Participatory arts, sport, physical activity & loneliness: the role of space and place

How can spaces and places enhance wellbeing or reduce
loneliness through sport, physical activity and participatory arts?

The spaces and places that cultural and sporting activities take place in can enhance wellbeing and alleviate loneliness.
This is shown by a mix of high and moderate quality evidence.

Previous reviews have highlighted the importance of place for promoting wellbeing through good social connections (Bagnall et al., 2018) and the links between loneliness and wellbeing (Mansfield et al., 2019).

• Sports/physical activity: any kind of sport or physical
  exercise.
• Participatory arts: the active participation in any form of creative activity using voice, body or inanimate objects to convey artistic expression.
• Space or place: the physical and social characteristics of places including things like community, neighbourhood or physical environment, or particular kinds of places – for example, public parks, green spaces or leisure centres. Place may refer to a location and its activities as well as the people in it.

The review identified five key themes in the evidence base. These highlight processes by which participatory arts and sport increase wellbeing and/ or reduce loneliness.
They are:

• belonging and identity
• relationships to community and locality
• therapeutic and sensory spaces
• safe spaces
• Pace and rhythm of a space and place

The following chart shows the ways spaces and places
can influence wellbeing and loneliness.

Positive wellbeing is associated with feelings of excitement, nostalgia and pleasure, a sense of freedom, kinship, security, support and being valued, recovery and restoration, a positive sense of identity, agency and autonomy.

Negative wellbeing is connected to feelings of fear, anxiety, discomfort (mental and physical) alienation and
stigma. Studies which provide findings on loneliness refer to the various unpleasant feelings that occur when the quality of a person’s social relationships is poor.

There is evidence in this review that the absence of meaningful relationships (emotional loneliness) can lead to a negative wellbeing impact. Additionally, it can cause deficits in the quality and quantity of relationships (social
loneliness).

There is also evidence of positive wellbeing impact of solitude conceptualised as a powerful force for calm and peace; a type of recharging experience adopted when people feel a need to break from human connection for a while.

Put place at the centre of culture and sport

This evidence shows the importance of overcoming barriers to engagement, including perceptions of class, gender and ethnicity. National provision policy can play an important role in enabling positive cultural and sport engagement in places and spaces.

Make people feel safe and free from judgment.
For effective and sustained interventions, create safe spaces to facilitate open, honest, transparent and authentic experiences. This is especially important for those facing poor physical and mental health or trauma.

Consider how to address the stigmatising elements
of space and place. Resolve discriminatory practices
and create environments that support meaningful
connection, value, celebrate diversity and offer support
for those experiencing – or creating – stigma.

Create spaces for people to come together and to
thrive on their own. In addition to spaces for coming
together, there should be spaces for solitude and activities that help people develop personal growth and creativity; explore future hopes; or re-frame their life.

Listen and give voice to different people. Effective,
sustainable policies for place-making design require multidisciplinary, cross-sector and co-production approaches. These can incorporate ways that local area design can improve wellbeing through participatory arts, sport and physical activity.

Invest in local knowledge and skills

The evidence shows the awareness and skills of local cultural and sport leaders play an important role in successful interventions.

Recognise the importance of place from different
perspectives

Space and place can be perceived and conceived in different ways. Creating policies or wellbeing in participatory arts, sport and physical activity requires the adoption of and support for multidisciplinary, cross-sector and co-production approaches to design place-making to support wellbeing in effective and sustainable ways.