“We’re Here for Them”: Fostering Social Sustainability through Intergenerational Engagement in Parks

Debra Cushing (Queensland University of Technology)

Social sustainability includes aspects of equity and well-being for generations now and into the future. And one of the UN Sustainable Development goals promotes good health and well-being for all ages. Yet, this aspect of sustainability is considered the least understood, as compared to economic and environmental components. To address this, our study focused on intergenerational engagement within neighbourhood and community parks to foster social sustainability and encourage healthy and active living.

This study included short, semi-structured, in-situ interviews with 386 adult park users within 12 parks in South-East Queensland, Australia during the summer. Approximately two-thirds (68%) of adult participants visited the park with one or more children and for most of them, it was the playground that brought them to the park. For adults at the park without children (32% of the total), half of them (52%) were there to use the dog park or walk their dog. This indicates that a majority of adults will likely go to a park for the benefit of others, whether it is children or pets. And when asked who decides what they do in the park, one adult indicated it was the children, “We’re here for them, so they can do pretty much do what they want.”

Further thematic analysis of our qualitative data shows that intergenerational interactions in the surveyed parks predominately include adults playing with, teaching, and assisting children. However, three common scenarios limited intergenerational interaction and led to adults simply observing children: adults accompanying older children; adults with a lower capacity to be active; and when children play with other children at the park. This paper concludes with a discussion on potential ways to increase intergenerational interactions in parks in order to promote health and well-being for all ages, thus increasing social sustainability.