed question.

Lists

For example

What do you normally do when you come to Trumpton Recreation Ground?

Play on the equipment

Hang out

Skate

Bike

Play sport

Other

If you said ‘Other’ tell us more...

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Scales

This involves the respondent deciding where they fall on a scale. For example:

There are various formats you can use for attitude scales. For example, you can present this question in the following format:

For older children or young people you could also use an agreement scale:

1. Think back to the last time you walked alone through the play area in Trumpton Recreation Ground. Would you say you felt….?

Very safe Fairly safe A bit unsafe Very Unsafe

How much fun do you have when you go to the play area in Trumpton Recreation Ground, if any?

No fun Lots of fun

To what extend do you agree or disagree with the following statements. The play area in Trumpton Recreation Ground….

strongly agree

agree disagree strongly disagree

…is always clean

…has fun equipment

…feels safe

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Ranking

The respondent is asked to a list of items in some kind of order. For example:

For children it’s a great idea to use pictures rather than words: for example, instead of writing a list of possible play equipment, provide pictures of the play equipment. However, choose your pictures with care and make sure they are clear.

The pros and cons of open and closed questionsOpen Questions: Open questions give the respondent the chance to answer in their own words and to phrase the answer in the way that they think best reflects their thoughts. Open questions are easy to ask, but the data can take a lot of time to process and analyse. Moreover, respondents may just say the first thing that comes into their head or they may simply be unable to put their ideas into words.

Closed Questions: Closed questions require less time to process and analyse. What’s more, they don’t require the young person to write lots of text or the interviewer to record long rambling responses verbatim. You lose, however, the spontaneity of open questions.

More importantly, with closed questions, you always have to give a limited number of possible responses. There are pros and cons to this: you may bias the response by supplying answers that the young person wouldn’t give if left to their own devices. At the same time, there may be a very good reason for limiting the response with open space projects where choices are often limited by the budget and other constraints, so, in order to avoid raising expectations about what can achieved, it is sometimes a good idea to ask questions concerning choices of things such as play equipment as a closed question.

Look though the list of activities. Chose which activities you would most like to do in the new play area

• Put a 1 beside the activity you would most like to do

• Put a 2 beside your second choice

• Put a 3 beside your third choice

Swinging 3

Sliding 1

Climbing

Balancing 2

Rolling

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Question wordingWhat makes a good question?

A good question is…

• Necessary

• Clear, understandable and completely unambiguous

• Simple, and only asks for one thing at a time

• In everyday language

• Interesting to respondents

• Asking the young people for their own experience or views rather than asking them to comment on what someone else has experienced or thinks

• Asked in a neutral way

• Taking into account the feelings of respondents

(This list was adapted from ‘Research for Development’ by Sophie Laws, Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus.)

A young person will probably leave a questionnaire incomplete if they feel confused, patronised or bored.

How to avoid bad questions?

Avoid vague or complex language

It’s surprisingly easy to write an utterly ambiguous question. If the young person doesn’t understand the question they will leave it blank. Similarly, if everyone understands something different of a question the information you will gather will be uninterpretable. After you’ve finished writing your questions go through and check for words that might mean different things to different people such as ‘neighbourhood’, ‘family member’ or ‘occasional’ and any words a young person might not understand.

Take the assumptions out

A question such as ‘what equipment do you like to play on when you go to the park?’ assumes the young person plays on the equipment, that they go to the park, and that they like playing in it. Assumptions can be quite subtle: for example, the question ‘how much fun do you have when you come to the park?’ assumes that the young person

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has fun when they come to the park. Children will often assume that there is a right and a wrong answer to a question and will look to the interviewer for cues as to what the correct answer is. Avoid giving them such cues by asking questions that contain assumptions and make sure you include ‘don’t know’ and ‘not applicable’ response categories even if you think the answer is something everyone should know or is applicable to everyone.

Avoid double-barrelled questions

Avoid asking ‘double barrelled’ questions that ask about more than one thing. For example the following question asks more than one thing:

‘Do you feel safe and comfortable in the Play Area in Trumpton Park?’

A ‘Yes’ response in this case is uninterpretable – it may mean ‘Yes I feel safe’ or ‘Yes I feel comfortable’ or ‘Yes I feel both safe and comfortable’.

Avoid picture bias

We mentioned earlier that it’s a good idea to use pictures rather than words in questions aimed at children or young people. For example, if you would like young people to choose between various types of play equipment, give them set of pictures to choose from: it will make answering the question more fun and engaging. Make sure that you choose your pictures with care: that it is equally sunny, or that the young people in all of the pictures appear to be equally happy. Make sure that all things apart from the actual equipment are similar in the pictures you present otherwise you may find that choices are based not on actual preference for one type of equipment or another but on whether the sun was shining in one picture and not in another.

A step-by-step process for writing an excellent questionnaire/interview

• Look back through your aims and make a list of all the things that you need to find out.

• For each thing you need to find out decide whether an open question or a closed question is most appropriate and, if a closed question, then decide what type of closed question works best.

• Write a first draft of each question.

• Review your first draft for information coverage: make sure that your questions enable you to collect all the information that you need and that there are no overlapping or duplicate questions (questions which seek to collect the same information) or that you have asked all the questions that you need to ask.

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It’s best to make your questionnaire as short as it can possibly be – people are reluctant to fill in long (possibly boring) questionnaires. Try to keep the questionnaire to two sheets of A4 or less or under 10 questions.

• Review your first draft for wording issues: make sure that all of your questions are unambiguous, simple, sensitive, and neutral.

• Write a preamble to the questionnaire fully informing them about the consultation explaining what the questionnaire hopes to find out, what will happen to the information they give and informing them about any arrangements for confidentiality (see page 36).

See Appendix 3 for an example questionnaire.

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Participatory methods

The consultation processQuestionnaires and interviews allow you to gather information from young people to contribute to the design of a space but they don’t allow you to go through an educational process with the young people. Participatory methods (and in particular participatory workshops) allow for a far more in-depth process that guides the young people through four stages, which are to:

• equip young people with the skills to think analytically about open space;

• enable them to think critically about the site that you are working on;

• enable them to contribute to a vision for a new site and express what their aspirations, needs and priorities are; and

• provide feedback about a sketch design for a space.

If you are keen to run participatory workshops this facilitators pack will describe some of the tools that you can use but you will need to piece the tools together into a coherent workshop format. If you would like to use a ready made kit, you could consider purchasing the Spaceshaper 9–14 toolkit and being trained to be a Spaceshaper Facilitator.

Spaceshaper 9-14Spaceshaper 9-14 is a great way for young people and adults to become interested and involved in their local public spaces. Spaceshaper 9-14 is a workshop-based toolkit, which provides a methodology for collecting the views of younger and older generations, and has the flexibility to be adapted to local circumstances. Essential to the process is a trained facilitator, who sets up and runs the workshop, with an accompanying toolkit, which can be purchased after you have completed Spaceshaper 9-14 facilitator training.

A site visit is an integral part of the process and is often led by a local expert. This prepares the participants to assess the space and capture their individual perceptions using the eight Spaceshaper themes:

1. access: finding your way and getting about

2. use: what activities and opportunities the space has to offer

3. other people: how the space caters for different needs

4. maintenance: how clean and cared for the space is

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5. environment: how safe and comfortable the space is

6. design and appearance: what the space looks like and what materials it uses

7. community: how important the space is to local people

8. you: how the space makes you feel.

These perceptions are fed into a web-based programme to produce a graphical illustration which can be used to prompt further discussion and debate. The session finishes by explaining how this information will be fed back to the client.

If you would like to know how Spaceshaper 9-14 could benefit your public space projects or to become a trained Spaceshaper 9-14 Facilitator please go to the Spaceshaper 9-14 website: www.spaceshaper9-14.co.uk.

Many of the tools described here are tools that were inspired by the Spaceshaper 9–14 toolkit and adapted and developed by Groundwork staff.

I have detailed a number of tools that we use regularly at Groundwork London but don’t be limited to the tools presented here. Do invent your own and adapt the ones presented here to your needs.

Tools for enabling young people to think analytically about open spaceYoung people may never have been asked to think about open space or been asked to identify what makes a space pleasant, comfortable and fun. These exercises are all designed to encourage young people to start thinking analytically and identify what works and what doesn’t work about the open space generally. It enables them to start thinking about why they feel comfortable in some spaces and uncomfortable in others and promote understanding about the nature of good quality open space.

Picture sorting

• Provide young people with a set of pictures of open spaces.

• Ask the young people to sort these into order from the poorest looking spaces to the best.

• Use the results to stimulate a discussion of what makes an open space a good space.

• Ask the young people to decide where the space that you are working on sits on the scale.

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At Groundwork we’ve found that it is best to use photos of spaces that the young people are likely to know but if this isn’t possible, use pictures of any spaces (cut out from magazines).

An inspirational trip

Taking young people on a trip to inspirational open spaces is excellent first step to creating a vision for a space. It is particularly effective where you are seeking to design a new play space. It gives young people a chance to try out various different types of play equipment and to gain an understanding of what contributes to good play value. It’s important to make some time to discuss and analyse what works and what doesn’t work in each of the spaces that you visit.

Tools for enabling young people to think critically about a site

Site inspectors

This is a task that is part of the Spaceshaper 9-14 toolkit that can be adapted to the needs of the project and the specifics of the site.

• Create a set of stimulus questions about the space. The Spaceshaper toolkit contains ‘site inspector’ cards, each of which contain questions about certain aspects of the space. However, you can create your own site inspector cards. The questions should focus on issues relevant to the space. For example, one set of questions might focus getting to and around the site (Do you have to cross busy roads to get to the site? Is it easy to get around the site? Would someone who uses a wheelchair have difficulty getting around the site?). Another set of questions might focus on play equipment: Is it well maintained? Is it attractive to look at? What kinds of games do you play on different types of equipment?

• Divide the group into smaller groups with 5 or 6 young people in each group. Make sure that there is an adult with each group. Ask each group to go to the site and inspect it. Depending on the time available you may ask each group to look at a different aspect of the site or you may ask each group to look at all aspects of the site.

• Bring the whole group together for the groups to discuss what each group found out. You could do a physical voting exercise after the discussion on each question to get a measure of how many of the young people agree strongly, agree a bit, don’t know or disagree with each statement. Note down what the young people say.

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‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’

• Ask the young people to work in groups of 5 to 6 (again, one adult with each group works well).

• Give each group a camera. Ask each of the groups to take photos of: (a) things that they like about the space – The Good; (b) things that they dislike about the space – The Bad; and (c) things that are neither good nor bad just rather pointless – the Ugly.

• Ask all of the groups to come together and share the findings. Place the pictures on different parts of a wall labelled ‘The Good’, ‘The Bad’ and ‘The Ugly’.

Doing this exercise with a Polaroid camera or with a digital camera networked to a printer allows you to do the exercise in a single session. If you are limited to the use of disposable camera you will need to allow time for developing the photos before discussion. It’s important that the adult accompanying each group encourages the young people to think broadly about what they like or dislike about the site. Many of the things that a young person may dislike about a site are that the site lacks biodiversity or somewhere to take shelter from the rain or a variety of play equipment. It’s impossible to take a photo of something that the site lacks so take some pieces of card along with you so that a young person can write down any factors that can’t be depicted in a photograph. The most useful part of the exercise is the discussion that follows the session: the photos are simply a stimulus for discussion. One facilitator should guide the discussion whilst the other notes down what the young people say.

The thermometer

This is a variation on ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. It varies in that photographs are placed on a thermometer from ‘cold’ for ‘don’t like’ to ‘warm’ for ‘like a lot’.

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Mapping

This method can work with groups or with individuals.

• Ask the young people (person) to either inspect a map of the site or to draw a map of the site.

• Ask the young people a set of stimulus questions. Make the questions relevant to the site. Questions you might consider asking include:

o What do you typically do when you come to site X?

o Where do you typically go when you come to site X?

o What parts of the site do you particularly like, if any?

o What parts of the site do you particular, if any, if any?

o Are there any parts of the site where you feel unsafe?

o If you could change one thing about the site, what would you change?

• Ask them to write or draw their answers to the questions on the part of the map that is most relevant to the comment.

Please be aware that many young people do not know how to read a map or interpret one, particularly children who are less than 11 years old. If you would like to use a map, place pictures of features of the space on the map to aid interpretation or use an aerial photograph. Asking young people to trace their usual route through the space on the map will give you an idea whether the young person is able to the read the map and also gives you an opportunity to work with them and help them to interpret the map. Be aware that, unless you have GIS software, however, this exercise doesn’t provide you with any usable information – it will simply help you to work through some of the issues associated with the use of a map.

Asking a young person or a group of young people to draw a map is a good alternative and avoids any problems associated with being unable to read a map. The young people may struggle with this task so make sure you allow time for the map drawing as well as the discussion that follows. If you plump for this option, make sure that you take careful note of what the young person/people say(s) – the map that they draw may be uninterpretable. Remember the map is merely a stimulus for discussion so if the young people are really struggling with drawing or interpreting a map move on and focus on discussion of the space.

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Activity bean counter

This tool is useful if you would like to find what young people do in a particular space.

• Write or draw a list of activities that the young people might do in a particular space on a piece of flip chart paper.

• Ask the young people whether there are any other activities that they do in the space that aren’t on the list. Add additional activities to the list.

• Give each young person a set of sticky dots. Ask them to place a dot beside activities that they do in the space.

Use this as a stimulus for discussion about the opportunities for activities afforded by the space.

Character cards

This is an exercise developed for the Spaceshaper 9-14 toolkit. It aims to give young people an insight into the needs of different types of users of a space.

• Each young person is given a character card (e.g. a pensioner or a young mum who has a toddler).

• Each young person is asked to imagine that they are that character depicted on the card.

• In character, ask them to describe what they like and dislike about the space.

• Ask two characters to role play a discussion about the space.

In our experience, this exercise works best with young people aged 12 and above.

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Spectrum lines and voting

Asking young people to ‘vote’ on particular issues such as whether a space provides good play value, is well maintained, or is safe provides a good way to wrap up a discussion.

• Write a set of stimulus statements e.g. ‘Space X is a fun place to play’.

• Create some space for the young people to move about and put ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ labels of opposite ends of the room.

• For younger children ask them to answer the question by moving to the appropriate end of the room.

• For older young people, ask them to create a spectrum line reflecting various shades of opinion. The closer the young person stands to ‘Yes’ the greater their level of agreement with the statement.

Tools enabling young people to contribute to a vision for the site

The wishing well/wish tree

This exercise works well if you are consulting with young people on a drop-in basis. For example you may wish to consult with young people as part of a fun day where you may have just 10 minutes with a young person who drops-in to your stall.

• Create a set of cardboard coins that can be written/drawn on.

• Ask participants to write or draw one thing that they would change about the site if they could.

• Set up a play well using hoops or a play tube. Ask the young people to throw their completed coin into the well.

An alternative way of doing this is to ask young people to write their wish on a piece of card that is then hung on a tree or pegged onto a rotary washing line.

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A matrix

This tool is particularly useful if you would like to select elements that will feature in a particular space, for example play equipment to go in a play space.

• Discuss criteria are important in selecting play equipment.

• Select the two criteria that are most important.

• Draw a matrix (example below) on a piece of flip chart paper.

• Draw or write the name of each option on a post-it and with the young people decide where on the matrix it belongs.

• Once you’ve placed all the options on the matrix, decide which options you want to go for.

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Bean voter

This is a simple tool that allows young people to ‘vote’ for the elements that they would most like to be included in the design.

• Give each young person 3 sticky dots (beads or beans).

• Present young people with a list (Pictures/Drawings) of all of the options.

• Ask the young people to ‘vote’ for each option using the dots (beads or beans). They can distribute their votes according to their preference: they can put all 3 against one option or distribute them in a way that reflects their preferences.

The main problem with this tool is that children are often swayed by the opinions of their peers. Using dots means that children can see how their peers have voted and will feel some pressure to vote for those options that appear to be most popular. A colleague of mine recommends taking a secret ballot approach in which the young people are asked to vote by putting beans (dried beans such as kidney beans) into a can with a small hole in the top (each can representing a different option).

Beware of using this technique on a drop-in basis such as at a fun-day or on a stall. It’s important that each young person only votes once. In the context of a fun-day or a stall it’s impossible to stop the same young person returning to vote on multiple occasions, thus skewing the results.

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Working with models

Model building

The obvious way to get young people to envision a new site is to work with them to create a model of their ideal site.

• Provide young people with materials for making a model of the space (base map/card plus pipe cleaners/paper/wood/straws etc).

• Ask them to work together to create a model of the new site.

This tool is rather fraught with difficulties; although it is an excellent way of enthusing young people, it rarely produces an interpretable result. Young people’s creative urges often take precedence over practicalities. It’s not uncommon for young people to produce a model of a space age park or play area that cannot be translated into reality. The same problem applies to asking young people to draw their redesigned park or play area.

Model manipulation

In order to keep the model within the remit of what can be reproduced in reality, use the following methodology.

• Decide what elements can realistically form part of the design including play equipment, benches, shrubs and trees.

• Make models of these elements yourself or work with the young people to make models or print off pictures and stick them onto pieces of card that can be propped upright.

• Provide young people with a map of the site.

• Ask young people to arrange the various elements on the site.

It’s useful to have a landscape architect present during this exercise in order to provide expert input. Since it is impossible to make models that are to scale you may need to rely on the expert eye of the landscape architect to provide guidance on how many benches, trees or pieces of play equipment could realistically fit into the space.

Tools for getting feedback on a draft designOnce a landscape architect has produced a sketch design for a space, it’s important to get feedback from those who have been engaged in the design process thus far and from the wider community. Here are some ideas for tools that you could use for this.

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Sketch design graffiti

The most common way of getting feedback on a design.

• Provide an explanation about the design, mentioning how the design responds to community wants and needs.

• Encourage young people to discuss what they like and dislike about the design.

• Encourage them to write or draw their thoughts about the sketch design on post-its or on the design itself.

It’s a good idea to break the design down into sections and discuss each in turn.

Trace the design in sand

Rather than presenting the design as sketch design on paper (or in addition to presenting the design on paper) mark the new design out in sand on the site. You can work with the young people to do this and, if you are working with a school group, treat the exercise as a maths lesson. This provides a sense of reality that goes beyond looking at a paper sketch design. Use the sand sketch to generate discussion about the space.

A session plan

Tools should be woven together in a sequence to form a session plan (or several session plans). For an example session plan see Appendix 4.

Taking a peer research approachThus far we have assumed that an adult facilitator will design the consultation process. However, you could consider taking a peer-led approach. This entails working with a small group of young people and enabling them to get actively engaged in the consultation process so that the young people themselves are part of the research team. You need to decide to what extent you would like (are able) to engage the young people. Possible ways in which you can engage a group of peer researchers are as follows.

• With training empower the young people to design the consultation process and support them through the process of carrying out the consultation.

• Design the consultation process yourself but seek the advice of the young people and modify tools and processes in the light of their suggestions.

• Design the consultation process yourself and, with training, support the young people through the process of carrying out the fieldwork.

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The benefits of taking a peer research approach are as follows:

• Greater ownership over the consultation process by the young people.

• Greater access to young people (many young people are happier to talk to another young person rather than an adult). Peer researchers may be better able to identify where and how to create a dialogue with young people most likely to use the open space.

• If you engage the young people in the design of the consultation they can bring all of their implicit knowledge about what works well for young people to the design process.

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Step 7: Make sure your consultation is ethicalA lot has been written about research ethics when working with children so we won’t go into detail here but it is important to mention a few key principals. See the bibliography for more comprehensive guidance.

Ethics are the moral principles that guide research or consultation. Ethical consultation is about protecting the rights of children and/or researchers involved in consultation and avoiding harm. There are a few key principals that you should try to abide by:

Informed consentAnyone involved in research or consultation has the right to be informed about the consultation (what it involves, how it might affect them, how long it will take).

In practice this means that you need to write a preamble to any self completion questionnaire that fully informs a young person about why you are asking them to fill out the questionnaire describing what you hope to do with the information you collect. It also means that before any workshop or interview you should carve out some time for informing the young people on its purpose.

Voluntary participation and right to withdrawParticipation in any consultation process should be voluntary. Children or young people shouldn’t be pressurised or obliged to participate. Similarly, they have the right to withdraw participation.

In practice this means always asking the young person (people) whether they would like to participate before launching into any questions or exercises. Never assume consent. Furthermore, you should let a young person know that if they don’t want to continue answering questions or taking part in the workshop, they have the right not to do so.

Manage expectations and feed backIf you ask a young person how they would like to see an open space change this will raise the expectation in the mind of the young person (and many adults) that the changes that they suggested will come about imminently. In fact, consultation often takes place before any funding has been secured. Even if funding is in place, there is often a long time delay between the consultation and the completion of capital works. What’s more, the things that any one young person or group of young people called for

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may not feature in your recommendations or the sketch design simply because other options were more popular It is crucial that you manage expectations otherwise you risk disappointment and resentment and probably a reluctance to engage in any future consultations.

In practice this means a number of things: (a) be honest in your preamble or your introductory spiel about the likelihood of changes coming about; (b) at the end of a questionnaire/ interview/ workshop outline ‘next steps’ (what you will do with the information you’ve collected, what is likely to happen next and, crucially, how long it might take for any changes to come about); and (c) find a way of feeding back to the young people who participated in the consultation. In practice this may mean collecting the names of addresses of any young person who took part in the consultation and sending them a simple one page summary of findings. Alternatively, if you are working with a school or youth group consider holding a feedback briefing or preparing a feedback poster or handout.

Confidentiality Children and young people have the right to confidentiality even if the information doesn’t appear to be of a particularly sensitive nature to you: it is told to you in confidence – it should be treated as such.

In practice this means that you should inform a young person (people) in your preamble or introductory spiel that everything they say will be treated in confidence. You should also explain what this means in practice (not identifying any young person in your report or telling anyone else what individual young people said). Beware of including signed pictures or drawings in a report – this is a breach of confidentiality. Similarly, you must get consent from both the parent and the child before taking and using any photographs.

Avoidance of harm In practice this means fully risk assessing all consultation activities and abiding by your organisation’s child protection and health and safety policies.

IntegrityYou should report the findings of your research honestly and avoid distorting the findings.

It’s your responsibility to report what you find accurately and honestly even if you disagree with the young people or if reporting findings honestly may damage the case for funding a new development.

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Step 8: Build in evaluationIt’s always good practice to evaluate activities and this applies equally to evaluation. It’s important to find out whether the young people engaged in the consultation:

• feel that they were able to voice their thoughts and ideas;

• feel that their ideas were listened to; and

• enjoyed being part of the process.

If you are working with a group of young people over a period of time you may also want to find out whether the young people:

• feel they have learnt anything as a result of being engaged;

• feel that they have grown in confidence; and/or

• feel more engaged in their community as a result of being involved.

In practice this means building evaluation into your tools. This may mean taking 5 minutes at the end of a workshop to evaluate the workshop itself. This may also mean at the end of a period of having worked with a particular group of young people setting some time aside to talk to the group and to find out how they have gained from being engaged (if at all). Use what the young people tell you to improve your practice.

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Step 9: AnalysisHaving collected all your consultation findings the next stage entails making sense of it. This process is known as analysis. There are two different types of analysis: quantitative and qualitative. You use quantitative analysis to make sense of numbers and qualitative to make sense of text. Since the processes you should use for analysing the information that you collect are the same as the processes you use for analysing any consultation or research data, we will not describe the processes in any detail here. There are many texts that can guide you through the process of analysis. However before you start any consultation process make sure you have plans in place for analysing the information you have collected. In the case of quantitative information make sure that you have set aside the time to enter the data into a spreadsheet and that you have the know-how to convert the information into counts and percentages. In the case of qualitative information make sure you have set aside time for transcribing the information and for ‘coding’ (deciding what themes emerge and carefully noting down what is said about each theme).

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Step 10: Present your f indingsLots has been written about presenting findings from research or consultation so we won’t go into great depth here.

Before you set pen to paper you need to decide how you are going to report your findings. There are lots of different media you can use to report findings including a formal report, a display, a film, or a talk. Firstly think about who your audience is; you may have several different kinds of audience such as funders, young people, and local residents. Choose the medium that best suits each audience. This may be a formal report for funders and a film for the young people.

A formal report should contain the following sections:

• An executive summary: a 1 to 2 page summary of the whole report.

• Method: the consultation methods you used, the number of young people involved in the consultation and how you involved them.

• Findings: what you found out.

• Conclusions and recommendations: this may include a ‘design brief’ for the landscape architect who will be designing the space.

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Appendix 1: Young person,s open space consultation planning sheet

Step 1: Decide to what extent the young people will participate in the processWhat level of engagement would you like the young people to have?

Level Your promise to the young people Tick One

InformTo keep the young people informed about changes to an open space.

ConsultTo keep the young people informed, to acknowledge concerns and wishes and for these to influence the design where possible.

InvolveTo ensure that the young people’s needs and wishes are incorporated into the design.

CollaborateTo take a lead from the young people and incorporate their ideas into designs to the maximum extent.

EmpowerTo place final decisions about the design in the hands of the young people and to implement whatever they decide.

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Step 2: Make a list of the things you want to find out about

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Step 3: Divide the consultation into stages and decide what you aim to do at each stageSee worked examples in Appendix 2

Stage Aim

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

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Step 4: Work out how you will engage young people in the consultationWhich of the following methods will you use to engage young people in the consultation?

Consultation Method Tick all that apply

Name of the school/youth group or location of street work/door-to-door work

Number of young people to engage

Work with a local school(s)

Work with a local youth organisation

Street based work

Door to door work

Other (Please specify)

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Step 5: Decide on the consultation method(s) to useMost common methods:

• Paper based self completion questionnaire

• An online self completion questionnaire

• A semi-structured face to face interview

• A participatory interview

• A participatory workshop

What level of influence will the young people have?

Therefore what kinds of methods are most appropriate

Questionnaire/interview

Participatory

Stage What kind of information do you want to collect?

What method is most inclusive?

What do I have time and money for?

What method shall I use?

1

Qualitative

Quantitative

2

Qualitative

Quantitative

3

Qualitative

Quantitative

4

Qualitative

Quantitative

5

Qualitative

Quantitative

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Step 6: Design your tools

Questionnaire/interview planning

What do you want to find out? Best asked as an open or a closed question?

If closed, what type of closed

question

Ope

n

Clo

sed

List

Sca

le

Ran

k

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Now:

• Write a first draft of each question.

• Review your first draft for information coverage: make sure that your questions enable you to collect all the information that you need and that there are no overlapping or duplicate questions (questions which seek to collect the same information) and that you have asked all the questions that you need to ask.

• Review your first draft for wording issues: make sure that all of your questions are unambiguous, simple, sensitive, and neutral.

• Write a preamble to the questionnaire full informing them about the consultation, explaining what they questionnaire hopes to find out, what will happen to the information they give and informing them about any arrangements for confidentiality (see page 36).

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Participatory workshop/interview planning

Processes Tools to use What sequence?

Equip young people with the skills to think analytically about open space.

Picture sorting

Inspirational trip

Other

Enable them to think critically about the site that you are working on.

Site inspectors

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’

Thermometer

Mapping

Activity bean counter

Character cards

Spectrum lines/voting

Other

Enable them to contribute to a vision for a new site and express what their aspirations, needs and priorities are.

Wishing well

The matrix

Bean voter

Model building

Model manipulation

Other

Provide feedback about a sketch design for a space.

Sketch design graffiti

Trace the design in sand

Other

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Step 7: AnalysisHow do you plan to analyse the information you collect?

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Step 8: Make sure your consultation is ethical

Ethics checklist

Informed consent

I have written a preamble/introductory spiel informing participants why we are consulting, what we hope to achieve by it, how long the interview/workshop will take.

I will ask for the young person’s consent.

I have made arrangements for parental consent prior to the workshop/interview.

I will tell the young people that they have a right to withdraw (end the interview/not join in the workshop).

I have made arrangements for photo consent from parents and young people.

Manage expectations

I have made it clear in the preamble/introductory spiel what may or may not happen following the consultation.

I have made it clear in my ‘what next’ statement how long it might take for changes to come about.

I have made arrangements to feed back the findings of the consultation to the young people.

Confidentiality

I have included a statement about confidentiality in the preamble/introductory spiel and explained what this means in practice.

Avoidance of Harm

I have risk assessed all consultation activities.

I understand and am abiding by my organisation’s child protection policies.

I understand and am abiding by my organisation’s health and safety policies.

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Step 9: Evaluate your consultationHow do you plan to evaluate your consultation?

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Appendix 2: Stages and aims: worked examplesInform

Stage 1 Inform young people about the changes that are planned.

Consult

Stage 1

Investigate needs of young people in relation to the space and collect information that will allow a landscape architect to generate a sketch design for the space that meets the needs of young people.

(Landscape architect uses this information to inform the design where appropriate).

Stage 2

Get feedback from the young people on the sketch design for the space.

(The landscape architect adapts the design in the light of their comments where appropriate).

Stage 3 Present the final design to the young people.

Involve

Stage 1Equip young people with the skills to think analytically about the space.

Stage 2Investigate needs of young people in relation to the space and collect information that will allow a landscape architect to generate a sketch design for the space that meets the needs of young people.

Stage 3

Young people generate ideas for the new space.

(The landscape architect generates a design for the space incorporating the ideas of the young people).

Stage 4

Get feedback from the young people on the sketch design for the space.

(The landscape architect incorporates the modifications of the young people into the design).

Stage 5 Present the final design to the young people.

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Collaborate


Stage 2 Investigate needs of all young people in relation to the space.

Stage 3Young people work with the landscape architect to generate a design for the space that meets the needs of the community.

Stage 4 Inform the wider community about the final design.

Empower


Stage 2 Investigate needs of all young people in relation to the space.

Stage 3Young people work with the landscape architect to generate a design for the space that meets the needs of the community.

Stage 4Young people feed back to the wider community about the final design.

Stage 5 Young people work with fundraiser to raise funds for the project.

Stage 6Young people play a role in transforming the space e.g. planting trees or painting equipment.

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Appendix 3: An example open space questionnaireEvery questionnaire is different but here is an example of a questionnaire that will enable you to see some of the principles in action. Let’s imagine that Friends of Trumpton Park would like to do something about the old fashioned poor play value play area in Trumpton Park. They would like to apply for funding for a new play area and have decided that they would like it to be a natural play area. But, they need to consult with local young people to find out what they think of the old play area before going any further. They decided to use a questionnaire because they lacked the time and resources to use any other methods. This is their questionnaire aimed at years 6 and 7 (primary school children aged 8 to 11).

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Trumpton Park Play AreaHave Your Say!

Do you live close to the play area in Trumpton Park? If so, read on! ‘The Friends of Trumpton Park is a group of local people who want to make the park a better place for everyone. We would like to find out what you think about the play area in Trumpton Park: what you like and dislike about it and how you would like to see it change (if at all). We’ll use what you tell us to put together a plan for the play area to make it better for everyone in Trumpton. Once we’ve got a plan we’ll start looking for a way to make the changes happen. This may be difficult and may take some time. So have your say about your play area, fill out the questionnaire and give it to your school secretary. Everything you say will be treated as confidential - this means we won’t pass on what you’ve said to your teachers, parents or friends.3

1. How often to you go to the play area in Trumpton Park (if ever)?

(please tick one)

On most days

Go to the next questionOnce or twice a week

Once or twice a month

Less often than once a month

Never Skip the next question

2. What do you normally do when you go to the play area?

(tick all that apply to you)

Play on the swings

Play on the climbing frame

Play games that don’t involve the swings or the climbing frame

Hang out

Other

If you said ‘other’ tell us more…

3 Data Protection Act 1998. The data collected will be subject to the Data Protection Act 1998. This information will be held on computer and will remain confidential. It will not identify you and it will not be disclosed to any third parties without your consent. The data will be processed for statistical purposes only and will only be used in a form that does not allow you or any member of your household to be identified. By returning a completed questionnaire you are giving your explicit consent for the data collected about you to be recorded and used for the purposes above.

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3. What, if anything, do you like about the play area in Trumpton Park?

4. What, if anything, do you dislike about play area in Trumpton Park?

5. If you could change ONE thing about the play area, what would it be?

6. Think about whether the play area in Trumpton Park feels like a space that is well look after. Would you say that it is….

(tick one)

Very well looked after

Fairly well looked after

Not very well looked after

Not looked after at all

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7. Look through the list of activities. Pick and tick the THREE that you would most like.

Climbing Rolling

Swinging Tunnelling

Balancing Sliding

8. Are you

A Boy A Girl

9. Tell us the name of the street where you live?

Thank you very much

Look on your school notice board in 3 weeks’ time if you would like to know what we found out from this questionnaire.

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Appendix 3: An example participatory workshop session planEvery workshop should be designed to meet the needs of your particular consultation and of the particular young people with whom you are working. Nonetheless, here is an example participatory workshop session plan that will enable you to see some of the principles in action. Let’s imagine, the local council have committed funds to replace the old fashioned play area in Trumpton Park with a redesigned play area. You are a member of The Friends of Trumpton Park and you would like to get local young people involved in the design of the new play area. You are working at the ‘involve’ level. A lot of work has already been done by the council in terms of budgeting and selecting the kinds of equipment that could be purchased within the budget. You have arranged a series of participatory workshops with year 7 pupils from the primary school closest to the park. Each workshop will last one school day and involve a whole class of 30 pupils. Here is the session plan for the workshop.

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Welcome

10 – 10.10 Introduction

Explain that

Council have committed funding to redesigning the play area in Trumpton Park

• Who Friends of Trumpton Park are

• Why we would like them to get involved in the day

• Programme for the day

10.10 – 10.30 Icebreaker

Fruit Salad. Play a game of fruit salad. The children have to stand up and change seats if they….

• Go to Trumpton Park

• Have played in Trumpton Park

• Love flowers

• Play football

• Know the names of three trees

• Have a younger bother or sister

• Meet friends in the streets outside their house

• Go to play outside whatever the weather

• Like animals

• Like taking photographs

Chairs arranged in a circle

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Equip young people with the skills to think analytically about open space

10.30 – 11.30 Picture Sorting (1)

2 small groups

• Give participants photos of play equipment found in local parks. Ask them to sort the pictures into order from ‘the least fun’ to ‘the most fun’

• Participants place pictures of the equipment that is currently in Trumpton Park on the scale

• Two groups to come together and discuss why some pieces of play equip are more fun than others

• Write key words that emerge from discussion on the board

Picture Sorting (2)

• Give participants photos of local green spaces.

• Ask them to sort the pictures into order from ‘the worst’ to ‘the best’

• Ask the group to place the play area at Trumpton Park on the scale

• Two groups to come together and discuss with the young people what makes a green space a good green space. Probe for issues related to: access biodiversity, seating, shelter, and dogs.

• Write key words that emerge from the discussion on the board

2 x sets of photos of play equipment

2 x sets of photos of local green spaces

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11.30 – 1.30

Site Visit

Young people to visit the site

• Small group exercise. Groups of five or six each with an adult (a teacher/ teaching assistant/ parent volunteer). Each group to be given a Polaroid camera. Young people to take photos of things that they (a) like (b) dislike and (c) things that they neither like nor dislike but think are pointless. Again, probe for issues related to: access biodiversity, seating, shelter, and dogs. Each group to play on the equipment and rate each for play value

• Lunch to be eaten at the park

• Return to classroom

4 x Polaroid cameras

1 x set of marks out of 10 cards

1.30 – 2.00

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Three walls of the classroom to be labeled ‘the Good’ ‘the Bad’ and ‘the Ugly’

• Groups to sort their photos and place them on the appropriate walls

• Participants to discuss what is good about the play area and what they would like to keep if the play area were redesigned

• Participants to discuss what is bad about the play area and what they would like to change

• Participants to discuss what is ‘ugly’ (pointless) and what they would like to change

The Good, the Bad and The Ugly cards

Blue tack

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Enable them to contribute to a vision for a new site and express what their aspirations, needs and priorities are

2.00 - 2.15 The Matrix

Two Groups

A matrix to be constructed with ‘Fun to play’ and ‘Good for all ages’ on each axis. Participants to be given pictures of different kinds of play equipment. Participants to work in two smaller groups placing each on the matrix

Flip Chart paper

Flip chart pens

2 x sets of pictures of play equipment

2.15 – 2.30 Break

2.15 – 2.30 The Bean Voter

Participants to be given three beans and to be asked to ‘vote’ for different kinds of play equipment. ‘Secret Ballot’ method to be used

Beans

‘Secret ballot’ cans

2.30 – 3.00 Model manipulation

Two Groups

Participants to arrange pop-up pictures of the play equip that received the most votes on a plan of the site. Also to place pop up pictures of chairs, shrubs, trees, mounds on the map

2 x A1 site plans

2 x pop-up pictures of play equipment

2 x picture of landscaping features

Next Steps

3.00 – 3.10 Explain

• What will happen to the information that they have given

• How decisions will be made

• Arrangements for feedback

• Thank – you

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Appendix 4: Queen Caroline Consultation case study

QUEEN CAROLINE PLAY AREA HAMMERSMITH

Groundwork London, 18 - 21 Morley Street, London, SE1 7QZTelephone: 020 7922 1230 | E-mail: [email protected] | Fax: 020 7922 1219 www.groundwork.org.uk/london Registered charity no. 1121105

Queen Caroline Tenants and Residents Association was granted funding from Hammersmith and Fulham Homes’ Housing Estate Improvement Programme (HEIP) to improve play provision on their estate. Groundwork London was appointed to undertake an in-depth consultation and make landscape improvements to one of the play areas.

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QUEEN CAROLINE PLAY AREA CONSULTATIONHAMMERSMITH

play climbing frame with a slide, a group basket swing and toddler swings and a jumping disc for younger children. The landscape gets kids active outdoors and is completed with boulders, timber seating and a picnic bench as well as new planting, turf and recycled bark mulch safety surfacing.

Consultation methods• Questionnaires (57 returned)• Consultation event (30 adults

and 50 children).• Observational trip for residents.• Three workshops and two trips

with St Paul’s Primary School. • One feedback workshop with

the school and one public feedback event (15 adults, 25 children).

The results showed that people wanted a play area with equip-ment suitable for toddlers and children up to the age of 12, including a safe informal games area that is colourful with natural features and seating. The railings were retained for security and now incorporate multisensory features.

Objectives• Engage children and the wider

community with regeneration.• Facilitate people in designing

their own outdoor space.• Empower residents of all ages

to get involved in decisions that impact upon their lives.

Impacts• Excellent level of community involvement in the consultation activities undertaken and a very enthusiastic response from residents towards the potential of park improvements.• ‘No Particular Place to Go’ ses-

sions well received by children, with excellent ideas generated.

• School more involved with the wider community. Excellent ideas were generated and the school was grateful for the op-portunity for its children to be involved in such a varied and creative project and to engage with the wider community.

“The new play area is great and a safe place where my children can play.” Claire

About the projectEleanor House Play Area on Queen Caroline estate was transformed from a square of concrete containing out-of-date play equipment to a challenging natural playscape for 6-13 year olds. Old equipment included swings, bouncy chickens, a seesaw and a wooden play structure. Residents were concerned about the unsafe and dilapidated play area, uneven surfaces and the lack of variety for children.

Play analysis and design ses-sions were run with Year Fives at St Paul’s Primary School to involve them in informing the play area design to reflect their aspirations. These included play consultation sessions, a playground inspection workshop, observational visits to playgrounds and produc-ing playground models. As a result, Groundwork London’s landscape architects designed a new play area with excit-ing features including a timber

Funding Big Lottery FundHammersmith & Fulham Homes

£6,500

£90,000

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Appendix 5: Jubilee Way Playscape case study

JUBILEE WAY PLAYSCAPE, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMESOn the site of an old disused tennis court, Jubilee Way Playscape offers an adventurousplay area for children and teenagers that is very different to traditional playgrounds seenall over the country. A launch event saw over 200 people from the localcommunity celebrate this new space which has been well-used eversince.

Groundwork London, 18 - 21 Morley Street, London, SE1 7QZTelephone: 020 7922 1230 | E-mail: [email protected] | Fax: 020 7922 1219 www.groundwork.org.uk/london Registered charity no. 1121105

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Inspired by the multiaward winningGroundworkPlayscape showgarden, Jubilee Way isthe first flagshipproject to becompleted thatgenuinely creates a‘playful landscape’within a public space.Designed throughcommunityengagement, thissustainable andenvironmentallyfriendly play spaceencompasses thelocal communitiesneeds along withinnovation and totallynatural features. Itencourages creativityand adventure in playfrom children of allages.

About the projectOn the site of an old disused tennis court,the stunning new Playscape offers anadventurous play area for children andteenagers that is very different to traditionalplaygrounds seen all over the country.

The innovative features include grassymounds, timber walls, boulders and treesthat have been used to create a texturedand exciting space. One of more unusualfeatures is a bridge made from theuntouched timber of the Cutty Sark shipthat used to stand in Maritime Greenwich.Other playscape features include a zip wire,bridges, tunnels and naturalistic climbingequipment. There is also a skate bowl forteenagers which was funded by Toyota UKand created by renowned skate parkdesigners Wheelscape.

The space comprises of play equipmentthat was chosen by local young peoplewho were involved in the design process,and took part in workshops and visits toother play spaces for inspiration.

The project uses materials and equipmentfrom sustainable sources, that are lowmaintenance and of a natural appearanceto ensure a marriage between the activeuse of the site and the surrounding landscape.

ObjectivesCommunity empowerment andinvolvementBespoke spaces to suit local residentsof varying agesCreate sustainable and natural playspaces

ImpactsWell used playspace, that encouragescreativity and a place to socialise foryoung people of all agesReduced vandalism and littering in theareaEncourages natural play in a sustainableand environmentally friendly surrounding

The FutureThe success of these techniques indeveloping play spaces can be used againto give residents more involvement in localprojects and create a more sustainable andrespected environment.

Project Partners Funding - £240,000

■ The Big Lottery Fund■ Toyota■ The Royal Borough of Kingston

upon Thames

JUBILEE WAY PLAYSCAPE, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES

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Bibliography

Why Engage Young PeopleCABE Space and CABE Education, May 2004, Involving Young People in the Design and Care of Urban Spaces: What would you do with this space? Available from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/publications/what-would-you-do-with-this-space

This provides an excellent overview of the rationale and benefits of involving young people in Open Space Improvement projects. It also provides a wealth of case studies

Nicola Wheeler (The National Housing Federation) November 2011, Greener Neighborhoods: A good practice guide to managing green space. Available from

http://www.housing.org.uk/publications/find_a_publication/housing_management/greener_neighbourhoods_reside.aspx

This guide provides excellent coverage of the principals that underpin involving stakeholders in design of green space that form part of housing estates and developments

Ken Worpole, August 2003, No Particular Place to Go: Children, Young People and Public Space. For a copy contact Groundwork UK

This report makes it clear that planning for play and the need to create safe street networks and spaces for children and young people is a precondition of a health community life and ‘liveability’

Spaceshaper 9-14 Toolkit. For more information visit www.spaceshaper9-14.co.uk

A workshop-based intergenerational toolkit to support engagement and consultation about spaces with groups of all ages.

The Bigger PictureCABE Space, 2007, It’s our space: A guide for community groups working to improve public space, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Available from

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/publications/its-our-space

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General Guides to Consultation and Community ResearchSophie Laws with Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus, 2003, Research for Development, Sage, London

Judith Bell (1999) Doing your research project: a guide for first-time researchers in education and social science, The Open University Press, Buckingham

Both of these are excellent general guides to doing research or consultation. Both provide excellent chapters on analysis and reporting

ARVAC, Community Research Getting Started: A resource pack for community groups, Available from http://www.arvac.org.uk/resources though you will need to create a free members account

Questionnaire DesignA.N. Oppenheim, 1992, Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement, Continuum, London

A comprehensive guide to questionnaire design

EthicsThe British Sociological Association (2004) The British Sociological Association ethical guidelines

The ethical guidelines produced by the Social Research Association (2003) Available from http://www.britsoc.co.uk/equality/63.htm

EvaluationNew Economics Foundation and Groundwork UK (2000) Prove it! Measuring the effect of neighborhood renewal on people

Tips on carrying out environmental evaluation, taking as examples the impact of Groundwork’s Barclays SiteSavers projects. The handbook describes a method of measuring the effect of community projects on local people, on the relationships between them and on their quality of life. It involves local people in both choosing the indicators and collecting data.

Available from Groundwork UK Tel: 0121 236 8565 Email [email protected]

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Groundwork London 18-21 Morley Street, London SE1 7QZ

020 7922 1230

[email protected]

www.groundwork.org.uk/london

www.twitter.com/GroundworkLON

www.facebook.com/groundworklondon

Groundwork London is a registered charity no. 1121105

© Groundwork London 2012

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