Public Places


“Public open space provides places for organised teams to play sport, of course, but it serves many other purposes simultaneously; it is very much more than the sum of its parts”


Dr Tim Lodge, Agrostis Sports Surface Consulting


but it serves many other purposes simultaneously; it is very much more than the sum of its parts. It is right and proper that our industry should constantly strive to improve playing quality standards on sports pitches, and we devote a great deal of time and effort to doing just this. I believe passionately, however, that the design and formation of these public open spaces must also address the wider purposes that they serve. If you use every available square metre of a site for the marking out of pitches, you will certainly be providing for those groups that will use that site for organised sport. Squeezing in additional mini-soccer pitches will serve all of the children that attend the clubs and play at weekends very well. Most of the time, however, those pitches won’t actually be used. During the week, the kids will play on only one or


two pitches - and probably just at one end - on an informal basis on the way home from school, after tea, Saturday morning. As for the kids that don’t participate in organised sport, the ones not in the clubs, these pitches are more or less useless; bleak and windswept spaces to be avoided, feared even.


What we, as designers of public open space, must cater for are all of the users of a site and not just those already involved in organised sports. Indeed, by making sites more attractive to non-sporting people those very people might, seeing the sport that is taking place nearby, become interested anyway and take it up on a more organised basis. In practice, what this means is


relinquishing a little of the space available and developing it specifically for these other purposes. Some examples of how this can be achieved follow.


Properly constructed footpaths, that


don’t become quagmires each winter, can link different communities so that open space becomes a connection rather than a barrier. As the footpaths weave amongst the various sports surfaces, pedestrians on them may sometimes dawdle to watch an organised sport taking place. That looks fun. I think I might give that a try… Make room for some trees. Of course, these must be located so they don’t interfere with drainage systems and, of course, must not be allowed to shade the playing surfaces. But try selecting species not just so that the leaf fall doesn’t affect the pitches, but perhaps because they’re easy to climb and fall out of. Try to envisage that nine year old boy having his first conversation with the girl from the other estate underneath these trees. Leave areas of longer grass. Those triangles in odd shaped corners will be


FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 PC 91


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