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Methods of disturbance gives more people access to public places

Pictured is a group of youths playing basketball at an outdoor basketball field. The hoops was designed through the Equalizer project, with hoops on both sides of the pole.
The hoops was designed through the Equalizer project, with hoops on both sides of the pole. Photo: Daniel Zachrisson.

Despite an increasing number of informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces in Sweden and our society, not everyone feel that they can use them. Public spaces for physical activity are dominated by boys and men, while girls and women are under-represented. The research project Equalizer examines the barriers that hinders different groups access to these spaces and methods to remove the obstacles.

– The starting point of the project Equalizer: breaking down the barriers at informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces is that girls don’t use public spaces as much as boys. Often young men have taken over these places. Not formally, but that is how it is perceived. It’s easier for boys take up space in public places. It’s harder for girls, unless they are sporty. The aim of the project is to make existing recreational spaces more inclusive so that more groups feel comfortable enough to use them, said Elisabeth Högdahl, PhD in ethnology and senior lecturer at the department of service management and service studies at Lund University.

Through a participatory method called the method of disturbance the examined group, a group of young women, actively participated to understand the barriers. The study was conducted at several multi-sport arenas and an outdoor gym in Malmö, where the young women who was a part of the project had to perform “disturbances”. They spontaneously visited the different places and asked if they could join ongoing activities or started up their own nearby. The concept of disturbance was to disturb patterns and stepping out of their comfort zone and interfering with ongoing, dominating activities and breaking the existing norms.

– The boys reactions differed. Either they got scared and left, or it made them happy. They never got angry, only insecure, said Högdahl.

Workshops lead to solutions

After the conducted disturbances the result was analyzed, and suggestions of solutions was presented. The solutions should be minor and easy to implement with a low cost.

– There was a feeling of discomfort at the disturbances. We’ve had workshops with the girls, where we tried to figure out when it got uncomfortable. When did it happen and how did it feel? One example is that the entrance became loaded. There was an invisible boarder that was hard to cross. The barriers we discovered during our workshops the architects later used as the outset for creating simple solutions to overcome them. It was important to keep the spirit of the ideas, while making them do-able from an economical perspective, Högdahl.

Signs were made that said the space was for everyone. Basketball hoops was placed on both sides of the pole for the ones who doesn’t dare to participate in the ongoing game, but still wants to play. Trails was painted from the nearby school to the entrance of one of the multi-arenas with activities on the way. Frames were put up around football goals to make the atmosphere more playful and less competitive.

Norms at the school yard

The project also examined school yards and school children, and how they could get more physically active during breaks. Instead of using the method of disturbance this group had to think about why they do what they do and if they can break the norms.

– That was hard enough, but a lot of positive things can come from encouraging people to think in norm-breaking ways. Usually we don’t think about the norms, we don’t consciously follow them we just do as we always do. There are a lot of dimensions co-existing in this project. Age, gender, socio-economical background. Even if gender is the vantage point, we are using an intersectional perspective, where we are considering different factors that can influence how we use spaces, said Högdahl.

– In the school project we made a “frivolous” gym where the focus was on movement, not performance. A laughing mirror. Stumps to sit on, until you feel comfortable enough to join in on the activities. When there’s less focus on performance, people dare to get moving.

About the project and the study

The physical activity in Sweden is low, especially in the group of girls and young women. Above all, girls from lower socio-economical areas of Malmö use public pools, sport centers and runner tracks less than other groups. Among the boys there is no difference no matter where they live. Furthermore, statistic shows that ball courts and skate parks is used up to 80-100% by boys and men. Therefor these places are examined in the project, with the question of how they can become accessible to more people. The project Equalizer was founded by Vinnova.

The study within the project was conducted by Karin Book, Malmö University, and Elisabeth Högdahl, Lund University, together with the architects Emma Pihl and Åsa Samuelsson at FOJAB, in collaboration with the leisure department at Malmö Municipality and representatives from the studied group: girls and young women. The 20-something girls and young women aged 15-25 years old that participated are a part of organizations like “Möllans basement” and “Tjejer i förening” in Malmö. The study with the school children was made together with Lunds municipality and two of the municipality’s schools, Fäladsgården and Östratornskolan. Equalizer is participatory oriented, norm critical and is built on co-production.

Read the entire article: Equalizer: breaking down the barriers at informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces