Implementation and effects of user participation in playground management: a comparative study of two Swedish municipalities

This paper describes and analyses how customer orientation strategies, with the focus on user participation, are implemented in playground management and their effects on managers’ attitudes and work with physical playgrounds. A comparative case study was conducted in two Swedish municipalities that involve users in different ways: through a manager-driven participation process and through informal user-initiated dialogue. The empirical material consisted of qualitative interviews with professionals in the management organisations and studies of local playgrounds. Implementation of strategies for user participation and tactical management activities appeared to be of importance. The manager-driven participation strategy was associated with a particularly positive attitude among managers, but also difficulties such as maintaining continuous dialogue with users. The small differences found in playground provision between the two municipalities give reason to question the physical effects of participation processes, and show the need for further research

Children’s Social Capital in the Segregated Context of Amsterdam

This paper addresses children’s social capital across space and over time. Empirical evidence comes from an in-depth study of changes in children’s daily lives in Amsterdam over the past 50 years. Different dimensions of religious and ethnic segregation at school and in the neighbourhood have influenced children’s capacity to build social capital. The main conclusion is that children’s social capital in two out of three selected neighbourhoods has narrowed considerably. Children today have lost many of the loose social ties across age, class, religion and ethnicity. It is not only the segregated school choice that lies at the heart of this narrowing process; schools have always reflected parents’ status, whether in religious or in class terms. It is also the loss of children’s agency on the street that contributes to the decline in children’s bridging social capital