RESEARCH & ADVOCACY

"Research and the dissemination of new ways of construct play are the means by which we can all advocate for outdoor play4all children. Regardless of a child's social economic background, gender, or physical abilities." Marie Williams

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I am TEDx speaker and play advocate who has spoken at Universities and conferences across the globe on how we can curate play spaces by deconstructing the playground and our play aesthetics. Through focusing on local connections and materials, inclusive spaces, and child-led design. These themes run through all my lecturing and critique work, where I specialise in fields of play and co-design.

My PHD research explores children’s access and engagement with outdoor play in Kitengela, a rapidly developing city Kenya through the process of co-design. In conditions of refugee displacement, children often lack access to safe play areas. However outdoor play is crucial for childhood development, and the mitigation of some of the negative effects of displacement. This collaborative research provides a unique opportunity to produce an innovative, transferable co-design methodology in collaboration with local stakeholders. Research that critically evaluates how neoliberal legacies have promoted inequity in the built environment and seeks to decolonise the design of outdoor play., through generating  contextual, co-designed outdoor play design solutions 

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