Parks form a vital component of public life, providing the opportunity for activity, social connection, interaction with nature, and community cohesion. However, research shows that many young people do not feel welcome, comfortable or safe in public and particularly green spaces. Further research shows that there is a marked difference based on gender, with young women and gender diverse young people consequently using such spaces far less than their peers.

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This project, in Broomfield Park, in the London Borough of Enfield explored with a group of local teenaged girls how to make the park a more welcoming space for girls and young women. The project was run by Social Place and Make Space for Girls (a charity which campaigns for parks and public spaces to be designed with teenage girls in mind). The project was commissioned by a partnership between the Friends of Broomfield Park, The Palmers Greenery Community Cafe and Enfield Council and funded by The Palmers Greenery Community Café. They noted that while they observed boys and young men using the parks regularly, they noticed that by contrast, teenaged girls did not often use the park or use the park freely. The call-out for the project can be accessed here.

 

Over a series of five workshopping sessions which took place in Spring 2024 in the park and nearby, the ten participants aged 13-18 studied the way they moved around and used the green space and surrounding area, how they wished they could use it and what design improvements could contribute to their feeling more welcomed in the green space.The participants described the park as a lovely space but one in which they did not feel like teenage girls could or would linger in, and where their demographic was underprovided for.

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​Building off of this work and the proposals and designs that the young women involved in the project came up with, the Palmer's Greenery Community Cafe are currently working on putting together a proposal for a teenage youth space to be built in the park.