The Power of Place in Play : A Bourdieusian Analysis of Auckland Children's Seasonal Play Practices

»There's nothing really fun about the park in winter!« - Christina Ergler is the first one to explore why ›play‹ resonates differently across urban localities and seasons. She draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice and Gibson's affordance theory to show that determinants of seasonal outdoor play transcend modifiable barriers such as traffic and unsuitable play spaces as well as the inevitable issue of inclement weather. In contrast, seasonal play determinants are grounded in locally constituted beliefs about what is seasonally ›appropriate‹ children's activity. To foster a healthier and more sustainable life for children, outdoor play needs to become convenient all-year-round in all locations. Cover Table of contents Abstract Keywords Acknowledgements Prologue 1. ‘Playing around’ with children’s outdoor play Embeddings: the URBAN study Aim Research questions Placing ‘obesogenic landscapes’ Moving beyond passive participation with children’s geographies Defining ‘play’ and ‘physical activity’: two sides of the same coin? Conceptualising ‘environmental literacy’ An attempt to define neighbourhood Thesis overview 2. ‘Obesogenic landscapes’ in children’s geographies: mapping key debates and perspectives Urban children’s outdoor play insights from ‘obesogenic landscapes’ The ‘home’ environment as ‘obesogenic landscape’ Neighbourhoods in light of ‘obesogenic landscapes’ Transcending home and neighbourhood environments: playing between ‘domestication’, ‘institutionalisation’ and ‘insularisation’ Shaping ‘obesogenic landscapes’: experiencing seasonality and weather conditions Conclusion 3. A conceptual framework for understanding children’s seasonal outdoor play: Bourdieu and affordances Bourdieu’s key concepts: field, capital and habitus Bourdieu’s understanding of a ‘field’ Symbolic capital: structuring the ‘field of play’ Habitus: transcending the individual actor A Bourdieusian lens on space and place The inhabited or appropriated space The space of points of view Complementing the Bourdieusian lens with ‘affordances’ Introducing and extending the concept of affordances Potential and actualised affordances Affordances and the neighbourhood environment An emotionalisation of affordances The social side of affordances Conclusion 4. ‘Methodological principles’: a Bourdieusian approach to unpack outdoor play Applying Bourdieu’s ‘methodological principles’: transcending the ‘existing’ paradigm divide The construction of the research object A three-level approach to studying the field and the object of research Participant objectivation Bourdieu, mixed-method research and children Near and distant multi-sited participatory ethnography: moving beyond passive participation Conclusion 5. The research practice: procedural principles Recruiting families Placing families The research practice: introducing the methods Researcher’s method: neighbourhood walks Procedural principles of methods conducted with parents Parental pen and paper survey Parental interview Procedural principles of methods conducted with children Preparations: decisions on GPS logger and a pilot study GPS: observing through distant ethnography Travel diary Elicited drawings Semi-structured interviews with children Beyond passive participation: children in the driver’s seat of a ‘follow up study’ The analysis stage Analysis stage I: Considering the data separately Near ethnography: analysing the semi-structured interviews Analysis of visual data: viewing near and distant ethnography through the same lens Near and distant ethnography analysed through descriptive statistics Analysis stage II: coming to terms with near and distant ethnography through triangulation Conclusion 6. Locating Auckland Central and Beach Haven Auckland’s climate and weather ‘A localisation’ of Auckland Locating Beach Haven Locating the Central City Conclusion 7. The social history of play: Auckland a city of managed childhood? Shanghais and tea parties: paradoxes of the (un)managed childhood of the early days Meaningful pastime: supervising children’s free time in the Beginning of modernity and war times Play and well-being in the post-war period: the suburban nuclear family Children’s play and the feminist movement Pluralism or individualisation of play? Neoliberal tolls on children’s play Conclusion 8. The inhabitation of Auckland Central and Beach Haven: a parental pursuit Structuring the appropriation of Auckland Central and Beach Haven Beach Haven: attracting the undesired? Auckland Central: attracting only foreigners? Conclusion 9. ‘Profits of localisation’ for outdoor play in Auckland Central and Beach Haven Children’s map-able roaming patterns Viewing children’s roaming patterns from distance Play patterns in Auckland Central and Beach Haven Families’ views of ‘desirable agents and goods’ and their promising ‘symbolic capital’ Children and their home environment Dealing with urban mobilities: managing traffic volumes Desiring organised pastimes: the ‘institutionalisation’ of play Trust, social networks and neighbourliness: determinants of outdoor play and ‘environmental literacy’? ‘Profits of localisation’: valued destinations in Beach Haven and the central city Conclusion 10. Spaces of points of view: the logics of outdoor play in summer and winter Outdoor play and the ‘practical logics’ in actualising affordances Attitudes towards children playing in a central city and suburban environment The practical logics of families’ schedules: managing business Maximising children’s well-being: seasonal ‘rules of the game’ Two perspectives of play: evaluating children’s development Managing children: minimising ‘risks’ of outdoor play The emotional aspects of outdoor play: practical logics of experiences Habitus and seasonal outdoor play Inheriting a certain type of playing? Playing naturally: embodied play practices “I am a wild outdoor one”: an outdoor play habitus Hibernation of the outdoor play habitus Curtailing the outdoor play habitus: prioritising the ‘safety paradigm’ Conclusion 11. Struggles in the ‘field of play’: five insights into understanding and explaining ‘obesogenic landscapes’ Making the most of Beach Haven: stories of an outdoor tomboy Limits in Beach Haven? Curtailing the outdoor habitus Making the most of the central city: stories of a sports ‘enthusiast’ Adjusting a passion for active play to the central city: stories of a gamer Coming out of hibernation: the suburban paradox Conclusion 12. Closing, refurbishing and re-opening the ‘play grounds’ of ‘obesogenic landscapes’ Closing and refurbishing the thesis’ ‘play grounds’ of ‘obesogenic landscapes’ Sustainable living ideologies: necessarily ‘obesogenic landscapes’ for children? Seasonality: transcending localities Historical conditions: the passing on of the habitus Working with, against and beyond Bourdieu: methodological and theoretical ‘play grounds’ Future playgrounds for researching ‘obesogenic landscapes’ Concluding remarks References »There's nothing really fun about the park in winter!« - Christina Ergler is the first one to explore why 'play' resonates differently across urban localities and seasons. She draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice and Gibson's affordance theory to show that determinants of seasonal outdoor play transcend modifiable barriers such as traffic and unsuitable play spaces as well as the inevitable issue of inclement weather. In contrast, seasonal play determinants are grounded in locally constituted beliefs about what is seasonally 'appropriate' children's activity. To foster a healthier and more sustainable life for children, outdoor play needs to become convenient all-year-round in all locations. Play,Playground,Bourdieu,Obesity,Independent Mobility,Physical Activity,Season,Place,Space,Social Geography,Cultural Geography,Youth,Geography