This research explores the qualities of public open spaces that make them suitable or not for enabling play by older people. The potential benefits to older people in terms of quality of life are related to the nature of play by adults, identifying the shared themes of autonomy, control and enjoyment. This forms a starting point for the investigation of older people’s own definition and experience of play and enjoyment in public open spaces. No previous research has explored this theme. The concept of affordances is used to analyse and explain how the qualities of public open space can relate to the varied interests, experiences and abilities of older people. Affordances are situated within a broader socio-ecological model of the relationship between people and the environment. This leads to an understanding of affordances that goes beyond the purely functional to include the social and emotional. Mixed qualitative methods were used with people over 65, including focus groups, walking interviews and participant photographs. This research found that while the term ‘play’ is not one that older people generally use about their own activities in public open space, there is a desire for, and valuing of, experiences that can be understood as play. The need for safety and comfort, especially through the provision of toilets and seating, was emphasized as important in creating a ‘safe-frame’ for the enjoyable use of public space. Participants also highlighted the importance of ‘soft’ interventions in public space: temporary events and activities, such as music. Alongside being with friends and relatives, especially their children and grandchildren, these provided the signs, or excuses, to behave playfully. Older people were found to value the social possibilities and positive affect offered by play in public open spaces in an urban setting, but within a framework of rules which were not transgressed. This framework was made by having social contact and by elements in the environment that triggered humour and engagement, particularly watching other people playing, elements of challenge and surprise. This research has provided an innovative means of understanding the potential of public open spaces for older people that goes beyond more traditional concepts of access and support. It concludes that public open space can provide stimulating and engaging opportunities for improving older people’s quality of life through enabling playful experiences, and suggests a number of ways this research can be taken forward.

A number of policies for the provision of open space for informal recreation and sport have been developed by the Greater London Council, and other agencies including the Regional Council for Sport and Recreation and the Docklands Development Organisation. The study evaluates the extent to which these policies have been correctly formulated and are realistic, in the light of surveys of the supply of open space and the recreational use made of it by residents in south east London. The degree of success with which these policies have been adopted and implemented by executive authorities, given their existing legislative and financial powers, is also examined. In this way deficiencies in policies are identified and a number of opportunities and alternatives are suggested. The evaluation of both the formulation and implementation of open space policies for Greater London has not hitherto been carried out. Individual Borough Councils have produced topic reports or policy statements adapting strategic policies to local needs, but these do not look at their broader implications for the metropolitan area. Also the strategic open space policies contained in the Greater London Development Plan, the structure plan for London approved in 1976, have not been reviewed subsequently. Finally, although some research has been carried out in Britain and the United States on the general application of open space standards, there has been no detailed work specific to London.

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