Do you have an itch you cannot scratch? Is there something you cannot get your head around? Have you been approached about an issue and haven’t a clue how to best respond? What response or outcome surprised you?
General topic areas could include process, standards, policies, ethics, politics, contemporary park issues, management, structure, trends, legislation, history, climate change, etc. This is not a complete list, nor are they discrete. Often answers cross boundaries.
I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I may be able to provide a different perspective. If I can help let me know. I would entertain a joint Parks are Like Icebergs vlog to share for all. As they say…there are no dumb questions!
P.S. I am happy to promote you writing as well!
I want to look at Hawrelak Park as a case study. Seems there was a missed opportunity for incorporating designing with nature (NbS’s) as called for by COP15. I FOIPed the documents and most of the trees coming out are for expansion of parking and other hard surfaces. Water run off will be increased as will operational costs and carbon footprint. Why not hold a competitive design process calling for our green space to design with nature. And why didn’t the city consult with other sovereign nations.
I want to know if there is a way to “define” parks and recreation as a social benefit? Recreation in Canada - Background ‘Renewed Definition of Recreation’ from A framework for Recreation in Canada: A pathways to wellbeing (2015)
Recreation is the experience that results from freely chosen participation in physical, social, intellectual, creative, and spiritual pursuits that enhance individual and community wellbeing. This quote came from a recent Recognizing and Rejecting Racism on March 16, 2023. A recording and transcript of the webinar session here from Saskatchewan https://transcripts.gotomeeting.com/#/s/96d7706f33a58e6a76a6e467723995c0facf9a623b5a85c6dcccaf96e31abaad
Cited A framework for recreation in Canada, 2015.
And the study on how the problem of exclusion and the solution of inclusion have been discursively produced within A Framework for Recreation in Canada 2015: Pathways to Wellbeing the article is from “Vulnerable,” “At-risk,” “Disadvantaged”: How A Framework for Recreation in Canada 2015: Pathways to Wellbeing Reinscribes Exclusion by Lisa N Tink, Danielle Peers, Candace I. J. Nykiforuk & Bethan C. Kingsley from the University of Alberta. The publishers are Leisure/Loisir, Volume 44, Issue 2 (2020).