Intergenerational play

Parc Pawb, or Everyone’s Park, is a slowly drawn vision of an improved and up-scaled play and leisure facility that had universal appeal, purposefully offering a wide range of locally determined features that benefit ‘all’ potential users of the play-space. The new development also draws visitors into the small, recently bypassed town, thus acting as a natural gateway introducing the place and its cultural maritime heritage. The central aim of Parc Pawb is to be an open site to provide a safe space for open and unstructured green play, valuable opportunities for natural unstructured play and other associated leisure activities. This chapter shares how a group of community members used a playwork perspective when working with children and older members of the community to provide access to a local environment for play opportunities. The group combined their knowledge about the playwork principles and relevant policy and legislation within Wales to establish an open and green space for play. The chapter describes the benefits and challenges of action research when a university research team contributes to participatory community planning within an unique policy context (Wales).