Parks & Leisure 24 3 by Universal Media Co

parks &leisure AUSTRALAS IAN

Volume 24.3 Spring 2021 ISSN: 1446-5604

Parks, Gardens & Conservation

2021 PLA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE PROVIDING ACCESS TO FITNESS AND RECREATION FROM COCONUTS TO CONSERVATION

CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH NATURE

moveart: ENLIVEN PUBLIC SPACES IN A NEW WAY Interactive sculptures for the outdoor realm, moveart are original pieces of functional art that set a new standard for street furniture. Ideal for city streets, public spaces, parks, gardens, terraces, even rooftops, moveart offers a sustainable way to enliven and inspire open space, creating harmony between users and the landscape by combining art with functionality. Constructed of Accoya wood, each unit has been crafted using specialised proﬁling techniques to generate just the right action, be it for sitting, hiding or climbing. Ideal for intergenerational activity, moveart provides the answer to versatility and longevity in mixed-use spaces, and will stand against whatever the Australian outdoors can throw at it. Choose from an array of standard sculptures or work with the team from Marcus Constructions to design a bespoke unit to suit the requirements of your project.

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CONTENTS FEATURES 8 Oakleigh Recreation Centre Redevelopment 12 Connecting People with Nature 14 New Zealand Park Awards 16 The Child’s Right to Play 18 Providing Access to Fitness and Recreation 22 Creating Environmentally Friendly and Cost-efficient Greenspace 24 The Hills Bark Blower 26 PaRC: Parks and Recreation Collection 28 Spotlight on Mountain Biking in Australia 30 Increasing Turfgrass Durability 32 Placement Partnerships and Data Insights

34 36 38 42

Beyond Maxs Inﬁnity Loop A Tatou Rākau (Our Trees) City Nature Challenge Climate Change and Parks Management 44 Place-based Ancestry and Heritage 56 2021 Parks & Leisure Australia National Conference

REGULARS 4 From the PLA President and CEO 6 From the Recreation Aotearoa Chair and CEO 62 Research Connections 64 PLA Advisory 64 Courses & Events 66 Join Us on Social Media

INTERNATIONAL 47 48 49 50 52 54

International News From Coconuts to Conservation Rethinking the Future of Parks An Investment Options Appraisal Let’s Talk Parks Adaptive Public Space

28 54

PRODUCTION EDITOR Nicole Mulloy nmulloy@umco.com.au EDITORIAL COORDINATOR John Senior journal@parksleisure.com.au

ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Martha Rubazewicz ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Ellie Busby

CIRCULATION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Mark McTaggart CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kate Podger

parks &lleisure i

EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION MANAGER Shireen Dawankar marketing@parksleisure.com.au

AUSTRALAS IAN

Volume 24.3 Spring 2021 ISSN: 1446-5604

Parks, Gardens & Conservation

DESIGNER Michaela Primiano

CHAIRMAN/CEO Prema Perera

PUBLISHING MANAGER Marcus Hucker

PUBLISHER Janice Williams

SALES/ACCOUNT MANAGERS Marcus Hucker (NSW) 0410 338 119 Antonia Bewley (QLD & WA) 0418 424 410 Pilar Danlag (VIC & SA) 0414 468 243

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicky Mahadeva

2021 PLA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE PROVIDING ACCESS TO FITNESS AND RECREATION FROM COCONUTS TO CONSERVATION

CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH NATURE

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Emma Perera

COVER IMAGE Curl Curl Beach, NSW Thomas Yohei, Unsplash

Circulation enquiries to our Sydney head office 02 9805 0399 PLA Journal is published by Universal Magazines, Unit 5, 6-8 Byfield Street, North Ryde 2113. Phone (02) 9805 0399, Fax (02) 9805 0714. Melbourne office, Suite 4 Level 1, 150 Albert Road, South Melbourne 3205 Phone (03) 9694 6444, Fax (03) 9699 7890. Printed by KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd, Singapore. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers. The publishers believe all the information supplied in this book to be correct at the time of printing. They are not, however, in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. Prices, addresses and phone numbers were, after investigation, and to the best of our knowledge and belief, up to date at the time of printing, but the shifting sands of time may change them in some cases. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements which appear in this publication comply with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and the Australian Law. The responsibility must therefore be on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisements for publication. While every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy, the publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. This magazine is printed on paper produced in a mill that meets Environmental Management System ISO14001 * Recommended retail price ISSN 1446-5604 Copyright © Universal Magazines MMXXI ACN 083 489 463 umco.com.au Please pass on or recycle this magazine.

Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 3

FROM THE PLA PRESIDENT “The natural world today is greatly diminished. That is undeniable.” “Our climate is warming fast. That is beyond doubt.” “Our societies and nations are unequal and that is sadly plain to see.” “The decisions we make this decade — in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations — are the most important in human history.”

PAUL JANE

elcome to the Spring edition of the Australasian Parks and Leisure Journal. Sir David Attenborough, at the commencement of June’s G7 summit, made the following statements:

The above statements, while well understood by the readers of this publication, were equally both powerful and frightening, and hopefully resonated with world leaders and their communities alike. Working in the Parks and Leisure sector we have a rare opportunity to create change at a local level to support global efforts. We see ﬁrsthand

the impacts of climate change in its many forms, from the scarcity of water to urban heat islands, coastal erosion and the greater frequency of disaster events. As such, we understand the urgency for change due to the knowledge that if we don’t act now, many of the things that have drawn us to the parks and leisure sector will not be there for future generations. In this edition of the PLA Journal, we focus on parks, gardens and conservation as we discuss the impacts of climate change and hear ﬁrsthand what can and is being done. I would encourage you all to champion measures locally to stop the worst effects of climate change and ensure that what we love today is here for us tomorrow. Paul Jane PLA President

FROM THE PLA CEO

MARK BAND

ith spring in the air — and writing this article two months prior to its release — I can only hope that you are receiving it with an air of optimism that this beautiful time of year brings. As our trees start to blossom, parks and gardens bloom, fauna begins to stir and

communities start to reconnect, we are reminded that the past 18 months has certainly changed the way we live, work and play. On a personal note, I have not seen my immediate family in over three years, as they all reside overseas, however, I consider myself fortunate to live in a country and region with relative freedom — albeit in dynamic and uncertain times. With four of our cities being in the top ten of the most liveable in the world, along with two from New Zealand, we are certainly blessed. I can only reiterate the importance of what we all do in our wonderful industry and the role we have as the “people behind the places that create good use of leisure time”, keeping Australians physically, mentally and emotionally well, particularly in these challenging times. Whether you are a policy maker, a planner looking towards the future or a grounds maintenance person looking after our open spaces and places, we all have an important role in creating better

We thank our national sponsors and partners:

4 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

places for us all to live. We are the envy of the world. And, Parks and Leisure Australia will continue to strive towards its vision for “Australia to be the most liveable country in the world, renowned for its parks, sport and recreation facilities that provide the foundation for healthy communities and liveable towns and cities”. This isn’t a ﬁnish line but a continuous circuit of improvement. On the eve of the PLA National Conference, with its theme of “reconnecting”, underscored by the metaphor of the “park bench” where we often see family, friends and lovers meeting, I sincerely hope these dynamic times haven’t impacted us all reconnecting in Sydney. I look forward to seeing many of you there. Thank you all for your part in making Australia and New Zealand the most liveable places on earth to live and please never stop. Keep up the great work! Mark Band PLA CEO

Bespoke swing arbour - Vicki Wilson Playground in Murarrie, QLD

Innovation is all about change, and understanding that solutions can only come from the ability to recognise that nothing is impossible

Brisbane City Council recently approached Stoddart to design and fabricate a bespoke swing arbour which would provide an adult seating element in the Murarrie Reserve upgrade. The result was a design using steel battens to form an undulating curved-roof arbour with two swing seats attached. Stoddart worked with head landscape contractor, Naturform to ensure that Council’s concept was achieved. The result is a fun, functional and distinctive addition to the Vicki Wilson Playground area. Stoddart Infrastructure has the knowledge and experience to transform any urban space - whether it be a park, road-side, urban space or street scape with innovative solutions in outdoor infrastructure.

FROM THE RECREATION AOTEAROA CHAIR

MARK BOWATER

ia ora koutou. Each year Sport NZ hosts the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards as part of the annual mid-year Connections Conference. I would like to dedicate this article to the recipient of the prestigious CK Doig Leadership Award, Andrew Leslie. This award celebrates outstanding leadership by an individual in the sector. Here is Andrew’s award citation: Hailing from Palmerston North, this year’s recipient of the CK Doig Leadership Award has enjoyed a long career working in the recreational facilities and services industry. Holding a Bachelor of Physical Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, he focused his education on Sport and Recreation while studying at the University of Otago. He is known for his commitment to innovation as a leader, and this trait is clear in his unique approach to the development of people within

the recreation environment. He spearheaded the initial vision of the Atua Matua programme, an initiative dedicated to learning from the environment and recreation in Aotearoa from a Maori perspective. He has also driven the development of a bicultural strategic plan for Recreation Aotearoa. Launched in 2020, the plan was developed in consultation with Te Kahui Kura Māori and uses the concept of a Waka Hourua as the vehicle for the bicultural approach. The strategy is now central to the organisation, extending from Board level to day-to-day applications such as the Outdoor Activity Fund. He has also been a key driver in gaining the certification for Recreation Aotearoa as a CarboNZero Certified Organisation. Navigating through the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 was hard enough for most. For this individual, it showed just how resilience can be personified. As the country moved into national lockdown, he was seriously injured in a mountain bike accident and found himself in ICU where he was told he would never walk again. Determined to prove the diagnosis wrong, after four months in rehab, he not only walked

but learned to run and bike again. It is a testament to his leadership style that in his absence, the staff of his organisation were able to lead it through the difficult and troubled times. Since his accident, he has been instrumental in helping the Department of Conservation to make tracks more accessible for disabled people — an example of his selﬂess passion to ensuring more people can be physically active in the way they choose. He is the number one cheerleader of his three teenage daughters and can regularly be found around the Hutt Valley assisting at their various activities, which have seen him volunteering for the Riversdale Surf Club and on the sideline assisting with synchronised swimming, adventure racing and ballet. As a keen mountain biker and trail runner himself, he has championed active recreation opportunities for all New Zealanders. CK Doig Leadership Award 2021 — Andrew Leslie, Recreation Aotearoa Noho ora mai Mark Bowater Recreation Aotearoa Chair

FROM THE RECREATION AOTEAROA CEO

ANDREW LESLIE

t Recreation Aotearoa, we are proud to run Get Outdoors Week, a national campaign that encourages Kiwis to get out and explore the great outdoors safely. Taking

place on 20-28 November 2021, it’s the perfect opportunity to take the family on a local adventure and explore the natural wonders that Aotearoa has to offer. There’s no limit to how organisations, individuals and families can get involved, whether it’s a short bush walk with the kids, a swim in the ocean or a challenging backcountry adventure! Check out the Get Outdoors Week website at getoutdoorsweek.org.nz. Here you will ﬁnd all the information on how to get involved as well as free tools and resources to help you plan and prepare for an awesome adventure. You can also follow the Get Outdoors week Facebook and Instagram pages. There are heaps of opportunities for you to take part. • By simply getting outdoors and sharing your adventure on social

6 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

media you’ll be part of the action. • Share your adventures on social media using #GOWeekNZ — you could win spot prizes! • Take part in an organised Get Outdoors Week or partner event • Host a Get Outdoors Week event And heaps more! Follow the action online to stay up-to-date as more opportunities are added While the world is still dealing with the ramiﬁcations of the pandemic, I highly encourage you to continue getting out in nature and recreating where possible. As we have seen time and time again, the outdoors and physical activity have incredible beneﬁts for our mental wellbeing. Andrew Leslie Recreation Aotearoa CEO

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Artists impression of the new Oakleigh Recreation Centre (Source: DWP Australia)

OAKLEIGH RECREATION CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT DRIVEN BY A NEED FOR NEW AND IMPROVED SPORT AND RECREATION FACILITIES IN THE REGION, MONASH COUNCIL DELIVERS A TOP-CLASS, STATE-OF-THE-ART SPORTS CENTRE WORDS JACKIE GRIEVE, STRATEGIC LEISURE PLANNER, MONASH CITY COUNCIL

he redevelopment of the Oakleigh Recreation Centre in Park Road, Oakleigh officially opened on 10 February 2021 following a 19-month construction program (impacted by Covid-19). The project, driven by a need for new and improved sport and recreation facilities in Melbourne’s East, delivers a top-class, state-of-the-art gymnastics centre and indoor stadium that responds to the signiﬁcant growth of participation in highball sports, a demonstrated need for a regional gymnastics facility, and a desire to improve access to quality facilities and enhance participation, particularly for girls and women. The $26.5m project, designed by DWP Australia and constructed by APM Group, was the biggest undertaken by Monash Council in more than 20 years. It was achieved in collaboration with Monash Council, State and Federal Government and the Waverley Gymnastics Centre. The major improvements to the centre include:  New indoor highball stadium with ﬁve courts, including a show court

to host premier events with retractable seating for 550 spectators and a huge 3m x 5m LED video scoreboard, and four change rooms with associated amenities  Permanent and fully equipped, standalone, state-of-the art gymnastics centre with 2000m2 floor space and mezzanine viewing area, independent reception, office and administration spaces, consulting suites, meeting rooms and athlete recovery facilities  Refurbished fitness centre with potential 24-hour access entry/ exit door, expanded programming areas including yoga studio, Pilates reformer studio, low sensory studio, small functional exercise and group training rooms, spin room and consulting suites The finished project reflects current industry best practice in Environmental Sustainable Design (ESD), through the careful design of passive and active systems, the selection of recycled and sustainable materials and finishes and

8 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

robust construction methodology will minimise future maintenance and operational costs. In addition to the extensive range of ESD materials specified and used, new techniques, technologies and project materials included:  Fabric First approach (well above BCA requirements of insulation)  Double-glazed performance windows  Water harvesting into tanks for toilet flushing  Efficient sanitary fixtures  Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) system  159kW roof mounted PV system  Reuse of original sprung-timber stadium floorboards for reception joinery and feature wall entry to fitness centre change rooms With arguably the largest and bestequipped gymnastics facility in Victoria, the Waverley Gymnastics Centre operates from a 2000 square meter fullyequipped gymnastics floor with built-in pits and anchor points and reverse cycle air conditioning. Other headline features

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include a mezzanine level that provides accessible spectator seating for 300 people and elite facilities including an athlete recovery room complete with ice and heated baths. The gymnastics centre occupies what was once the original basketball stadium, which has now been modernised into a facility of international standard. Its conversion required the full removal of the existing sprung floor, which was replaced with a complex concrete floor with set-downs and pits suitable for modern gymnastic equipment. The set-out of the floor pits required coordination with international gymnastic specialists Speith, based in Germany. The floor was futureproofed with cast-in ducting for a future magnesium carbonate dust extraction system, to remove the airborne chalk dust used by gymnasts to improve grip. The new indoor stadium floor system uses the latest in engineered timber technology for maximum environmental advantage. It has a factory supplied coating that results in minimal maintenance. Engineered timber floors offer a long-life elastic layer for high shock and sound absorption and is highly stabilised, meaning movement is near minimal. The stadium is also outfitted with advanced AV technology, including LED interactive scoreboards, which offer versatile connectivity from devices and the new stadium tournament office. The project has also facilitated the reconnection of the Scotchmans Creek Trail to nearby Brickmakers Park, improving pedestrian movement around the centre while also capitalising on water sensitive design principles in the parking and landscaping design. Preliminary concept plans for the redevelopment evolved to enable the best possible outcome for the community and key stakeholders. Early layout iterations attempted to retain the existing 7 en-tout-cas tennis courts that occupied the prominent Park Road street frontage. As time progressed it became clear that to optimally deliver the full scope of works, the tennis courts (leased to the Oakleigh Tennis Club) would need to be relocated. The need to relocate the courts triggered the development of a new eight-court tennis facility and multisport pavilion at nearby Caloola Reserve, in order to accommodate the Oakleigh and Oakleigh North Tennis Clubs. Following a series of meetings with council officers and Tennis Victoria, the clubs agreed to merge and relocate from their respective locations to enable the best possible redevelopment outcome for the centre.

Waverley Gymnastics Centre at the Oakleigh Recreation Centre – view from the spectator mezzanine over the 2000m2 gymnastics ﬂoor

Oakleigh Recreation Centre concept layout indicating new indoor stadium (Source: DWP Australia)

Caloola Reserve concept plan depicting 8 new tennis courts, hot-shot courts and multi-sport pavilion

The development of a new tennis facility at Caloola Reserve resulted in additional community beneﬁts, including:  Rationalisation and consolidation of aging tennis assets in the Oakleigh area  Successful merger of two clubs to create a more vibrant and sustainable club  Flexible, multiuse facilities with the construction of hot-shot courts, tennis hit-up wall, basketball halfcourt and new multisport pavilion for tennis, cricket and soccer  Increased participation and accessibility with the development of eight new compliant synthetic grass tennis courts with LED lighting and integration of Tennis Victoria’s Book-A-Court System

participation programs, development pathways, competitions (grassroots through to elite) and tournaments. The stadium has the capacity to host major sport competitions such as Victoria’s premier netball competition, the Victorian Netball League — Wilson Storage Southern Saints hosted their first home game on 21 April against Hawks Netball Club with over 450 spectators in attendance. The development of a state-level, purpose-built gymnastics facility has enabled the Waverley Gymnastics Centre to offer places to the 570 people previously on their waiting list to gain access to gymnastics activities, most of which are females (90%). This has increased their membership to more than 2000 people. Programming capacity has significantly increased with the addition of five new studios that provide functional fitness spaces for group fitness including a high-energy, cycle and low-sensory studio to cater for everyone in the community. The centre now offers a diverse range of new programs along with an expanded fitness centre, consulting suites, improved female and family-friendly amenities for members, officials, participants, spectators and casual users, supporting a healthier and more active community. For more information visit oakleighrecreationcentre.com.au/home

Importantly, the relocation of the tennis facilities enabled the best possible design outcomes for the redevelopment of the Oakleigh Recreation Centre, delivering improved functionality, accessibility and additional onsite parking. The redevelopment has signiﬁcantly enhanced sport and recreation opportunities for the local community and metro east. New and expanded sport offerings are provided in the stadium by anchor tenants: Waverley District Netball Association, Waverley Basketball Association and Volleyball Victoria. These tenants provide sport

10 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

School planting event at Wellsford

URBAN FAMILY BUSH CAMPS: WHERE IT ALL STARTED

CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH NATURE COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES IN AUCKLAND PARKS WORDS AUCKLAND COUNCIL: MARTIN VAN JAARSVELD, MANAGER COMMUNITY PARKS & PLACES, GLENN BROWNE, PROGRAMME RANGER, ANNA BAINE, PROGRAMME RANGER

onnecting people with nature may be one of the most important functions of local authorities to ensure long-term environmental protection and response to climate change. We all know that being in nature is good for us. It has mental, social and physical wellbeing benefits. But are we taking advantage of these benefits? Numerous surveys show that people (especially the younger generation) are spending less time outdoors. This is reflected in our 2020 Auckland customer experience surveys, which show that people over 70 years of age visit parks more frequently than younger age groups. However, it is not only children that are becoming less connected to nature. In Auckland, a large proportion of new migrants to New Zealand spend little time in parks and natural areas. Evidence shows that the cost of our disconnection from nature has psychological, physical and cognitive costs, particularly for children in their vulnerable developing years. But there are not only social and mental health

costs. The environment could also be negatively impacted by our lack of connection to nature. This is because the more people are connected with nature, the more they will care about the environment. We need to develop opportunities for communities to connect with nature in their local parks in order to provide for future community support for our natural areas. Community programmes that connect people with nature are one way to do this. Over the last four years, Auckland Council has developed a series of community programmes that focus on young people, Māori and Asian communities, particularly in south Auckland, which we have identified as an area of opportunity and growth for our community programmes. The benefits of these programmes are significant, and we can already see that they are making a profound difference to our communities and to the environment. In this article, we detail several programmes that illustrate how we are connecting people to nature.

12 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

Our initial programmes started ﬁve years ago with an urban family bush camp initiative at Centennial Park in Auckland. The annual overnight camp is offered within the heart of the city and is a collaborative effort between the Centennial Park Bush Society and Auckland Council. Urban family bush camps seek to engage younger local families to connect with nature and their local community while developing relationships and a sense of place. The camps provide: • The opportunity for families to experience camping • The ability to partake in a range of environmental activities such as nature walks, bug hunts and stream activities • Experiences where families learn about te ao Māori (Māori worldview) • An opportunity for volunteer groups to share their work and grow their volunteer base The urban family bush camps have resulted in a more well-connected and environmentally-aware community that cares for its environment, as well as engages the next generation in the park and in conservation. The urban family bush camps programme has since been rolled out to several other parks in Auckland, with a high level of community interest.

CHILDREN: THE FUTURE GUARDIANS OF NATURE In addition to urban family bush camps, Auckland Council has run several additional programmes that focus on connecting the younger generation with nature. Through our Wild about Nature programmes, tamariki (children) and mokopuna (grandchilden) eight years and younger develop conﬁdence with being in nature and develop awareness and appreciation of New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity. This is achieved through play-based, child-led sensory experiences designed to connect them with nature and to foster a lifetime appreciation for the environment. Through our Kaitiaki (Guardian) Ranger programme, rangatahi (young people) aged between eight and thirteen increase their knowledge of the environment and pick up valuable skills to become a park ranger one day. This programme has a strong focus on mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) designed to create connection to place and kaitiakitanga (guardianship). After a series of learning sessions over a six-month period, Kaitiaki

Rangers facilitate their graduation by running a community planting day for their whānau (family) and sharing their knowledge to inspire their community. The Adopt-a-Park programme has been highly successful in teaching school-aged students about conservation in their local park. Over 40 schools in Auckland are now participating in this programme, which links with their curriculum. This programme offers an important opportunity to connect children with their local park and to existing volunteer groups. In addition, our annual school planting programme has provided an opportunity for thousands of students around Auckland to learn about native habitat restoration and to get involved in planting over 20,000 native trees annually in our local parks.

PARTNERING WITH MĀORI Auckland Council are codesigning and delivering a series of Mātauranga Māori Wānanga (Māori knowledge workshops) and building valued relationships with mana whenua and mataawaka. Through these relationships we are creating a safe platform for Māori to share their mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), which celebrates Auckland’s Māori identity in parks. The workshops offer an insight into Māori culture and empower

participants to connect with nature through a te ao o Māori (Māori worldview). The highlight of this programme is the celebration of Matariki (Māori New Year), where we codeliver Matariki wānanga (forums) across Auckland parks. This year’s programmes include Matariki community plantings and hāngī (food cooked in an earth oven), mountain bike mobile wānanga with Dr Ihirangi Heke, gifts of te whenua hīkoi (walks) with Donna Kerridge, and Ngā Taonga Tākaro (traditional Māori play) with Harko Brown.

CONNECTING WITH NATURE DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS Nearly a year has passed since Covid-19 struck and caused major disruption to people across the world, with lockdowns temporarily taking away our freedom and the ability to undertake our usual activities. This included the delivery of programmes in parks, which caused us to cancel several exciting Connect to Nature programmes such as urban family bush camps, guided ranger walks and planting events. During the lockdowns, Council identiﬁed social media as an innovative way to continue to deliver our programmes and to ensure that people stayed connected with nature. Several of the Connect to Nature programmes

were adjusted so they could be delivered through social media. Two days after the first lockdown in 2020, the first Backyard Wild Child event was posted. This encouraged young children to explore their backyards while learning about the environment. Children and families learnt how to make bug hotels, tracking tunnels, bird houses and more. The Backyard Wild Child programmes caught on like wildfire and many more events were posted on Facebook, particularly during lockdowns. Over 455,000 Aucklanders were reached, while 46,000 people engaged by posting a comment, photo or video.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE Communities that participate in these programmes not only make a real difference to Auckland’s biodiversity, they learn new skills, become more connected to the wider community, and achieve a greater sense of wellbeing. Over the last four years, participation numbers in our programmes have almost doubled. This is an encouraging outcome, because if we are going to win the battle against climate change and social- and mental-health issues, we need to continue to get more people connected with nature.

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Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 13

2021 NEW ZEALAND PARKS AWARDS HOSTED BY RECREATION AOTEAROA WORDS SARAH FORD AND LEAH MACLEAN, RECREATION AOTEAROA Active Park of the Year Award

ACTIVE PARK OF THE YEAR

he Plimmerton Domain Dog Recreation Area (Te Papa Tākaro Kurī o Te Papa Rēhia o Taupō), serviced by Porirua City Council, was named Active Park of the Year. The Active Park Award recognises the park’s commitment to accessibility, community engagement and wellbeing. The judges were impressed by the thought and collaboration that went into the development of Te Papa Tākaro Kurī o Te Papa Rēhia o Taupō including the bilingual signage. They saw the park as a valuable case study of social, environmental, ﬁnancial and sustainable design approaches. Porirua Parks Manager Julian Emeny said the award was made possible by excellent work from the volunteer design group, within Council and by contractors. Input from the community and design specialists, along with guidance from mana whenua Ngāti Toa, made the project a success. “This was a collaborative effort to ensure we got it right, the result being a special asset used regularly by our dogowning residents and visitors to Porirua,” Mr Emeny said.

HEALTHY PARK OF THE YEAR Auckland Botanic Gardens was awarded Playground of the Year Award

Healthy Park of the Year Award

Parks Week Marketing Award

the Healthy Park of the Year, an award that highlights their impressive natural environment and the work they do to maintain it. With their regular innovative events and collection of native and rare trees, the Auckland Botanic Gardens are leaders in nature education and innovation.

PLAYGROUND OF THE YEAR Playground of the Year went to Kopupaka Reserve in the Auckland suburb of Westgate. Another Auckland Council managed park, the judges were wowed by the playground’s mission to prevent emissions and support local climate change considerations. With its vibrant colour and edible plantings, one judge commented that that the playground felt like a real “Kiwi backyard”.

PARKS WEEK MARKETING AWARD Thames-Coromandel District Council were presented with the Parks Week Marketing Award in recognition of their fantastic programme encouraging their community to enjoy their local parks during Parks Week 2021. “Normally these sort of awards are snapped up by the big metro councils, so I can’t emphasise enough how excellent this is,” said Thames-Coromandel District Council Community Facilities Manager Derek Thompson. Parks Person of the Year

14 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

“Our Community Facilities Team, including our libraries staff, put a huge amount of effort into creating events and programmes for the week that required a lot of planning and a high attention to detail, which were very well received by the public,” said Mr Thompson. “To say it took a lot of effort is an understatement, as we start work on the next Parks Week almost as soon as the last one is over,” he added. Sarah Ford, Recreation Aotearoa Marketing Manager stated, “We were impressed by the breadth of Parks Week Events put on by the ThamesCoromandel District Council. They made a real effort to host events that could be done under lockdown conditions and accessed by anyone.”

PARKS PERSON OF THE YEAR Recreation Aotearoa had a new addition to this year’s ceremony, the Parks Person of the Year Award. This was given to Glenn Browne from Auckland Council. Mr Browne has shown exceptional leadership and innovation in connecting locals to nature. His nominator said, “Through his leadership and innovation, others within Auckland Council are learning from Glenn. He has created a solid platform for Auckland Council to expand future environmental programmes. He is a true park professional, whose achievements should be celebrated.” Glenn is best known, and loved by many, as his persona Ranger Glenn, who came to life on Auckland Council’s Parks Facebook page when lockdown hit in March 2020. Glenn said of the project, “We had the Wild Child: Love our Nature programmes ready to roll out through our parks then suddenly we were going into lockdown. I though, how do we pivot? How can I support our young children and communities during what I knew was going to be a very tough time?” “Thankfully we had a couple of days to get organised before going into lockdown, so I loaded my ute with all of our props and everything I needed, with the mindset that I’m going to try and deliver this programme from home.” Glenn created nature activities that children and their families could do in their backyards, or indoors for those that don’t have a backyard. The New Zealand Parks Awards have become an important way for Recreation Aotearoa and local communities to recognise the outstanding spaces and places that support activity within the recreation sector.

The smart

play

Introducing Tetrino, a new insect control solution from Bayer, offering an unmatched combination of performance, ease of use and efﬁciency. Delivering fast control and lasting protection against a broad-spectrum of turf insect pests with a low rate of active ingredient, Tetrino is the smart play for ﬂexible and sustainable insect control. ALWAYS USE ACCORDING TO PRODUCT LABEL Bayer CropScience Pty. Ltd., Environmental Science, Level 1, 8 Redfern Road, Hawthorn East, Vic. 3123 Technical Enquiries: 1800 804 479 // es.bayer.com.au Tetrino® is a Registered Trademark of the Bayer Group

THE CHILD’S RIGHT TO PLAY WORDS JILL RICE, PLAY AOTEAROA

rticle 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRoC) is ratiﬁed by New Zealand and Australia, along with 196 countries around the world, and places responsibilities on governments to promote and encourage children’s play. UNCRoC is a multilateral human rights treaty that promotes the rights of all children worldwide to develop physically, mentally and socially to their fullest potential, to express their opinions freely, and to participate in decisions affecting their future.1

of children and young people, local government contributes to the fulﬁlment of the child‘s “right to play” as set out in Article 31 and in the supporting General Comment 17 of UNCRoC, which explains clearly what these beneﬁts are.

HOLISTIC AND INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO PLAY Organisations responsible for play in Australasia generally agree that children engage with more than play equipment in their play and that we need to think of providing “play spaces” rather than just playgrounds.

A broad view of play was demonstrated at the May 2021 Recreation Aotearoa conference, Green Pavlova, including discussions around the benefits of nature play, loose-parts play and indigenous perspectives on play, as well as what we now consider to be “traditional” play (ie equipment-based play). One of the recurring themes from the input of indigenous Kaiarahi Tākaro (play advocates) is that children deepen their connection with Te Ao, the natural world, through play. Protecting and exploring connections with the environment is therefore a vital part of the mahi (work) of those in local government and impacting on the play system. The value of involving children and their communities in the design and decision making around play opportunities and environments is largely understood. Children are also capable of post-investment evaluation of play provision to help direct asset management and future funding decisions in order to optimise their own environments for play. While landscape architects, urban designers, asset managers and elected representatives all have a role to play in facilitating that input, children who are consulted need to include children from groups that most often miss out on play opportunities. Such groups have been identified by Sport NZ and others as girls and young women, disabled people and those living in higher deprivation communities.3 General Comment 17 of UNCRoC specifically mentions the right to play of girls, children living in poverty, children with disabilities, children living in institutions, children from indigenous

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS CAN MAKE PLAY HAPPEN Playgrounds are what usually come to mind when thinking about how local government contributes to play. This is the most visible aspect of the play system delivered by local government. However, they have a much wider role in protecting, promoting and providing for play. In New Zealand, the roles and responsibilities of city, district, regional and unitary councils are outlined in the Local Government Act 2002. While Article 31 is not speciﬁcally referenced in the Act, the purpose of the Act2 is to provide for local authorities to play a broad role in promoting the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of their communities, taking a sustainable development approach. By recognising and promoting the beneﬁts of play to improve the cognitive, physical, social and emotional wellbeing

Local government systems interact with the play system at a variety of levels, including:

SYSTEM

AREA OF INFLUENCE

Regional and district planning systems

How children participate in decisions relating to them. Setting the rules for the design and location of housing, private open space, parks, schools and infrastructure.

Transport planning

Street and road hierarchy. Provision of footpaths, cycleways and pedestrian crossings. Setting road speeds. How children access places to play. Play along the way

Street design

Footpath and street surfaces, furniture location, tree planting, lighting.

Parks and reserves

Park locations, park design, park infrastructure, playground locations, and maintenance practices.

Community facilities (community centres, libraries

Community facility locations, design, operating hours, provision of facilities for children.

Funding

Funding decision-making based on outcomes for infrastructure, assets, maintenance and programmes

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and minority communities, and children in situations of conﬂict, humanitarian and natural disasters. What is needed is a system that ensures there are equitable opportunities for all children to play and contribute to the decisions made about their play.

THE IMPORTANCE AND RELEVANCE OF ARTICLE 31 The International Play Association (IPA) was founded in 1961 to protect, preserve and promote the child’s right to play in accordance with Article 31 of UNCRoC. Article 31 talks about the rights of all children to have age appropriate and equal opportunities to engage in play and recreational activities.4 As the New Zealand branch of IPA, Play Aotearoa is committed to promoting play in the broadest sense of the word, including the development of a comprehensive play system and making sure children’s voices are heard. We believe that to advocate for play for our tamariki and rangatahi is to advocate for a healthy society and a healthier world. By providing a wider environment that is suitable for children to play in, and by empowering children’s decision-making to sustain the wonder they experience for themselves, our cities will become much healthier for us all.

INVEST IN PLAY! In general, most local government investment for children’s benefit is made in the provision of structures and organised activities. Equally important is the need to create time and space for children to engage in spontaneous play, recreation and creativity, and to promote societal attitudes that support and encourage such activity. Local governments, and those engaged by them to design and manage our urban environments, also need to realise that every part of the city is potentially a play environment, that fostering connections for children with the natural world, in the context of their whānau (family) and iwi (community), is as much a part of play provision as constructing a playground or providing a sport’s programme. Although to define “play” is to strip it of some of its magic, we need to remind ourselves that, essentially, to play is the freedom for a child to choose what one wants to do and how one wants to do it. In fulfilling our adult responsibilities to provide for play we must not confuse that with the idea that we are providing play for our children. “Adults may contribute to the creation of the environment in which it takes place, but play itself is non-compulsory,

driven by intrinsic motivation and is undertaken for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end. It involves the exercise of autonomy, physical, mental, or emotional activity, and has the potential to take inﬁnite forms, either in groups or alone.”6 Children are competent to determine what play is for themselves, they simply need our support to do that. As we focus on ensuring that our cities and our wild spaces are places children are able to play, we will inevitably ﬁnd that we are making our world a healthier place. Play Aotearoa has recently prepared a short video that captures what is unique and wonderful about play in Aotearoa NZ. Watch it here: playaotearoa.org.nz

REFERENCES 1. childrightscampaign.org/what-is-the-crc/ 2. Local Government Act Section 1.3 (d) .legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0084/ latest/whole.html 3. sportnz.org.nz/resources/tu-manawaactive-aotearoa/ 4. IPA World Summary document re General Comment 17: ipaworld.org/wp-content/ uploads/2013/11/IPA-Summary-of-UN-GCarticle-31_FINAL1.pdf 5. ako.ac.nz/assets/Knowledge-centre/NPF-09009-Bicultural-competence-in-ECE/ToolResource-kit-for-student-teachers.pdf 6. ipaworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ IPA_Declaration-FINAL.pdf

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PROVIDING ACCESS TO FITNESS AND RECREATION A WORLD-CLASS RECREATION AND AQUATIC FACILITY PLANNED FOR SOUTH PERTH WILL BRING A COMMUNITY CLOSER TO HEALTH AND WELLBEING WORDS RECREATION AND AQUATIC CENTRE PROJECT TEAM

or over 30 years, the City of South Perth community has raised concerns about the lack of local access to aquatic and recreation facilities. With no public pool and existing indoor sport facilities no longer fit for purpose, the City of South Perth is proposing a world-class health, wellness, fitness, recreation and education hub located at Collier Park Golf Course in Como. The Recreation and Aquatic Facility (RAF) will set a new benchmark in wellness and leisure. It will be a WA first, a unique model that combines sporting facilities with research and education, and provides for integrated learning and delivery of preventive health care. The RAF is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the changing needs of a growing population in the city and the broader region. A destination in its own right, the RAF will be set within the unique landscape of Collier Park Golf Course. Indoor sport courts, pools (including hydrotherapy), an international standard climbing wall, and a regional health club including a gym will be offered

alongside quality retail and food and beverage outlets. The RAF is expected to attract over 1 million visits each year. Preventive health care is central to the RAF model, with a focus on chronic disease management, mental health and building connections in the local community. The City’s existing public golf course and recently opened minigolf course will be integrated into the design, along with new short-form golf and a technology-based driving range to cater for growing demand. Trails for walking and cycling will be incorporated into the landscape, establishing the area as a regional leisure precinct. The RAF will address a lack of access to important water safety programs like Learn to Swim, which families and school groups currently travel long distances to attend. With the City’s only indoor recreation space, George Burnett Leisure Centre, no longer meeting demand, the RAF will deliver much needed indoor court space for a variety of sports such as basketball and volleyball.

18 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

ADDRESSING PUBLIC HEALTH The RAF aligns with the City’s Public Health Plan, which advocates for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and the delivery of primary health care and prevention in the community. It provides a unique opportunity to make real and lasting change in public health outcomes for the City of South Perth and neighbouring communities through the delivery of exercise and health-related programs. The City’s explicit focus on improving health outcomes and encouraging preventive health activities is consistent with the Sustainable Health Review undertaken by the Government of Western Australia in 2017 and the Public Health Act (2016).

A FINANCIALLY SUSTAINABLE MODEL While public aquatic centres and recreation facilities traditionally run at a deﬁcit, the operating model of the RAF will ensure it is ﬁnancially self-sustainable. Aquatic, sport and recreation facilities will be offered alongside preventive healthcare,

research and education programs to support the needs of a population set to grow by 33 percent by 2041. Another integral part of the ﬁnancially sustainable model is Community House — a home for state sporting associations, peak aquatic and sport education bodies and other community groups. The ﬁnancial model assumes capital funding from commercial and other funding partners as well as State Government to support the already committed City and Federal Government funding.

A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH The City is committed to pursuing partnerships and collaborating with organisations to promote and improve the health and wellbeing of our community. This approach reﬂects the City of South Perth Strategic Community Plan (2020-2030) and Public Health Plan (2020-2025), and has been central to the RAF project. The RAF is a unique opportunity for a local government to collaborate with, and leverage partnerships between, State and Federal Government, wellness and health, sport and leisure, education (including Aboriginal education) and the community.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES The City has partnered with local education providers Clontarf College and SEDA College to plan practical work placements and on-the-job training to be delivered at the RAF as part of a bespoke curriculum. Both colleges provide services and support to students with increased educational needs, with Clontarf providing speciﬁc services to Aboriginal students. The City is also working with a network of 15 local public schools on plans for an allied services hub to operate at the RAF in partnership with Curtin University. The allied services hub will deliver a range of student support services to help address social disadvantage and barriers to learning. In addition, the RAF will provide much needed access to aquatic and sporting facilities to local schools.

THE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The RAF project commenced in June 2017, when council endorsed a new action as part of the City’s Strategic Community Plan (2020-2030): to “Plan for and promote the development of recreation and aquatic facilities to service the City of South Perth needs”.

A detailed feasibility study and discussions with potential project partners took place prior to the development of the Project Deﬁnition Plan and Business Case. At the feasibility stage it was determined that the facility would need to be located within a 5km radius of Curtin University to take advantage of partnership opportunities and links with students and education programs. A number of existing City assets were evaluated as potential sites for the RAF. Collier Park Golf Course was endorsed as the preferred site due to the potential funding opportunities, opportunity to integrate a range of facilities, potential for enhancing commercial and operational viability as well as to future proof the golf course. The golf course is a highly accessible location with direct access to Curtin University and links to a large population base, which is essential for the viability of the RAF.

Feasibility Report. The Business Case was endorsed and a $20 million commitment by the City was approved by Council in November 2020. As required under Section 3.59 of the Local Government Act 1995, the City developed a Business Plan which formally acknowledged the City’s intention to enter into a major land transaction. The Business Plan enables the City to build on City managed land, sign the Federal Funding agreement and for the procurement of commercial funding to commence. Council approved the plan at a Special Council Meeting in March 2021. The RAF proposal is based on a project cost of $80 million (ex GST). The City is continuing discussions with key stakeholders to secure the remaining funding, together with the completion of the Treasury Business Case to align with potential State Government funding commitments.

FUNDING

PROJECT GOVERNANCE AND TIMELINE

With the support of Member for Swan Hon Steve Irons, a ﬁnancial commitment of $20 million from the Federal Government was announced in April 2019. With federal funding secured, the City continued to explore additional partnership and funding opportunities while developing a feasibility study to progress the project. A project team developed a detailed Business Case for the RAF, including a Project Deﬁnition Plan and Operational

A Gateway structure has been adopted for project governance and decisionmaking processes. It ensures that the project is managed in a manner that minimises risk for all partners and provides opportunities for considered input through a formalised project governance and delivery framework. Design is anticipated to commence late 2021 subject to funding, with construction to commence in the third quarter of 2022 and opening late 2024.

20 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

Recommended for schools, playgrounds, sports ovals, retirement villages and all parks and gardens

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Used by councils, professional landscapers, turf farms, wholesale growers and industry experts

“We have found that our gardens require less water, and the plants take up the natural nutrients in the soil much quicker, giving us better colour and foliage in all our plants. We strongly recommend using Earthlife products as Best Practice in all our projects, and highly recommend adding it to your next landscaping project list.” Jason Kay, owner of iLandscape

“Our ‘Healthy Foods Program’ has been implemented into 160 schools, kindergartens and day-care centres for six years in the Lockyer Valley, Somerset and the Toowoomba Regions. What makes our gardens so special is the natural rock minerals that is added to the soil. The Earthlife products condition the soil, and the plants take up the minerals improving the produce grown by the children. As we say, ‘you can taste the difference’ and the minerals improve the shelf life of the produce harvested.”

We produce advanced ex-ground trees for councils, developers and landscapers. All our young trees have been planted using Earthlife microbial rock minerals which conditions the soil, improving its structure and facilitating better water penetration and holding capacity. We now regard it as ‘Best Practice’ to use the microbial rock minerals with all our trees when planted and then follow up with additional applications when required. On average, our trees are growing at a rate which is around 1/3rd more than before using these minerals.

Greg Grimes, Project Manager - Buddies Edible Garden Project

Emaho Trees, Ravensbourne, Qld

1800 819 003 | earthlife.com.au

CREATING ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY AND COST-EFFICIENT GREENSPACE TIFTUF HYBRID BERMUDA CASE STUDIES

ifTuf, a hybrid Bermuda grass, has become the benchmark when it comes to measuring the drought tolerance of turf. The product of almost 25 years of research and development from one of the world’s leading turf grass breeders, the University of Georgia, TifTuf was selected from almost 30,000 Bermuda varieties. It has a ﬁne leaf blade with dense growth, which makes it ideal for a wide variety of applications.

PROVIDING BUSHFIRE MITIGATION The small rural town of Balmoral suffered devastating losses during the bushfires of 2019/2020, with the fires destroying 18 homes and around 90 percent of its surrounding bushland. Thankfully, days and weeks of hard work from local fire brigades, community members and other volunteers saw them save the town’s historical centre, Balmoral Village Hall, from almost certain destruction. A big part of the renovation project to restore the site was to ensure the gardens looked fantastic and were also able to stand up to the harsh climate of the area and provide some natural barriers to the surrounding bushland, as a buffer to future bushfires events. The centrepiece of the landscape is the lawn, which is 1000 square metres in size and surrounds the picturesque hall. The grass chosen to fit the brief was TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda. TifTuf was selected due to its excellent drought tolerance, which will enable it to stand up to Balmoral’s long hot summers without the need for constant irrigation.

PROVIDING HIGH WEAR TOLERANCE In 2019, HG Turf approached Lawn Solutions Australia member Musturf with a product called XtraGrassTM, a hybrid turf system with both natural grass and synthetic ﬁbres. This product can increase play time on ﬁelds, reduce divots,

eliminate establishment time and keep ﬁelds looking greener for longer. Musturf saw the opportunity to use XtraGrassTM on high-wear sporting areas and proceeded to grow 3500sqm on their turf farm in Freemans Reach. As the news of XtraGrassTM with TifTuf quickly spread, we were approached to conduct trials at various locations including Waverley Oval, Castle Hill Golf Course and the Australian Catholic College. Each client clearly saw the beneﬁts of XtraGrassTM and have all been impressed by its performance. Another great case study was conducted by The Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, trialled in a high-traffic pedestrian area. This section suffered intense wear from people overtaking others on the grass beside the walkway. The section is now performing strongly and can be easily top-dressed and maintained as required.

PROVIDING LOW WATER REQUIREMENTS Built in 1852, Mount Lofty House is a venue and hotel in Crafers, South Australia. In recent years, the property has undergone signiﬁcant additions and renovations. Recently, discussions were had about the best turf solutions for the Mount Lofty ﬁre track, which leads to the helicopter pad surrounding the property, and for the repair of some existing areas. “Water management is a critical aspect to our business as we do not have mains access and therefore rely solely on our spring-fed water, “ explains David Tonkin, Guest Relations Manager at Mount Lofty House. Sunnyside Instant Lawns recommended TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda, a couch grass that is the only grass currently recognised with the Smart Approved WaterMark in Australia. TifTuf would provide a grass that could handle a lot of foot traffic but would also withstand extended periods without irrigation if necessary.

22 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

The ﬁnished result has provided a spectacular unity between the natural living areas and the Mount Lofty Facilities.

PROVIDING A PLATFORM FOR FIRST-CLASS EVENTS During the thick of the Covid-19 period in early 2020, the Redcliffe Dolphins Rugby League Club penned a deal with the Brisbane Roar A-League and W-League teams that would see soccer played on the hallowed rugby league ground of Moreton Daily Stadium from December 2020. The right grass is paramount when you imagine the traffic the playing area has to cope with. Among the dozen A-League matches, the venue was scheduled to host two NRL trials at the start of the 2021 season. They are also heading into their own rugby league season competing in the Queensland Rugby League Major Competitions. This would usually mean hosting four senior rugby league teams on a Saturday evening, then turning out an A-League soccer pitch twelve hours later. “This amount of usage is probably more than some of the major stadiums around the country at the moment, but we are enjoying the challenges presented when running a multi-use venue. We also have some great support and advice from our suppliers at Lawn Solutions Australia and Twin View Turf. Their guidance, along with the quality turf that we planted has helped us enormously,” said Redcliffe Dolphins General Manager of Football Operations Grant Cleal. “The feedback from the Roar and the FFA has always been very positive. The players absolutely love the venue and the TifTuf playing surface,” Cleal added. TIFTUF TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda is exclusively available in Australia through the Lawn Solutions Australia national network. For project enquiries contact the Lawn Solutions Australia on 1300 883 711.

KLIX AUSSIE MADE PLAY STRUCTURES KliX offers a fresh, new range of play and park equipment designed for children of all-ages and abilities, environments, and budgets. Manufactured in NSW, KliX employ the talent of local qualified specialists to bring to life their unique range of Aussie Made play equipment prioritising recycled and recyclable materials. As experienced professionals, the company’s designers focus on engaging play in a safe and practical manner. Every detail and finish are considered and thoughtfully included, while assembly of every piece is undertaken with care. Exclusively supplied by CRS Creative Recreation Solutions, proudly delivering great Australian play spaces for over 20 years.

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THE HILLS BARK BLOWER A UNIQUE SERVICE SOLVING THE LANDSCAPING WOES OF MANY A LARGE-SCALE OR HARD TO REACH SITE, WE ASK THE HILLS BARK BLOWER ABOUT WHAT THEY DO BEST Q. What is so unique about the hills bark blower? A. The Hills BARK BLOWER® is the market leader in offering a unique supply and installation service for a wide range of commonly used landscape and building materials. With the capabilities to pump these products up to 300 metres from our truck, or in excess of 30 floors high, we are an efficient and cost-effective answer for any project. Comprised of the largest fleet of Blower Trucks and Rockslingers in Australia, The Hills Bark Blower caters for projects of all sizes across a range of industries. Our experienced team is made up of thoroughly trained operators and supervisors, along with qualified horticulturalists and

landscapers who are able to assist customers with product selection and site-specific requirements. Focus areas for our services include soil into urban landscapes, playground under surfacing, bioretention in urban developments, erosion control and revegetation solutions, as well as decorative mulching of gardens and open spaces. Q. How did the company get started? A. Blower trucks were first introduced to Australia in 1997 when the owner of The Hills Bark Blower, Jon Moon, built two truck-mounted machines in conjunction with a local engineering firm. Jon had previously spent time working as a labourer for a US-based blower truck business and was excited about the

24 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

potential of bringing this technology and methodology back home to Australia. Once the build was complete, it was a matter of promoting the service and capabilities of the trucks to potential customers across varying industries. First and foremost, Jon targeted his existing landscape construction network via the existing Hills Garden & Landscape Centre business located in Kenthurst, North West Sydney. It didn’t take long before domestic and commercial landscapers, and local council representatives saw a huge beneﬁt to the capabilities of these blower trucks. Both the cost effectiveness and time efficiency of the service was extremely appealing. Before long, word started to spread about this innovative and unique service.

Q. What type of projects are you best equipped to handle? A. The Hills Bark Blower’s services are proven to beneﬁt an array of industries from landscape construction, general development and roadside maintenance to local government, civil engineering, facilities management teams and greenroof and greenspace professionals, as well as domestic homeowners. In recent times, a huge focus and growth area within our business has been open space and parklands within local government areas in the Sydney Metropolitan area. The Hills Bark Blower has been successful in a number of large-scale tender opportunities, many for area councils who are engaging our services to assist in the upkeep of their local parklands and playspaces. The Hills Bark Blower supplies a number of quality-controlled products including various mulches along with varying certiﬁed playground under-surfacing products. The most commonly used are The Hills Playbark and The Hills Playground Sand. Q. Give us an example of a challenging project you completed and how you overcome that challenge? A. The Hills Bark Blower was the preferred option to install a huge amount of growing media and mulch into stage two of the South Village development in Kirrawee. Two thousand cubic metres of The Hills B Horizon Mix and The Hills

Lightweight Planter Box Mix were installed into two large podiums and three smaller podiums via our pneumatic blower trucks. We were the answer to the problem of how to deliver such a large volume of soil in an efficient and cost effective manner, all with limited disruption to other trades on site. The entire installation process was complete within one week, showing just how valuable The Hills Bark Blower option can be. Stage one of the project was carried out before the shopping centre area was open, however the second stage of the Kirrawee construction site coincided with the new shopping centre being open to the general public. The Hills Bark Blower staff took great care to ensure minimum impact on the day-to-day centre operations while pumping the large soil volume into place. The Hills made sure the large installation went smoothly and that all aspects of planning were strategically approached throughout the duration of the project. The Hills Bark Blower were all involved in clear communication and planning well before the soil installation commenced, to ensure an incredibly effective and smooth process. The Hills Bark Blower trucks accessed the site, setting hoses up the side of the building from three vantage points to make reaching the various podiums easier. The Barkblower trucks have the ability to pump up to 300 metres away or 30 ﬂoors high into construction sites.

Q. Do you see a scope for expansion for your type of services in the industry? A. With development and construction throughout Sydney at an all-time high, as well as the expansion of housing developments in areas such as the central and south coasts, the opportunity to expand and maintain a consistent workload in these areas is very promising. We have seen substantial growth within our business over the past 10 years, and we are always looking to take on new opportunities and challenges as they present themselves. For the most part we have never had to take on work outside of NSW, though in the past 12 months we have seen substantial interest in our Rockslinger machinery from interstate. We currently have two truck-mounted Rockslingers operating in South Australia on pipeline and wind farm projects, and have had one of our Slingers working in Victoria in 2020 for a substantial amount of time for similar applications. The Hills introduced the first Rockslinger to Australia over 10 years ago, but in recent times have made a substantial push to promote these unique and efficient machines, with exceptional feedback from customers. Considering the focus on renewable energy through Australia and the need to provide pipelines for varying services to many rural and remote communities, our fleet of Rockslingers has proved perfect as a financially viable and efficient method of backfilling trenches and mass movement of civil landscape materials.

Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 25

PARC: PARKS AND RECREATION COLLECTION PARC IS A NEW ONLINE LIBRARY ASSISTING PARKS AND LEISURE PROFESSIONALS WORDS JOHN SENIOR, PARC PROJECT NETWORK COORDINATOR

id you know that PaRC is an online database of resources on parks, open space and leisure keeping you informed and educated? PaRC has been built collaboratively by practitioners who understand the needs of our industry and was formally launched via an online webinar on 23 June 2021. The webinar included Geoff Edwards, Secretary of the Australian Institute of Parks & Recreation Trust Fund, Peter Nicholls, Trustee and PLA Honorary Life Member, Ann Huthwaite, PaRC Project Librarian, and myself. PaRC has been made possible with the support of an educational trust fund established by the AIPR in February 1974. PLA partnered with AIPR through an MOU mid-2020. We sincerely thank the trustees of the fund for their initiative in establishing the project. For curating the trust over many years, until his passing in 2009, we also acknowledged the service of the late Trevor Arthur, Chairman of the Trustees. Parks & Leisure Australia is especially grateful and indebted to the voluntary on-going efforts of a number of PLA members from around Australia who volunteered to identify material from their respective regions. Particular thanks go to: Elise Rivera & Dan Ferguson (Vic/Tas), Katrien Pickles (NSW/ACT), Emily Moskwa (SA/NT) and Neal Ames (PLA Advisory). John Wood and his colleagues, who contribute the Research Connections offerings of the

PLA Journal, are also to be thanked for their input. While predominantly Australian, relevant material from overseas has also been incorporated. This online collection is intended to provide easy access to an authoritative and growing database of parks, open space and leisure resources in order to inform and educate, as well as to preserve information in perpetuity. The key target audiences are: • Professionals and practitioners (including potential practitioners) • Managers and executives in the parks and leisure industry • Academics and students of parks and leisure and related disciplines • Librarians • Policy analysts within government and peak bodies Access to the database is FREE via parksleisure.com.au/library/ and is NOT limited to PLA members. The database is searchable by keyword or via the categories listed below (the numbers in brackets indicate the number of related items at this time):  Cultural heritage and awareness (69)  Economic issues (146)  Education, outreach and advocacy (259)  Health, ﬁtness and well-being (227)  Human resource management (12)  Infrastructure, facilities and urban environments (472)  Leisure activities (208)  Management and governance (539)

26 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

 Natural resources and environment (228)  Open space and recreation areas (447)  Organised Sport (136)  Planning, policy and legislation (203)  Service provision (77)  Tourism and events (67) Items in PaRC are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. The contents of PaRC are made publicly available by our contributing partners for use by peers in the industry for research, teaching and private study. In using the digital images, texts, datasets, audio and video recordings and other materials in PaRC, users agree to follow the conditions of use. Responsibility for any use of these materials rests exclusively with the user. Some materials in the collections may be protected by Australian Copyright Law. When using items from PaRC, please give proper credit to the author and to PaRC. If you or your organisation would like to add to the PaRC collection, contact John Senior, PaRC Project Network Coordinator, at jgsenior@bigpond.com and provide the following information:  Document title and author  An indication that copyright permission is not required  The url address of the related document For further assistance contact John Senior on 0418 323 863.

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the economic and social benefits of mountain biking. Their primary objective was to address information gaps to support future investment. The study quantified participation by surveying riders at mountain bike trails to understand the proportion of riders that were Mountain Bike Australia members. This proportion and the known number of Mountain Bike Australia members were then used to estimate total participation. GHD Advisory and Mountain Bike Australia encountered several challenges that impacted survey collection at the trails, including widespread catastrophic bushfires at the end of 2019 and subsequent rainfall and flooding that affected large parts of Australia’s east coast. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic meant lockdowns impacted planned site surveys in some locations.

PARTICIPATION LEVELS

SPOTLIGHT ON MOUNTAIN BIKING IN AUSTRALIA HOW AN ECONOMIC AND PARTICIPATION ANALYSIS REPORT IS SUPPORTING INFORMED DECISION MAKING IN A GROWING INDUSTRY WORDS DENISE COX, COMMON GROUND TRAILS REPRESENTING AUSCYCLING AND GEORGIA PELLING, GHD ADVISORY

ountain biking and cycle tourism are considered one of the fastest-growing recreational activities and industries. However, there is a lack of publicly available information on the economic and social beneﬁts generated by mountain biking in Australia. Similarly, very few studies capture the estimated number of mountain biking participants at a national level. This lack of information restricts club and stakeholder advocacy for mountain bike trails, funding for infrastructure and limits efforts to promote the beneﬁts of mountain biking to the wider community. It also inhibits decision making regarding the future development of mountain bike infrastructure. With many people participating in mountain biking outside the formal club structure, in 2015 Mountain Bike

Australia recognised the need to better quantify participation in mountain biking and the associated social and economic beneﬁts. Fast forward to 2019, Mountain Bike Australia was successful in securing funding towards the completion of this study via the Federal Governments Building Better Regions Fund and engaged GHD Advisory to deliver this study.

THE STUDY In partnership with GHD Advisory, Mountain Bike Australia (now part of AusCycling) sought to develop a comprehensive report to support the mountain biking sector and its future development. They worked collaboratively with local stakeholders, mountain bike clubs and mountain bike riders to tailor an approach to assess the participation rates and

28 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

Previous estimates produced as part of Sport Australia’s 2019/20 AusPlay data suggested around 340,000 people participated in mountain biking. To estimate participation, GHD Advisory and Mountain Bike Australia, in collaboration with local clubs, facilitated surveys at trailheads across numerous states and territories between August 2020 and January 2021. Initial findings from these on the ground surveys suggested the figure could be lower than the Sport Australia estimate. However, as the surveys were undertaken by local clubs, there was a degree of bias in the estimate. A subsequent survey was undertaken at a popular trail destination that did not have a strong affiliation with a local club, which found that the national participation figures could be as high as 837,000, indicating that previous estimates could be underestimating true participation levels.

ECONOMIC IMPACT To estimate the annual expenditure and economic impact of the industry, an online survey was distributed through Mountain Bike Australia’s social media channels and electronic newsletters. The survey results suggest (see table). Based on the average expenditure at local trails and the estimated AusPlay participation rate of 341,900, the study projected that the direct economic contribution of mountain biking to Australia is $631 million annually. Mountain bike participants support a total of 6,095 full time equivalent employees by riding local trails. Various industries beneﬁt from this revenue injection,

including retail trade, accommodation and food services, as well as professional, scientiﬁc and technical services industries.

$27

The average amount mountain bikers spend per ride, including transport costs, meals and purchases

$5000

The typical amount spent on mountain biking related expenses including new equipment

$1700

The average amount individuals spent per trip on intrastate mountain bike holidays

THE IMPACT This work is the first of its kind to undertake a field study to establish a baseline of the current levels of participation in mountain biking at a national level. The study highlights the social value, personal community and economic benefits generated from participation in mountain biking including:

ECONOMIC BENEFITS Mountain biking can lead to increased tourism and investment opportunities for local communities with mountain bike trails. Findings suggest that mountain bike riders directly spend $630 million at their local trails, supporting more than 6000 jobs.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS Mountain biking encourages local community and commercial support for conservation efforts as well as the preservation of natural areas, providing access to open space for communities to enjoy and nurture.

SOCIAL AND HEALTH BENEFITS Mountain biking promotes several

40%

The percentage of respondents who travelled interstate to mountain bike

$2400

The average amount individuals spent per trip on interstate mountain bike holidays

Tasmania

The most popular holiday location. Closely followed by Victoria, ACT and New South Wales

6095

The number of full-time equivalent employees supported by the mountain bike sector

social and health benefits including improved physical and mental health, increased community cohesion and volunteer opportunities. As part of this study, online survey participants were asked for their views on the benefits derived through participation in mountain biking. The most common responses were fitness, fun, mental and physical health. It is estimated that the health benefit through mountain biking is $1.58 per kilometre ridden. Value in the sport and recreation sector is generated through volunteering and more specifically to mountain biking, this is in the form of trail building

and maintenance or at social rides, coaching and club events. Volunteering in the mountain bike sector is estimated at approximately $3,214 of volunteering benefit per volunteer, per year. It is expected that the report will enable stakeholders and clubs to use the findings in grant applications to advocate for trails and supporting infrastructure. Informing future development and investment of mountain bike infrastructure while supporting economic growth and tourism. Want to find out more? The full study is available from the AusCycling website auscycling.org.au

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Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 29

INCREASING TURFGRASS DURABILITY CASE STUDY: CITY OF KINGSTON PLAYING FIELDS

urf managers know that once weeds and pests infest your sportsfields it takes a large amount of output to fix the problems they cause. Beetle scarab larvae, Billbug larave, Armyworm and tough weeds like Crowsfoot, Poa annua and Parramatta grass are difficult to eradicate once they start destroying your turf. Getting rid of them can be a labourintensive process that impacts the budget if you add up multiple applications of post-control sprays, PPE requirements and hazard-reduction measures. However, the cost of doing nothing is worse. Scarab larvae decimate root systems in a short space of time, while weeds aggressively compete with plants for nutrients and space while reducing pliability, and they can cause trip hazards for players. In addition to expected agronomic problems, Luke Armstrong from City of Kingston Council in Victoria also came up against a number of other factors on his fields: High expectations from the community, increased usage of the playing fields, as well as more scrutiny of his management methods, especially with spraying products onto fields.

THE CHALLENGES OF OPEN SPACE MANAGEMENT The reality of open space maintenance is that spraying is becoming more and more challenging to accomplish. There are less opportunities to spray due to higher usage of sportsfields, changing weather patterns, the fact that there is more scrutiny around what is being sprayed and why, requirements around spray notifications, and more. Meeting high community expectations of turf quality with the limited resources available to turf managers can be a true challenge. Add to that the usage of playing fields has gone through the roof, putting extra pressure on the current turf facilities. On top of that, with high-density living on the rise, parks and sports fields have become community backyards. Schools that no longer have room for their own ovals use the local facilities instead.

Challenged by these pressures, City of Kingston was also up against turf damaging grubs in some of their playing ﬁelds, which required management in order to maintain playing surfaces that could withstand the increased activity.

FINDING A SOLUTION City of Kingston were made aware of a product called ACEPERYN®, which controls beetle larvae and grubs. An attractive solution for Council due to its smart chemistry — non-target insects and organisms remained unharmed, impact to the environment is low, plus it has a low active ingredient load of an unscheduled product. No PPE was required when applying and, most importantly, no reentry period to manage post application. Council used ACELEPRYN® as part of a preventative program due to the broadspectrum range of turf damaging insects that it controls. One application was all that was required. And, the fact that ACELEPRYN® is compatible with other products meant that the council could do multiple jobs with one application. “ACELEPRYN® has not only created efficiencies and productivity within my maintenance program, most importantly, it allows me to align to Kingston’s policy of placing a high priority on community safety, making this a win for the community, the environment, council staff and users,” notes Luke Armstrong.

ACHIEVING RESULTS EFFICIENTLY To achieve effect results with ACEPERYN® apply one treatment that controls infestations before they begin, rather than multiple post-emergent applications, to keep sportsﬁelds in top condition — saving time and money. This approach is successfully achieved with two products that set the standard for long-lasting control: BARRICADE® Herbicide and ACELEPRYN® Turf Insecticide. Applying these preventative controls as a one-pass tank mix early in spring creates real efficiencies in your pest and weed management strategy for turf areas.

30 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

ACELEPRYN® Known for its excellent residual performance, ACELEPRYN® delivers up to 6 months of protection against a wide range of insect pests. Apply once for season-long control. Apply it early, rather than waiting for infestations to hit peak levels then relying on curative pest control solutions requiring multiple applications. To create further flexibility, ACELEPRYN® is available in a granule formulation that delivers the same long-lasting performance with the convenience of a no-spray option. It is ideal for areas that are dominated by obstacles or hard to access. It is also exempt from poison scheduling, which reduces the need for PPE for operators and re-entry periods for the public. BARRICADE® Preventative weed control is important, as once weeds are established they are difficult to remove. This can lead to repeat application of post-emergent control options to reduce weed population and gain ongoing control. A better approach is to apply BARRICADE®: a pre-emergent that delivers season-long control of difficult grassy weeds. When applied to sports fields BARRICADE® creates savings by reducing your need to reapply products to ensure weeds do not compete against your turf, thereby reducing the turf’s strength and resilience to usage. A simple preventative strategy, using proven products that deliver season-long protection, is ultimately the best use of your resources. You can avoid the cost and time commitment of repeated post emergent and curative treatments while creating stronger and more efficient turf surfaces that can handle increased usage. A one-pass tank mix of ACELEPRYN® Insecticide and BARRICADE® Herbicide allowed the City of Kingston to achieve season-long control of grubs and weeds in its playing fields. Providing an opportunity for an easier implementation of a preventative, proactive program that could be fully budgeted for well in advance.

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PLACEMENT PARTNERSHIPS AND DATA INSIGHTS WORDS BRAD BILLETT, ASSOCIATE, OTIUM PLANNING GROUP PTY LTD

tium Planning Group Pty Ltd (OPG) and Western Sydney University (WSU) have established a strategic partnership that offers students a chance to gain experience through professional placements. The partnership is key to OPG’s ongoing commitment to support, connect and engage young professionals in the sport and recreation industry.

WHY PARTNER? The partnership provides win-win outcomes for the students, WSU and OPG. Students are provided with an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills acquired through their course in a practical setting, and provides valuable exposure to various aspects of the industry. OPG beneﬁts from the partnership with students undertaking a range of tasks associated with real-life projects and a range of research topics. Through having students dedicated to speciﬁc projects with agreed desired outcomes, meaningful investigations and analysis can be fully harnessed in a range of applications. Lecturer for Sports Management at WSU, Dr Michelle O’Shea, says “As students completing a Sport Management program of academic study, OPG interns were provided with a nuanced insight into the broader recreation and leisure industry.”

DATA INSIGHTS Sport and recreation planning is harnessing the power of data to inform decision making and future investment. OPG has extensive experience in sport, open space, aquatic and leisure facility planning, having completed over 1700 projects. A key focus for the OPG/WSU partnership has been collating and analysing data across a wide range of projects to develop quantiﬁable industry insights. Harnessing the research undertaken over recent years across hundreds of aquatic projects, the students have explored values, relationships and correlations across multidimensional data.

for-profit sport organisations, professional sport organisations, government, sports and recreation consultancies or other parts of our diverse industry. The primary transferable skills that are central to each student placement include: Project management, research and analysis, report writing, presentation and communications. At the start of each placement, students are asked to complete simple project inception documents that outline the aims, objectives, scope, timelines, stakeholders risks and reporting requirements. They are asked to formulate a professional report that summarises their research with key findings and proposed recommendations. At the conclusion of each placement, the students present to the executive leadership team of OPG, providing an opportunity to present their research process and findings succinctly and clearly.

TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE STUDENT PARTNERSHIPS If you are looking to establish an effective student partnership with a tertiary education provider, consider the following: 1. Be clear about partnership objectives and proposed outcomes. This will help form the foundation of the partnership. 2. Set project parameters with clear scope and timeframes and ensure communication. By providing a speciﬁc project that the students can focus on, everyone is able to track progress according to the agreed scope and timeframes. 3. You get out what you put in. In recognising that students are generally passionate and willing to contribute, allow sufficient time and resources throughout the process to maximise beneﬁts for all.

SECTOR OUTCOMES Western Sydney is a rapidly growing area, accounting for approximately half of the Greater Sydney population. The capacity and depth of knowledge from the current tertiary education sector is critical in achieving effective community sport and recreation outcomes. A key target of this partnership is to expand the knowledge base of Sports Management students by providing exposure to the industry. This goes beyond sport focused organisations to provide information and awareness relating to the role of government and other organisations in providing for sport, open space, recreation and leisure facilities.

WSU Students Ben Sciancalepore and Duncan Evans with OPG staff Yvette Audet and Brad Billett

STUDENT OUTCOMES OPG strives to pass on industry knowledge to emerging professionals. It is committed to providing development opportunities for aspiring sport and leisure professionals with a strong focus on transferable skills. These skills can then be applied in not32 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

A WORD FROM WSU STUDENTS BEN SCIANCALEPORE AND DUNCAN EVANS “As university students looking to gain as much experience in the sporting industry before we graduate, interning at OPG provided us with an insightful and enjoyable time. “Assisting Brad and Yvette with their Aquatic Indicators and Netball Data projects throughout the semester, we were able to expand our horizons by understanding fundamental planning principles across a range of infrastructure. “Being able to work on projects that will be used by Otium Planning Group created not only great satisfaction, but also a sense of inclusion within the workplace.”

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Jogger on Maxs Inﬁnity Loop

Reproﬁling the rock-lined drain

BEYOND MAXS INFINITY LOOP A NEW JOGGING TRACK IN HOBART OFFERS A WEALTH OF RECREATIONAL POSSIBLITIES WORDS ALISTER CLARK, BUSHLAND PROJECTS OFFICER, PARKS AND CITY AMENITY, CITY OF HOBART, TASMANIA

n some ways the new Maxs Infinity Loop on Hobart’s Queens Domain, with its softfall woodchip jogging surface, is a nod to the original composition of Melbourne’s famous Tan Track. Although “The Tan” is now a gravel running surface, it was first built as a tanbark horse-riding trail for the local establishment. Ideas for a jogging track around Hobart’s Queens Domain have been around since the early 1980s. A 2013 City of Hobart masterplan recommended turning what was then called the Joggers Loop, a 1.8 kilometre bitumen road and 565 metres of gravel track used by runners, bike riders and dog walkers, into a softfall jogging surface with supporting infrastructure including carparks and signage. As part of its conversion, Joggers Loop was renamed Maxs Infinity Loop in recognition of Max Cherry, OAM, a well-recognised Hobart athletics coach who passed away in 2008. The new track was officially opened on 13 November 2019 and now plays host every Saturday morning to the Queens Domain parkrun, which at its biggest event to date saw almost 400 runners take to the new surface. Maxs Infinity Loop is a 2 kilometre, dual surface trail much-loved by joggers, bike riders and walkers who are looking to stretch their legs in a beautiful bushland setting a couple of kilometres from the Hobart CBD. Their workout takes them through highconservation-value bushland with views of the River Derwent and the stunning mountain that overlooks Hobart, kunanyi/Mount Wellington.

The design of Maxs Infinity Loop is based on Pre’s Trail in Eugene, Oregon, USA, but has significant differences in site conditions. Pre’s Trail was a new trail built on an essentially flat river terrace. Maxs Infinity Loop has been built on an existing road bench around the side of a hill. Pre’s Trail used an elevated track base with a crowned profile allowing drainage off to both sides. Maxs inherited the sub-base and drainage profiles of the old road bench, which ranged from crowned to in-sloped or out-sloped, and in many cases offered very little fall into the table drain and culverts, making drainage a challenge. Another challenge for our trail design was the lack of examples in Australia to work from. No other running trail, to our knowledge, had used woodchip from local tree species — we did not know which mulch type to use. We also needed to work out how to hold the edge of the softfall along the table drain but still allow water through. These technical challenges marked Maxs Infinity Loop as an experiment from the start, one to be refined over time based on community use, feedback and performance. Stage 1 works were conducted in 2017-18 and involved: • A 700m trial of four different types of

34 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

mulch for the running surface • Repair of the adjacent asphalt surface • Upgrading of the car parking area beneath the two large reservoirs on the site The City of Hobart gathered community feedback on the performance of the different softfall running surfaces and investigated the best methods for addressing drainage and supply issues. The design of the softfall running surface was revised based on the community feedback and internal investigations. Each of the mulch types used had advantages and disadvantages, as summarised in table 1 below, with no one type preferred significantly more by joggers. In stage 2, we decided to use tree mulch (mostly chipped eucalyptus from a local landscape supplier) as the particle size was coarse enough to drain freely. The first attempt to create an edging that would hold the mulch used a red gravel to line the drain. The red gravel drained poorly and was mostly washed out by a major storm event in May 2018, when record rain and flash flooding inundated Hobart. The drains were then lined with coarse rock spalls that caused other drainage issues. Recent works have reprofiled the rock spalls in the table drain to improve drainage.

AS PART OF ITS CONVERSION, JOGGERS LOOP WAS RENAMED MAXS INFINITY LOOP IN RECOGNITION OF MAX CHERRY, OAM, A WELL-RECOGNISED HOBART ATHLETICS COACH WHO PASSED AWAY IN 2008.

MULCH TYPE

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Composted green waste

Good soft and consistent running surface. Good supply.

Absorbed and held water. Decomposed rapidly. Contained rubbish fragments.

Chipped Casuarina

Local supply adjacent. Appeared similar in texture to Pre’s Trail surface.

Supply quantities unreliable.

Tree mulch

Good supply, coarse fragments drained readily.

Supply type inconsistent, large pieces of wood a hazard to runners.

Double-cut gum bark

Good supply, ﬁbrous bark component soft and spongy, good for runners.

Difficult to spread. Fibrous bark absorbed water.

Table 1: Comparison of mulch types used in stage 1 Stage 2 works to complete the loop were conducted in 2018-19. A section of Upper Domain Road out to the old Tasman Lookout was closed to vehicles and enfolded into the scheme to become a part of Maxs Inﬁnity Loop. Other works included: • Completion of the soft fall running surface and upgrading of remaining adjacent asphalt surface • Upgrading the table drain on the track • A new car park and landscaping at Grasslands Gully • New landscaping, track and trail connections at the cross roads • Installation of signage Ongoing feedback from the public has allowed the City of Hobart to continuously improve the trail surface

and address slip-resistance, large fragments and variations in mulch types. This was dealt with by top dressing the trail with a certiﬁed softfall of pine bark mulch. The recent addition has proven a consistent, stable yet still soft surface that has been well received by joggers. The City took a risk in this project by investing in materials untested for this type of running track. However, the risk was mitigated by a commitment to trial and error, monitoring and ongoing improvement. The result? Hobart now has a Tan of its own, one that mirrors the softfall surface of Melbourne’s original Tan, which has found its way into the hearts, and legs, of Hobart’s running and walking community.

Maxs Inﬁnity Loop as conceived by the Queens Domain Masterplan 2013

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Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 35

A TATOU RĀKAU (OUR TREES) THE ICC TREE PLAN 2020 PLAYS A KEY PART IN ACHIEVING AN APPEALING, SUSTAINABLE NETWORK OF TREES FOR INVERCARGILL WORDS INVERCARGIL CITY COUNCIL

nvercargill City Council (ICC) looks after some of the region’s most important natural assets, including more than 5000 street trees across the city and trees located in approximately 3000ha across its parks and cemeteries. Council’s long term priority is to have an appealing, sustainable network of diverse tree species and tree maturity to deliver high-quality public spaces and aesthetically pleasing neighbourhoods. We work closely with a range of stakeholders to ensure we are delivering not just diverse tree species and environments for the public but also a range of habitats for wildlife and ones that can support a greater number of fauna. The ICC Tree Plan 2020 — Our Trees/A Tatou Rākau — plays a key part in achieving all of this.

BACKGROUND Prior to ICC’s Tree Plan 2020 being developed, there was very little documented about our tree network — with maintenance and forward planning being reactive. It took a tree falling on cars parked in a public carpark to trigger urgent planning to ensure the team were conﬁdent this would not happen again or, if it did, a process was in place to ensure effective and efficient actions could be undertaken.

Understanding the city’s tree network is an essential role for planning maintenance, and current and future tree diversity and development. With an ageing tree network (with many in a state of deterioration) and increasing environmental challenges, coupled with ﬁnancial constraints, it is important that our trees are managed proactively and in the best way possible into the future. In 2019, staff workshopped with Elected Members on the importance of prioritising work programmes for the development of a city wide Tree Plan. After Elected Members endorsed the approach, we knew what we had to do, and we got to work.

THE PROCESS To make the Plan work effectively Council needed input from a wide range of staff — not just the pencilpushing planners but the team who are out and about daily climbing and maintaining our trees! In Invercargill, we manage and maintain the majority of our arborist work in-house through our talented arborists. A team workshop was held to discuss what was in or out of the scope, key outcomes for the strategy, what was to be included in the inventory, policy guidance, programme and action plan. We also discussed what makes Invercargill special and

36 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

stand out. Some key ideas included salt-laden winds, long sunshine hours, wide streets containing street trees, and sideways trees. Research on other Tree Plans, both nationally and overseas, was undertaken to help form guidance towards our own Tree Plan development. We also reached out to World Urban Parks for help with other known plans and resources to assist us. The Plan incorporated all ICC perspectives, including resource management planning and links to district plan, corporate planning, roading and links to roading bylaws, engineering and links to subdivision code, water, legal team, health and safety team and Wastenet (our solid waste management team). Te Ao Marama (Representative of the four Runaka of Murihiku) and ICC were in close partnership from the beginning of the planning stage, when the Tree Plan was merely a thought. They provided a preface and translation throughout the document, as well as being heavily involved with the content and peer review of the document. The preface also provided a key link to how our vision came about. ICC Group Activity Managers were asked to help with peer review and detailed policy information to ensure information was consistent across all council departments and aligned with

other strategic documents. There was an opportunity to engage with Environment Southland, Department of Conservation, Kiwirail, other council’s and Bluff Community Board through one-on-one meetings. Questions were added to surveys when we reached out to our stakeholders and the wider public during public engagement of the Parks and Recreation Strategy development.

THE TREE PLAN The Plan is made up of four parts: Part 1: The Strategy | Provides a clear direction on where ICC wants to be with trees as a city (strategic direction). Part 2: Inventory | Paints a clear picture of what trees ICC has and how they are looked after. This is intended as a live database. Part 3: Policy Guidance | Provides policy guidance and a consistent approach to the propagation, planting, maintenance, protection and removal of trees on ICC-owned land. It shows how ICC’s own tree stock intends to be sustainably and responsibly managed. It also provides guidance on how to inform the public on tree-related matters and on their rights and responsibilities. Part 4: The Programme and Action Plan | This part sets out actions,

timelines and responsibilities with regards to implementing ICC’s Tree Plan. It advises our commitment to trees through a programme of works. Over a year after forming the draft, Council adopted the Tree Plan in August 2020. This time was needed as it enabled good information to be gathered, enabled time for review by all affected parties, and time for graphic enhancement. The end product was that Council adopted and published the Tree Plan on its website. Council also endorsed the development of the full tree inventory and acknowledged further costs required for good tree practice, tree monitoring and management.

OUTCOME: HOW THE PLAN IS BEING USED Since the adoption of the Tree Plan in 2020, ICC staff have been working to implement the programme and action plan, with working with contractors for tree data capture on a GIS platform being at the forefront. Through proactive assessments of trees we are improving safety, maintenance, protection and the health of our tree population. This is resulting in ensuring the right tree is in the right place and we have better decision-

making guidance and management of trees around infrastructure. The Tree Plan is being successfully implemented as a reference and justification for public enquiries, including requests for removal (eg over driveways being created, for allergy reasons, as a response to adjoining subdivision requests or in general). It is also being referenced in other ICC documents, so they connect and align. The Plan will be reviewed in five years, with continuous monitoring, review and refinement of the document, especially parts two and four, which is essential to implementation of the Tree Plan. One of the best outcomes is that this is not a document that sits on the shelf and gathers dust like other plans sometimes do. Rather it is a document that, thanks to early engagement with staff, iwi and stakeholder engagement, is a plan that can be used to proactively manage our city’s trees and achieve our vision for: He whatunga rakau e whakaaweoho ana i te tirohanga a Tane (A tree network that inspires the vision of Tane) and Te hono ki te whenua, te rangi me nga mea katoa e karapoti ana ia ratou (Connectivity to earth, sky and everything surrounding them).

Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 37

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE COMMUNITY SCIENTISTS RISE TO THE CHALLENGE AS MELBOURNE DELIVERS ITS LARGEST EVER BIOBLITZ WORDS DOUG EVANS (MAROONDAH CITY COUNCIL), HILIARY HATCHMAN (WHITEHORSE CITY COUNCIL), BERNARD GANDY (KNOX CITY COUNCIL), AND PHOENIX WOLFE (CITY OF GREATER DANDENONG)

ittle did Millie Wells of Whitehorse Council in eastern Melbourne know that when she asked her colleagues in neighbouring councils if they would be interested in co-ordinating a BioBlitz for their council as part of the iNaturalist City Challenge, it would lead to Melbourne’s largest ever bioblitz. Several Councils opted in to the Challenge and worked together to participate in the 2021 City Nature Challenge. This collaborative effort resulted in over a thousand different species being observed and recorded by local community scientists in just four days. Started in 2016, the City Nature Challenge is an annual global event coordinated by the California Academy of Sciences and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. In 2021, eight councils in East

Melbourne (Boroondara, Greater Dandenong, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, Stonnington, Whitehorse) teamed up with the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and the Entomological Society of Victoria to compete against 419 cities from 44 countries under the collaborative banner Melbourne — Eastern Metropolitan Area. During the Challenge’s four-day observation period (30 April to 3 May), community members in all eight municipalities were encouraged to find and photograph native fauna and flora in their neighbourhoods and log their findings online via the iNaturalist platform. Given that this was the first time that Melbourne has been represented in the global challenge, and it is timed to align with the northern hemisphere spring, the results were astounding.

38 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

The overall global figures were: • 1,270,767 observations • 45,300+ species • 52,777 observers • 12,635+ identifiers The Melbourne — Eastern Metropolitan Area finished with: • 7,629 observations (41st overall out of 419 cities) • 1,106 species (55th overall) • 323 observers (41st overall) • 328 identifiers (47th overall) This outstanding effort resulted in Melbourne finishing ahead of all of the other participating Australian cities.

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Challenge was a key determinant of Melbourne’s success. Fortnightly coordination meetings hosted by Maroondah brought together eight councils with the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria (FNCV) and the Entomological Society of Victoria (ESV), who together delivered three iNaturalist training events, 43 expert-led guided walks, and two webinars for schools. Virtual and in-person iNaturalist training sessions were promoted by each council to assist participants and activity leaders who were unfamiliar with the platform. Manningham and Monash hosted the first of the two training webinars and Stonnington and Boroondara hosted the second. Whitehorse delivered the in-person training session specifically for walk leaders. Collectively these activities attracted over 130 participants, with hundreds more viewing the webinar recordings afterwards. Boroondara and Stonnington each organised biodiversity-themed webinars for schools that together inspired over 500 students from eight primary schools to discover and connect with the natural environment and contribute to the Challenge. “I felt the program was great. It has since been passed on to other classroom teachers who have used the app to generate great interest in the school environment,” claimed one participating teacher. The guided walks attracted over 670 participants, bringing together professional ecologists, local experts, reserve volunteers, novices and families to share discoveries of nature in and around where they live. The ESV and FNCV each provided experts at several activities and assisted with identification of the observations made.

WHAT WAS FOUND? Both native and introduced species were recorded, with the Australian Magpie and

Hop Goodenia being the most recorded species. Among the 1106 species observed were the wonderfully-named Gum Leaf Skeletoniser (moth), Flickert’s Tamopsis (spider), Austral Storks-bill (plant), Nargan’s Bonnet (fungi), Deceiver (fungi), Milkmaids (plant), Yorkshire Fog (introduced grass), Guanee’s Emerald (moth), White Punk (fungi), and Hoary Servaea (jumping spider) Preliminary findings from an evaluation being conducted by the University of Melbourne revealed that 72 fauna species, 72 plant species and 27 fungi species recorded during the 2021 Challenge were new species records in the Atlas of Living Australia for the eight council areas. All 72 fauna species and all 27 fungi species are indigenous to Victoria and, of the 72 newly recorded plant species, 27 are indigenous to Victoria. In addition, another 28 species were re-recorded in the municipalities after not being reported in over 30 years. Given this was the first time many participants had used iNaturalist, these are some remarkable findings. “This was the first time I’d used the iNaturalist app. It’s addictive once you get the hang of it. I found the City Nature Challenge was a good catalyst to begin using it,” stated one walk participant.

STORIES OF DISCOVERY For his PhD, entomologist and ecologist Dr Luis Mata spent three years conducting field surveys across Spain and Portugal, documenting the occurrence of hundreds of species from 45 of the 46 families of heteropteran bugs (True Bugs) known to occur there. However, one family, Aradidae (Flat Bugs), eluded him. These cryptic insects feature an extremely flattened body and reduced wings that enable them to live a specialised life under bark. Following a move to Australia, another seven years of searching proved fruitless until the 2021 City Nature Challenge. Under the one piece of bark, peeled off a fallen dead tree in Damper Creek Reserve in Mount Waverley, Luis found not only his first ever species of Aradidae but a second species as well! Across three nights of the Challenge, several members of the ESV set up light sheets to attract and observe nocturnal invertebrates, particularly moths, in Willsmere Reserve (Kew East), Warranwood Reserve (Warranwood) and Koolunga Native Reserve (Ferntree Gully). Among the ESV members was Peter Marriott, author of the series of

40 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

publications Moths of Victoria, who reported that at least 68 different species of moth were recorded across the three sites, including two he had not seen before. The ﬁrst was Lophotoma diagrapha, a species mostly known from southern Queensland, which he saw at Willsmere Reserve. The second was a strikingly marked undescribed species of Nisista that he saw at Warranwood Reserve.

WHAT MADE IT SUCCESSFUL The success of this ﬁrst ever foray into the City Nature Challenge for Melbourne lay in a few key factors: • The strong collaborative and supportive Eastern Metropolitan Councils team • The involvement of experts at the events sharing their knowledge • The involvement of volunteer reserve “Friends” sharing their knowledge and passion • The friendly rivalry arising from the Challenge’s competitive nature • The support received from the global organisers • The user friendliness and power of the iNaturalist community science platform The successful approach for participation in the 2021 City Nature Challenge developed by this year’s organisers provides a regional-scale model for other council regions to adopt for future participation. Will Melbourne go on to have an even bigger presence in the 2022 City Nature Challenge? Stay tuned.

PARTICIPANT RESPONSES “Highlights for me were listening to experts while they guided me around the park. There is so much more to see and appreciate when you are aware of what to look out for.” (Walk participant). “I valued witnessing the excitement of children ﬁnding plants and animals to upload, and the satisfaction reintroducing new people to the park.” (Walk leader). “A highlight for me was discovering that the yellow paint on the tree roots are actually fungi.” (Walk participant). “It was heart-warming to see children’s eyes light up after waving the butterﬂy net through the grass and discovering moving insects and spiders.” (Walk organiser). “The opportunity to encourage more people, and families in general, to become citizen scientists and monitor and record what is going on around them is most worthwhile.” (Walk participant).

Parkitect creates extraordinary pump tracks that inspire and build active healthy communities Moama On Murray Resort Newly released all ﬁbreglass 2022 edition

WHY TODDLERS TO TEENAGERS LOVE PUMP TRACKS When a pump track was installed in the remote township of Laverton in WA, its popularity took off straight away. According to Shire president Patrick Hill, “Since it’s been erected, the kids haven’t been off it, it’s great. They absolutely love it.” Most Aussie kids are hooked on connecting with their friends online. But there’s nothing like jumping on your favourite set of wheels [bikes, scooters or skateboards] and heading out to the local park with your mates. From toddlers to teenagers, there are the obvious social and physical beneﬁts of active play and having fun with others.

AND WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING PLAYSPACE EQUIPMENT FOR LOCAL PARKS, LOCAL COUNCILS CONSIDER A RANGE OF FACTORS Important criteria like suitability for the site, the needs of locals, low cost, safety, ease of installation, certification, low impact on the environment and how well the chosen equipment caters for different ages, are all considered. “Council’s love that our pump tracks ‘tick all the boxes’ for them, especially because both models [fibreglass and concrete] offer a guaranteed result - all our track designs offer perfect geometry because the modules are pre-engineered and certified – creating the safest and most awesome fun for all-ages who love riding bikes, scooters and skateboards” shared Shaun Leicester, Founder and Managing Director of Parkitect Australia.

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND PARKS MANAGEMENT NEW ZEALAND’S LEADING PARKS SPECIALIST SHEDS LIGHT ON THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PARKS MANAGEMENT AND THE JOURNEY TO BECOMING CARBON NEUTRAL WORDS CARLA REINKE, RECREATIONAL SERVICES, NZ

s New Zealand’s largest parks and recreation specialist — in its 30th year of operation — Recreational Services has been at the forefront of adopting innovations, remaining agile in adapting to change and embracing sustainability in its operations early on. During this time, the parks industry and management thereof has changed signiﬁcantly. In particular, the aim of Aotearoa becoming carbon net-zero by 2050 and navigating the challenge of the cost impact on the rate of change in transitioning to a carbon-zero future. Cost is only one of the many hurdles to overcome. Enforcing change in an industry is achieved through regulation, policy and institutional arrangements like the Climate Change Commission. This is supported by the intention to stimulate investment and innovation, which should then be followed by a change in behaviour and solutions to achieve the overarching objective. KPMG is forecasting that environmental regulation will signiﬁcantly tighten in the next 20 years, impacting all industries.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE PARKS INDUSTRY? As the chosen service provider across 13 council districts, Recreational Services is responsible for maintaining 11,299 parks across the width and breadth of Aotearoa. One of the most signiﬁcant changes seen in regulation in the parks industry is the increase in value placed on the weighting of tender attributes. Sustainability and environmental management can contribute up to 45 percent to the overall score. High scores are awarded if you have the internal policies, committees and evidence to back your claim that you’re walking the proverbial talk. By your next submission to the same council, you must be able to showcase what additional or new practices you have implemented to contribute to sustainable practices.

BUT WHERE TO START? Investing in the right tools to track your impact is an expensive but necessary first step. For Recreational Services, this included partnering with Toitū Envirocare, an internationally recognised environmental management programme owned by Landcare Research. This trusted environmental business partner helped guide the journey we started back in 2004 to become Toitū Enviromark certified. Since 2008, Recreational Serves has continuously held Diamond status, the highest level of certification. In 2017, Enviromark also awarded the grounds maintenance provider the Outstanding Performance in Environmental Management Award. The next step was reducing carbon emissions. Toitū helps facilitate the process by providing the tools needed to start the reduction journey. This includes putting tailored software and technical guidance strategies in place to reduce impacts, which is then independently audited with a third-party certification awarded. In April 2021, Recreational Service was awarded Carbonreduce status, which is certified in accordance with ISO 14064-1. The strategies put in place are done so with the objective to become Carbonzero certified. Supporting the strategies means trialling and implementing innovations such as water sensors, tracking waste, and finding opportunities or partners where waste can be repurposed or reused to generate less total waste. In some instances, a council requirement is to provide credible evidence regarding what the waste was repurposed for and the volumes thereof. Technologies like Mantis ULV (ultra low volume) spraying systems offer the ability to measure chemicals and fertilisers used during application, offering measurable data. For an industry heavily reliant on fossil fuels, reducing emission can be very costly while phasing out internal

42 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

combustion engines for electric alternatives. Other than cost, electric alternatives are not yet the equivalent of or don’t offer the same level of efficacy compared to traditional alternatives. And the mining of lithium has put question marks around the true cost to the environment of lithium batteries.

MAKING THE CHANGE With the parks industry being very labour intensive, one of the biggest challenges to overcome is managing the change in behaviour of the large workforce required to undertake the work. It requires education and making everyday environmental stewardship something teams embrace. While the goal of reducing emissions, but with the limitation of not being able to switch to a fully electric fleet just yet, using telematics like EROAD offers valuable insight and the opportunity to educate driver behaviour that contributes to emissions. Recreational Services’ Quality & Improvement Manager, Graham Norton, utilised the valuable insights provided by EROAD’s Ehubo2 and Leaderboard across its fleet by celebrating exceptional drivers. This initiative saw a 94 percent improvement in driver behaviour, which measured fuel reduction, acceleration, and harsh breaking incidents. This saw Recreational Services recognised as part of the top 6 percent of fleets across the entire EROAD population in New Zealand.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE BRING? Across industries — including the parks industry — the road to becoming carbon net-zero is a whole organisational approach. This requires an organisational culture that embraces change, education, continual improvement, and being open to trial and error. Seeking out ﬁt-forpurpose innovations, solutions and partners that can support the journey by offering practical steps and solutions along the way. It’s evident that the drive towards environmental sustainability is here to stay and likely to become a higher priority than ever before.

Australian Designed & Made.

PLACE-BASED ANCESTRY AND HERITAGE ONE AUCKLAND CEMETERY IS PLANNING TO INTEGRATE A PROGRAMME THAT HELPS PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE PEOPLE

urewa Cemetery and Crematorium in Auckland, New Zealand, is excited to partner with social enterprise Lifestone to plan and develop an exercise-based trail where the public can experience personal stories about people who are buried within Purewa’s grounds. The man behind the Lifestone project is Dain Guttenbeil, who over the past three years has researched and developed a unique app that allows cemetery visitors to access information and stories about those interred using their mobile phone or device. Unlike QR codes that can be downloaded, Dain created a “life legacy code”, which can only be activated when standing in front of an individual grave or headstone. Dain describes it as “place-based ancestry and heritage.” These stories can consist of videos and audio, music and words prepared by the family, or compiled from the internet in cases of well-known people. Dain is passionate about the value of life stories about everyone, not just the notable or well-known. “Everyone’s got a life story that’s important to record and preserve, not just the famous,” he states. “This is a unique way to help keep memories alive for families and friends, and I believe Purewa is the first cemetery in New Zealand to adopt this interactive approach.” The development of Lifestone was personal for Dain. In just over a year he and his wife Susana lost their baby daughter, Susana’s father and Dain’s brother. The couple wanted to find a special way for family and friends to be able to easily locate and memorialise their loved ones within a cemetery. Lifestone is uniquely New Zealandmade and doesn’t use imported granite or marble for headstones. Being able to use the app and access the story only when near the grave or headstone makes the experience even more powerful, and combines with the benefits of walking.

From his previous work with Sport New Zealand, Dain knows the benefits of exercise and the importance of places and spaces that encourage a sense of wellbeing, active recreation and spirituality. Purewa General Manager Alastair Crombie is delighted that the 133-yearold cemetery is planning to use this unique technology to further enhance its beautiful grounds. “We’re planning to create a pathway that moves through Purewa and takes in some of our wonderful views of Auckland, notable and historic graves, interesting design features throughout the cemetery, and also functions as a circuit for exercise and wellbeing,” claims Alastair. Alastair says Purewa is very much part of the local community and the public widely use and appreciate the 20-hectare (55-acre) grounds for exercise and reflection. “The new walkway will further encourage the community to find out about the lives of many of the interesting, famous and not-so-well-known people buried at Purewa.” he adds. Public access to Purewa for walkers will be further improved with the continuing work the Auckland Council is doing on developing a shared walkway system linking east Auckland suburbs with Tamaki Drive on the waterfront. The shared walkway crosses at the north-west corner of the cemetery and will have an access point at Tahapa Reserve East, which borders Purewa. A portal will be created linking the cemetery with the council walkway, enabling more people to share the Lifestone experience. Purewa has a rich heritage with more than 60,000 men, women, children and babies laid to rest in suburban Meadowbank in East Auckland. Extensive research has been done, and continues, into recording the lives of many including early business leaders such as Marianne Caughey (Smith and Caughey), Maurice Paykel (Fisher and Paykel), Lewis Alfred Eady

44 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

Felix wildﬂower area at Purewa Cemetery

(Lewis Eady), Sir Henry Horton (Wilson and Horton), Sir Robert James Kerridge (Kerridge Odean), Thomas Henry Ah Chee (Foodtown founder), John and George Court (department stores), Mary Jane Milne (Milne and Choyce), Richard Hellaby (Hellaby Meats) and Reuben Charles Porter (Mason and Porter) to name a few. Names from the arts and education sectors found in Purewa include Charles Frederick Goldie (artist), Gordon Edward George Minhinnick (NZ Herald cartoonist), James William Tibbs (early Headmaster of Auckland Grammar School), Kevin Todd Smith (actor), Thomas Allen Curnow (poetry and literature), Mary Etheldred Pulling (ﬁrst Headmistress of Diocesan School for Girls) and Sarah Sophia Stothard (ﬁrst Principal of Auckland Girls’ Grammar School). Early Auckland settlers such as Arthur Guyon Purchas (doctor, surgeon, Anglican priest, architect, engineer, geologist, botanist, chemist, musician and visionary), Sir Edwin Mitchelson (businessman, politician, philanthropist) and Sir Frank Crossley Mappin (farmer, botanist, community leader and philanthropist) are also there. Among the religious and musical leaders interred are Archbishop Alfred Walter Averill and Sir Kingi Matutara Ihaka, who was an Anglican Maori Missioner in Auckland and Sydney who composed and sang Maori music. Purewa has two Victoria Cross recipients, George Dare Dowell, who fought in the Crimean War in 1855, and William Sanders, who fought in the First World War. Former Governor General Sir Edward Dennis Blundell, Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon and early New Zealand Premier Sir William Fox, sport and business leader Sir Wilson James Whineray, and union leader Sir Tom Edward Skinner are also laid to rest at Purewa. And there are so many others from all walks of life and eras that have fascinating stories to tell.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

n this edition of the Journal we look at international matters concerning the parks and recreation industry. Explore a new report released in the USA on adaptive public spaces that looks at places for people in the pandemic and beyond. We talk parks with Canada as we review the Prime Minister’s response to round table consultations, and we dive into investment options in the UK that focus on building better through urban green infrastructure. I hope you enjoy the read. John Senior Editorial Coordinator

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Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 47

Cousin Island today with the native forest restored (Image Serge Marizy)

The island is a model for ecotourism in protected areas (Image Liam Martin)

FROM COCONUTS TO CONSERVATION NATURE SEYCHELLES MANAGES THE WORLDFAMOUS COUSIN ISLAND SPECIAL RESERVE, ONE OF THE OLDEST MARINE PROTECTED AREAS IN SEYCHELLES WORDS NATURE SEYCHELLES

nce a degraded and lossmaking coconut plantation with uncontrolled exploitation of threatened species such as turtles and seabirds, Cousin Island in Seychelles was restored and turned into a world-class award-winning reserve for species conservation. This is the story of Cousin Islands’s turnaround and what this success story has meant for global conservation. Cousin’s coconut plantations begun in the early 1900s. Within a decade, the island’s plateau had lost all of its natural vegetation and had been completely replaced by these plantations. The hill, unsuited for cultivation, was less extensively planted. The island continued to be managed for copra (dried coconut kernels from which coconut oil is expelled) until 1968 when it was purchased by the International Council for Bird Preservation (BirdLife International) for the sole purpose of saving the Seychelles warbler, which was on the brink of extinction with only 26 individuals surviving in a patch of mangroves. That same year, Cousin was declared a legally protected Nature Reserve. In 1974, to enhance its protection, the island was given Special Reserve status. An intensive conservation program began at this time with the island’s coconuts cut back to allow the native forest to regenerate. This became the turning point for the Seychelles warbler, and for other Seychelles endemic birds that call the island home. Conservation on Cousin Island helped save some of the Seychelles’ endemic

birds, globally important seabirds, critically endangered marine turtles, precious coral reefs and fish. Today, Cousin is managed by Nature Seychelles (BirdLife’s Partner in Seychelles) who took over management in 1998. The island remains totally reserved for conservation, with the principal aim being the protection of globally threatened species. It is home to five endemic land bird species and seven species of nesting seabirds, as well as a number of reptiles such as giant tortoises, five endemic lizards, giant millipedes and crabs. The island is recognised as one of the most important breeding sites in the Western Indian Ocean for Hawksbill turtles. Cousin Island has one of the longest established marine protected areas (MPA) in the world. The MPA still holds an abundance of marine treasures — 300 or more species of fish have been recorded in its marine area and, prior to the coral bleaching of 1998, it had the largest fish biomass of any reserve in the granitic Seychelles. It is home to the world’s largest coral reef restoration project, which is restoring corals affected by coral bleaching. Cousin is the centre of globally significant scientific research, particularly on the warbler, the world’s best studied passerine, whose research is a model in the area of evolutionary ecology. Hundreds of scientific studies that contribute to knowledge on biodiversity, its loss and the challenges of climate change, have been done here. Cousin was opened for tourism in 1972. Today it a model for ecotourism

48 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

in protected areas. Before Covid-19, the island was one of Seychelles’ most visited sites, providing a unique experience for visitors. All visits to Cousin are run by local people who rely on the island for their livelihoods. Boat operators from Praslin bring visitors to Cousin while trained Reserve wardens provide guided tours. Training and internship programs for young, local people are in place in collaboration with local institutions such as the Seychelles Tourism Academy and Seychelles Maritime Academy. One hundred percent of the ecotourism revenue goes into management, conservation and research, education and training for wardens and other conservation practitioners. The implications of this remarkable story run far beyond our little archipelago. It shows that conservation works and it can work in our lifetime to save species and to provide livelihoods for local people. Cousin Island Special Reserve’s main ﬁnancing mechanism is an eco-tourismbased Tourist User Fee (TUF), which is charged to visitors to the island. As a result the reserve has been greatly impacted by the collapse of tourism in Seychelles as a result of the pandemic, which began affecting travel to Seychelles early in 2020. We are grateful for the support of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Paciﬁc States through the BIOPAMA Programme, who will be supporting the island reserve for the period between January-June 2021 through the project; supporting management effectiveness and improving socio-economic resilience in the Cousin Island Special Reserve, Republic of Seychelles. The project will fund the salaries of staff on the reserve to ensure that they can remain stationed on the island and continue to carry out conservation, research and surveillance activities.

ABOUT NATURE SEYCHELLES Nature Seychelles is a leading environmental organisation in the Western Indian Ocean. It is the largest and oldest environment NGO in the Seychelles archipelago, where it is involved in environmental conservation and management. It is an association registered in the Seychelles with a board of Trustees, and a local and international membership since 1998. It is also the BirdLife Partner in Seychelles, a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA).

RETHINKING THE FUTURE OF PARKS EXPLORING INNOVATION TO SECURE THE FUTURE OF PARKS WORDS NESTA (NESTA IS THE UK’S INNOVATION AGENCY FOR SOCIAL GOOD.)

ate in 2020, together with partners at the Future Parks Accelerator, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund, Nesta hosted an event to share learning and ideas from parks and greenspace innovators across the country and take an opportunity to rethink the future of parks. Here, to help spread the ideas and learning, is the content from speakers at the event. In recent years our parks and greenspaces have been under huge threat. As a result of austerity and the demand placed on local authorities’ budgets to support statutory services such as social care, non-statutory services like parks have been facing budget pressures. Over the last seven years, Nesta, in partnership with The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, has provided two rounds of funding and support to develop innovative ways of managing and ﬁnancing the UK’s public parks. Rethinking Parks has backed 24 innovations, with £3 million in funding and support, to test and replicate ideas. Innovations experimented with a broad range of ideas – tapping into the public willingness to give in new ways; mobilising the skills and energy of communities; developing ways to generate and use data to create smarter parks; designing approaches to use spaces in more environmentally friendly and ﬁnancially astute ways; using parks assets to generate renewable energy and income, as well as developing new ways to engage with local businesses. The Future Parks Accelerator, a collaboration between the National Trust,

National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is supporting nine places to help local authorities transform their green spaces to enable these valuable places be more ﬁnancial sustainable, and ensure that communities can continue to beneﬁt from them for generations to come. The event shared the learning from the innovators from across the country. Together with partners, from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, the team sought to help spread the ideas and learning, and keep innovating for parks and greenspaces at the forefront of priorities. Our experience of working with parks innovators up and down the country, both inside of local authorities parks teams, and outside in universities, community organisations, social enterprises and charities, shows there is a real community of experimenters, activists and entrepreneurs working to enable our parks and greenspaces to evolve, adapt and continue to be at the heart of our communities. But to face the challenges and opportunities ahead, we must continue to adopt and spread the mindset, habits and tools that can support this innovation. The challenges and opportunities ahead create a loud and clear call for us to keep innovating for the future of our parks and greenspaces. The recordings listed below allowed sharing of some of the learning and advice from different teams and innovators, and a range of contributors who outline some of the challenges and opportunities for us to rethink our future parks. They can also be accessed

online at nesta.org.uk/project-updates/ rethinking-future-parks/

SESSION ONE: THE INNOVATION IMPERATIVE TO RETHINK PARKS The ﬁrst session highlighted a range of exciting projects from the Rethinking Parks programme and the Future Parks Accelerator. Speakers from around the UK shared their experiences, explaining their motivations for innovating in parks, the opportunities they hope to realise and the challenges they are trying to overcome. • Rethinking income and income funding models • Rethinking community involvement and participation • Smarter parks and greenspaces • Valuing and enhancing our natural resources • Working at a landscape scale

SESSION TWO: VISIONS TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF PARKS The second session looked to the future of parks and greenspaces, with some lightning talks from the authors of the Rethinking Parks: Visions to shape the future of parks essay series. They encouraged the audience to think of some of the trends that are likely to shape the future of parks as well as the possibilities for innovation over the coming years. • Will Covid-19 make parks even less accessible? • Detraumatising the city • Valuing the invaluable • What if we thought about localities the way we think about gardens? • News from nowhere gardens • The park is dead. Long live the park

Spring 2021 | AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE 49

AN INVESTMENT OPTIONS APPRAISAL LEVELLING UP AND BUILDING BACK BETTER THROUGH URBAN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE WORDS VIVID ECONOMICS AND BARTON WILLMORE

he National Trust, alongside Partners at the Heritage Lottery Fund and cities and places within Future Parks Accelerator, have urged the UK Government to make a £5.5bn commitment to urban green infrastructure funding in order to level-up access to nature as part of the much trailed “infrastructure revolution”. Following on the heels of Prime Minister Johnson’s “Build, Build, Build” statement of ambition for the country’s recovery, this call was supported by research published by the Greenkeeper team, which makes a powerful economic case for significant investment across the UK. The Covid-19 health crisis has highlighted the inequalities in greenspace access felt by many of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods across our towns and cities. Greenkeeper and wider research has identified: • 295 deprived neighbourhoods of 440,000 people across Great Britain that are grey deserts, with no accessible greenspace or trees. • In areas where over 40 percent of residents are from ethnic minorities, there is 11 times less public greenspace than in areas where residents are predominantly white. • In the poorest 20% of households across the country, 46% do not have a car, so urban greenspaces are their only opportunity for contact with nature. And yet, in all of this, Greenkeeper has proven that the physical health and wellbeing value urban greenspaces delivers, offer the largest benefit for local communities. Until recently, these have been very difficult to quantify. The Greenkeeper team have not only

been able to map the greyest areas of Great Britain but also assess the costs of three major interventions and the beneﬁts they would deliver, to level-up access to quality greenspace. To level-up life chances, we must invest in liveable neighbourhoods in low income areas. Nothing would be more visible that this as an act of levelling up. The disparity in quality of neighbourhoods affects lives so much. In neighbourhoods where the streets are grey and there is no greenspace, mental wellbeing is depressed and the chance of getting diabetes and some forms of cancer is higher. Instead of a zero percent share of the capital budget on greening neighbourhoods in the 2020 budget, around 1 percent of the £640 billion of gross capital investment on communications, roads, schools, railways, hospitals and power networks by 2024-25, if spent on creating periurban parks and greening the poorest neighbourhoods, would have a huge impact and offer outstanding value for money The Covid-19 health crisis has highlighted some key challenges and inequalities of urban living, in particular, the provision of and access to urban green infrastructure for urban dwellers. As our cities and towns thrive, in recent years it has become clear that urban greenspace and nature has a proven impact on our physical health and wellbeing, offering us the space to exercise and relax and contributing to tackling climate change. Commissioned by the National Trust (UK) and partners of the Future Parks Accelerator, this review utilises

50 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

Greenkeeper, a newly developed tool to quantify the very real social and economic benefits a programme of urban greenspace would deliver to local communities. The programme shows how a series of greenspace interventions within some of the UK’s most deprived urban neighbourhoods, where there are clear and significant gaps, would support a recovery that levels up health inequalities and supports struggling local economies. This report demonstrates how a £5.5bn capital investment would deliver £200bn in physical health and wellbeing benefits to the most disadvantaged communities, in tandem with the active travel, biodiversity, carbon capture and air quality enhancements green infrastructure provides in support of our journey towards net zero. We looked at three types of interventions: Upgrading existing greenspaces, greening urban neighbourhoods, and creating large scale parks in the urban fringe.

UPGRADING KEY EXISTING PARKS AND GREENSPACES Some of the key greenspaces within these deprived neighbourhoods are hugely underperforming. We identified some key basic facility upgrades that could be applied and deliver a more usable greenspace for all members of the local community. We identified some 9200 underperforming parks in neighbourhoods across the UK. People are missing out on 500 million potential park visits a year due to these spaces being poorly-equipped (ie lacking basic facilities such as a toilet, play area or café). Through a programme of upgrades, every one of these some 20 million people could have access to enhanced facilities for a £1.1 billion capital investment (plus an annual ongoing commitment of £35m/year). Residents in these neighbourhoods would secure, through visits to these enhanced spaces, £3 billion per year in physical health benefits through disease prevention (eg diabetes, circulatory disease, some cancers) and over £7 billion per year in wellbeing. For every £1 of this investment made, £100 of benefits will be generated over 30 years. In addition, some 7000 jobs would be involved in construction and 1000 permanent jobs would be created.

GREENING URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS Where green infrastructure is lacking we have proposed the creation of new parks and green streets to provide

connected green infrastructure that broadens accessibility and use for all. We identified 295 urban deprived neighbourhoods in the UK that are missing the benefits of green infrastructure visits due to lack of accessible provision. Through a building programme, we believe 155 new neighbourhood parks in these areas, at a cost of £0.4 billion capital investment (plus £6m per year for maintenance and operation), would generate some 6 million new park visits a year. As a result, some 440,000 residents in these neighbourhoods would secure £34 million per year in physical health (diabetes, circulatory disease, some cancers) and £59 million per year in wellbeing benefits through visits to these new greenspaces, as well as £12 million per year in general amenity for local residents. Greenkeeper estimates that for every £1 invested, £4 of benefits will be generated over 30 years. In addition, some 2,500 jobs would be involved in construction and 180 permanent jobs would be created. Through analysis of 3500 of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods, we have identified some 10,000 kilometres of streets where street trees or a street

park would offer significant green connectivity. A capital investment of £2.5 billion (plus £47m in maintenance and operations per annum) would provide all these neighbourhoods with street trees and 600 neighbourhoods with street parks. As a result some 15 million people would benefit from the proximity of these green streets and street parks to their homes. This proximity and accessibility would deliver some £390 million per year in wellbeing benefits for these deprived neighbourhoods and a further £180 million/year in general amenity. They would also benefit from the air pollution quality improvements these changes would deliver. For every £1 invested, £3 of benefits would be generated over 30 years. In addition, some 16,000 jobs would be involved in construction and 1,300 permanent jobs would be created, nearly all in deprived areas

CREATING LARGE SCALE REGIONAL PARKS AND FORESTS IN THE URBAN FRINGE Connected to the city, these spaces would offer millions of people access to explore and play in the wild, natural spaces, without the need of a car. Reviewing the mapped information

regarding green infrastructure, it is evident that most cities do not have immediate access to our national parks. Very few urban dwellers can access large, nature-rich areas without a car. By creating ten new peri-urban regional parks for the public, in the green belt, we can bring some of the main benefits of national parks to the doorsteps of ten UK cities. A capital investment of £1.4 billion (plus maintenance and operating costs of £200m/year) would deliver 750 sq km of new parks and serve some 7 million people. These new peri-urban parks would generate £600 million per year in health benefits while also contributing around 8 percent of the national tree-planting target, therefore making a significant contribution to the challenges of achieving net zero carbon and securing flood risk mitigation. For every £1 invested, £2 of pulblic health and amenity benefits will be generated over 30 years. These proposals would generate some 13,500 jobs in construction and 3800 permanent jobs, many of which would be directly in the deprived neighbourhoods themselves. Editor’s comment: These figures speak for themselves — so why isn’t someone listening?

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Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan. Ryan Bray, Parks Canada

LET’S TALK PARKS PARKS CANADA RELEASES MINISTER’S RESPONSE TO ROUND TABLE CONSULTATIONS WORDS JENNIFER BAIN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR FOR NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER

anadians want Parks Canada to work harder to make racialised communities, Indigenous peoples, LGBTQ2+ communities and people living with disabilities feel welcome in its parks, conservation areas and historic sites. That was a key takeaway of Let’s Talk Parks, Canada!, the 2020 Minister’s Round Table on Parks Canada — a national consultation that’s held every two years to help shape the agency’s response to challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. The round table was delivered through virtual engagement sessions and an online engagement portal in October and November 2020. It drew a record 4500 emails and 20 written submissions, and attracted 60 organisations to nine virtual discussion forums. More than 500 ideas were shared through the online portal and 8000 people were engaged over social media. “Getting outside has been indispensable to many of us during this difficult year, myself included,” wrote Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible

for Parks Canada, in his report and response to the round table. “Covid-19 has reinforced the need to ensure that all Canadians can access, enjoy and feel welcome in all natural and cultural heritage places.” Wilkinson’s report details 12 action areas that “will help to protect more nature, strengthen Indigenous leadership in conservation, protect Canada’s built heritage, foster diversity in the stories shared at Parks Canada administered places and make these important places even more inclusive and welcoming to all visitors.” Ron Hallman, president and CEO of Parks Canada, said the 2020 level of participation in the consultation process demonstrated how invested Canadians are in Parks Canada’s work to protect and share natural and cultural heritage places. More than 13,000 Canadians weighed in on ﬁve themes: urban parks, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, ecological corridors, Indigenous leadership in conservation, and protecting cultural heritage. The minister’s 12 action items promise that Parks Canada will:

52 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

• Review best practices and successful models for supporting urban parks and enhancing conservation efforts in urban areas. • Explore options to expand urban parks in Canada and to support conservation in urban areas to increase access for Canadians to greenspaces. • Continue comprehensive efforts to promote diversity, inclusion and equity in visitor experience and outreach activities. • Work with experts, as well as advocacy and service organisations to strengthen accessibility and inclusion. • Work with experts, partners and conservation organisations on an overarching approach to ecological connectivity. • Promote the adoption of best practices for ecological connectivity into conservation planning across Canada. • Convene Indigenous partners to advise on agency-led initiatives. • Advance efforts to develop a framework for Indigenous stewardship in places the agency administers. • Identify opportunities to support and advance Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. • Work at strengthening legislation related to the designation of places, persons and events of historic signiﬁcance and the protection of federally owned historic places. • Explore opportunities to increase support to owners of historic places. • Continue to implement the Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan (2019). Participants repeatedly brought up the concept of “nothing without us”, and “the importance of ensuring that those affected by decisions and initiatives are integrally involved in their design, implementation and decision making.” They wished for “ethical space” where multiple perspectives and world views are brought together and equally valued. While considering barriers to diversity, inclusion and accessibility, people suggested helping lowincome Canadians by making heritage places free and exploring subsidised transportation options. Parks Canada “consistently heard that Canadians of all backgrounds, abilities and traditions need to see themselves `on both sides of the counter’ in order to feel welcome and included.” This extends from senior leadership to marketing and communications to front-line services.

PARKS CANADA PROTECTS A NETWORK OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE PLACES THAT INCLUDES 171 NATIONAL HISTORIC SITES, 47 NATIONAL PARKS, FIVE NATIONAL MARINE CONSERVATION AREAS AND ONE NATIONAL URBAN PARK. Round table participants stressed the importance of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and integrating Indigenous science in decision making. They reminded Parks Canada “of the devastating impacts that past decisions in the creation of national protected places have had for Indigenous peoples, who were often alienated and separated from their lands and cultures of part of the establishment process and ongoing management of these places.” Parks Canada promised to consider options for expanding its network of urban national parks beyond Rouge National Urban Park in Greater Toronto, and to make partnerships to advance conservation in urban and near-urban settings. One participant noted that people “may go to urban parks because they’re convenient and accessible (especially to people without a vehicle) and offer a slice of nature in the hubbub of urban life. They’re a good place to spend an afternoon.”

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Wilkinson said that the 12 actions will help advance Canada’s efforts to protect 25 percent of lands and waters by 2025. The agency will now develop detailed action plans to shape the next 24 months. This next two years of work will be reported to the next round table in 2022. Parks Canada protects a network of natural and cultural heritage places that includes 171 national historic sites, 47 national parks, ﬁve national marine conservation areas and one national urban park. It has more than 7500 employees and logs 25 million visits per year while monitoring more than 200 species at risk and overseeing 7000 kilometres of trails, 12,000 campsites and 31 million archaeological and historical objects. Note: National Parks Traveler is the world’s top-rated, editorially independent, non-proﬁt media organisation dedicated to covering national parks and protected areas on a daily basis.

Royal Botanic Gardens, NSW

Fortress of Louisbourg, National Historic Site, Nova Scotia. DCBA, Parks Canada

Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario. Scott Munn, Parks Canada

Moreton Daily Stadium, QLD

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ADAPTIVE PUBLIC SPACE PLACES FOR PEOPLE IN THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND WORDS ELIZABETH PANDOLFI

new report released by the Knight Foundation in the USA has shown through data what many of us have experienced for ourselves this past year: Outdoor public spaces are even more important now than they were when there wasn’t a pandemic raging around the world. The report, Adaptive Public Spaces: Places for People in the Pandemic and Beyond, looked at seven different public spaces across the US (each of which received partial funding from Knight) to assess their impact in four different areas: Design and programming; community/ resident focus; impact on the broader community, town, or city; and long-term ﬁnancial and operational sustainability. Funded by Knight and conducted by the global urban design ﬁrm Gehl, the report’s data was collected via resident surveys, focus groups, geotagged Instagram posts, and both new and existing observational data on space usage both pre- and midpandemic. “We have this belief that great public spaces can connect communities,” says Lilly Weinberg, the Knight Foundation’s senior director for community and national initiatives. “We wanted to evaluate that statement — is it true, and has it worked?” What the study found was very clear: Embedding community engagement as a core component throughout the space’s lifecycle, from design to governance, clearly increases community attachment to, usage of, and trust in that public space. In other words, if a public space has a strong community-led component, people use it more, they trust it more, and they

feel more like it is theirs. What that looks like can, and should, vary greatly depending on the wants and needs of the community. At the Discovery Centre in Philadelphia, a public nature area and home of the Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS), community-led programming took the form of a first-aid class for gunshot wounds, responding to increased gun violence in the adjacent Strawberry Mansion neighbourhood. A 2018 event, Inclusion, Equity, & Environmental Gentrification, was hugely popular and addressed the issues of gentrification and disinvestment from both a local and broader viewpoint. The Discovery Centre is also exploring specific, community-responsive ways to engage the Black community, like leading nature walks for Black men and offering mommy-and-me classes. “The more we were consistent in taking folks’ ideas…that was what built the trust and the foundation to then have people engaged and visiting,” says POBS’ community engagement manager Izzy Nelson in the report. Another Philadelphia public space, the arts and culture-centric Cherry Street Pier, is also working on increasing its outreach to communities of colour. Cherry Street Pier is home to artist studios, interactive art installations, local businesses, and a garden restaurant, and it hosts food markets and other special events, as well. The management organisation has a process in place to ensure diversity among their artists-in-residence, business owners and food vendors. “Our diverse resident artist cohort enables us to engage with

54 AUSTRALASIAN PARKS AND LEISURE | Spring 2021

communities of coluor in authentic ways,” says Sarah Eberle, Cherry Street Pier’s general manager. “We still have work to do, but providing opportunities for Black artists, people from other marginalised communities and those who are underrepresented on the art scene in Philadelphia are all very important to us.” Since the pandemic began, the Pier has become even more committed to its identity as an arts destination. It has pivoted much of its focus away from large special events to smaller, more interactive arts programming around artist engagement with the public, like a 2020 Dia de los Muertos mural painting workshop. This kind of community responsiveness and adaptability has proven to offer another major beneﬁt, in addition to the critical ones of supporting trust and engagement with area residents. “What we found that was so interesting was that public spaces that were community-led from the beginning were much more resilient during Covid-19,” says Weinberg. “And it makes sense: they know their communities and their communities’ needs, so they were able to adapt much quicker.” In fact, the report found that Cherry Street Pier saw a threefold increase in foot traffic during the pandemic. Part of this is quite easy to understand, as outdoor public spaces were one of the few safe places to visit for most of 2020. Many public spaces were primed to accommodate needs like physical distancing. “We were able to capitalise on some of our physical features that made us a safer space,” says Eberle. “We are a 65,000-foot facility with a lot of open space, and now an enclosed HVAC system. All of the challenges we had with programming an extraordinarily large space pre-pandemic have now become advantages.” Yet this data also proves that there is tremendous demand for these kinds of public spaces in cities. That means that people like Weinberg — people deeply involved in the policy, creation, nurturing, and evolution of public spaces — see this coming post-pandemic moment as a huge opportunity. “We’re at a high point for public spaces,” Weinberg says. “Part of the purpose of this report is to equip cities with the information that public spaces can be transformational in their communities. What we’re saying is this needs to be a priority. Public space served as an essential public good during this pandemic. “I think the future can be better,” she adds, “for many of our public spaces.” Download the report at knightfoundation.org/reports/adaptivepublic-space-places-for-people-in-thepandemic-and-beyond/

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