Professor Helen Woolley
BSc BPhil CMLI
School of Architecture and Landscape
Head of School
+44 114 222 0608
Full contact details
School of Architecture and Landscape
12.19
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
- Profile
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Learn more about Helen's research into children's outdoor play environments and how she embeds this into her teaching practice. Having wanted to be a Landscape Architect from an early age, partly influenced by being brought up in the garden village of Bournville, I studied Agricultural and Environmental Science at The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne where I was awarded an upper second class degree.
I was funded by the Social Science Research Council award to study on the postgraduate course in Landscape Design. Before joining The University of Sheffield in 1992 I worked both in and for private practice and the public sector.
My interests lie in people and their everyday use of green and open spaces. This includes issues around designing, planning and managing green and open spaces at different scales.
My research about children’s outdoor environments relates to policy, practice and use and has an increasing focus how this is facilitated or constrained by individuals, structures, organisations and society. I am a member of the multidisciplinary Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth and the Steering Group for the Sheffield Urban Institute.
- Research interests
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My research focuses on both strategic issues of green and open spaces and people’s relationship with those open spaces in their daily lives. These two strands do not sit alone but often relate to each other.
The former has been epitomised by funded research for a range of government departments and national bodies such as the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, CABE Space, Groundwork UK, Natural England and Research in Practice. This work is often policy-focused and directed at national and local government and other organisations.
Research and Knowledge Transfer activities about people, and the green and open spaces of their daily lives, has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), the Trade Strategy Board (TSB), the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Within this work there has been a focus on children’s outdoor environments. The term Kit Fence Carpet playground to describe a traditional playground is now used both nationally and internationally (Woolley, 2007, 2008).
In addition I have an increasing interest in how adults control or facilitate children’s use of outdoor spaces whether this is skateboarders who may be constrained by social, legal and physical means (Woolley et al., 2011) or children in the post-disaster area of Japan where outdoor space has not been made specifically available to them in the temporary housing areas (Woolley and Kinoshita, in press).
Research projects
Revisiting children’s outdoor environments in north east Japan (2014)
I have been awarded a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Visiting Fellowship to revisit the post-disaster area of northeast Japan. Here I will see where children are playing, what has changed since my visit 2 years ago and how children’s outdoor environments are being considered in the reconstruction process.
I will also attend the Japanese Association of Children’s Outdoor Environments conference and give lectures at a series of universities.
Children’s Lost Landscapes in post-disaster Japan (2012)
This project was funded by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and involved me visiting the area where the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant failure took place in March 2011.
With my colleague Professor Isami Kinoshita of Chiba University I explored the outdoor environments where children played before the disasters and where children were playing outdoors in their current daily life.
Living with Nature (2011-2014)
Living with Nature is a 3 year Big Lottery Reaching Communities funded partnership project. The partners are Sheffield City Council Housing Services (previously Sheffield Homes) and Parks and Countryside and the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, who hold the award.
This project is working with communities in twenty four social housing areas in Sheffield. The aim is to provide design and management plans for green spaces with improved play value and biodiversity.
The community engagement team has worked with many individuals, community groups and organisations.
Social Housing and Play: Research in Practice (2008-2011)
This project explored the policy and literature relating to social housing and play. Working with a series of Research in Practice local authority partners case studies were developed that focussed on the issues of the housing and play practitioners.
Neighbourhoods Green and Natural England (2010-2011)
Review of literature about green space and housing for inclusion in Greener Neighbourhoods available through the National Housing Federation. This review can be read here.
Short Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Fairplay (2010)
A short KTP working with Fairplay, a charity based in Chesterfield working with disabled children and their families. The project enabled a graduate Landscape Architect to work alongside the charity to produce a design for their outdoor space associated with their new building. Design was used to apply for planning permission and for costing for fundraising.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Timberplay (2006 – 2008)
This two year project was jointly funded by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
A graduate of landscape architecture worked within the company Timberplay – who import wooden play equipment made by Julian Richter in Germany to provide landscape design skills. The project embedded landscape design into the heart of the company which had previously focused on sales and implementation.
The aim is to develop play spaces in `natural settings´, which include the use of landform and planting.
Assessment of Green Space Strategies (2005)
The National Audit Office (NAO) approached Helen and asked her to work with them to develop a set of criteria for assessing local authorities’ green and open space strategies and then to apply these to completed strategies. Some of the outcomes were published in the NAO report Enhancing Urban Green Spaces (2005).
Assessing the Links between local authority expenditure and the quality of urban green spaces (2004)
I led a team of researchers from the University of Sheffield and GreenSpace to undertake this research for CABE Space. The findings were of significant interest because it was clear that of the local authorities involved in the study, they did not all relate their expenditure with quality and that varying quality indicators were being used.
The findings have helped to develop some of the future direction of CABE Space.
Value of Public Space (2004)
CABE Space asked me (who co-ordinated the project) and Matthew Carmona (from University College London) to bring together evidence from research about green and open spaces which highlights the benefits such spaces provide for people´s lives. The publication is available on the CABE website.
Disabled and non-disabled children´s free play in the school playground (2002 – 2004)
This research was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and investigated the play which takes place in primary school playgrounds. It had a specific focus on whether disabled children are included in play in playgrounds, if so how they are included and what barriers exist to their inclusion.
The final research monologue was published by the National Children´s Bureau (available from their web site) and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Improving Urban Parks, Play Areas and Green Spaces, (2002 - 2004)
I was a lead member of the team who undertook this research for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and which fed into the Urban Green Spaces Taskforce. I specifically led on the strand of research relating to users of the spaces and this work included a variety of focus groups with under-represented users.
The publication is available on the web site of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Breaking the downward spiral: current trends and future responses of children to their town centres (1994 – 1995) and Facing the future: towards a greater understanding of children and their urban environments, (1995 – 1996)
These two consecutive projects were funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). They sought to develop an understanding of the perception of and use that children aged 6-11 made of their town centres first of all using quantitative and then qualitative methods.
As a result of this research Helen developed an interest in skateboarders and how they use urban open spaces. In recent years this has resulted in an understanding of how society seeks to control skateboarder’s use of civic open spaces, in city centres in the north of England.
- Publications
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Books
- Inclusion of disabled children in primary school playgrounds. Ncb.
- Urban Open Spaces. Taylor & Francis.
Journal articles
- The correlation between children's outdoor activities and community space characteristics: A case study utilizing SOPARC and KDE methods in Chengdu, China. Cities, 150, 105002-105002.
- Evaluating Children's preferences of the orphanages' outdoor spaces: Integrated multi-method ‘Jourchin’ approach. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 102191-102191.
- Beyond the fence: constructed and found spaces for children's outdoor play in natural and human-induced disaster contexts – lessons from north-east Japan, and Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 56. View this article in WRRO
- Let’s splash: Children’s active and passive water play in constructed and natural water features in urban green spaces in Sheffield. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. View this article in WRRO
- EVALUATION INDICATORS OF CHILDREN’S MOBILITY SAFETY IN THE COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT BASED ON ENGLISH LITERATURE REVIEW. Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 8(2), 10-10.
- Children’s interactions with water in city centres: a case study from Sheffield, UK. Landscape Research, 44(6), 671-687. View this article in WRRO
- Young children's and adult's perceptions of natural play spaces: A case study of Chengdu, southwestern China. Cities, 72(Part A), 173-180. View this article in WRRO
- Slip sliding away: a case study of the impact of public sector cuts on some of the services supporting children's play opportunities in the city of Sheffield in the north of England. International Journal of Play, 4(3), 246-251. View this article in WRRO
- Decreasing experiences of home range, outdoor spaces, activities and companions: changes across three generations in Sheffield in north England. Children's Geographies, 13(6), 677-691. View this article in WRRO
- Space, People, Interventions and Time (SPIT): A Model for Understanding Children's Outdoor Play in Post-Disaster Contexts Based On a Case Study from the Triple Disaster Area of Tohoku in North-East Japan. Children and Society. View this article in WRRO
- Managing for Multifunctionality in Urban Open Spaces: Approaches for Sustainable Development. Journal of Urban Management, 3(1-2), 3-21.
- Testing for Individual Factors for the Fear of Crime Using a Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause Model. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 1-22.
- Territorial functioning and victimisation: conceptualisation and scale development. Crime, Law and Social Change, 1-20.
- Exploring the Relationship between Design Approach and Play Value of Outoodr Play Spaces. Landscape Research, 38(1), 53-74. View this article in WRRO
- Now Being Social: The Barrier of Designing Outdoor Play Spaces for Disabled Children. Children and Society. View this article in WRRO
- Don't skate here: Exclusion of skateboarders from urban civic spaces in three Northern Cities in England. Journal of Urban Design, 16(4), 471-487. View this article in WRRO
- Watch This Space! Designing for Children's Play in Public Open Spaces. Geography Compass, 2(2), 495-512. View this article in WRRO
- Where do the children play? How policies can influence practice. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Municipal Engineer, 160(2), 89-95. View this article in WRRO
- Freedom of the city: Contemporary issues and policy influences on children and young people's use of public open space in England. Children's Geographies, 4(1), 45-59.
- Going outside together: Good practice with respect to the inclusion of disabled children in primary school playgrounds. Children's Geographies, 4(3), 303-318.
- Nature, role and value of green space in towns and cities: An overview. Built Environment, 29(2), 94-106.
- Skateboarding: The City as a Playground. Journal of Urban Design, 6(2), 211-230.
- Children and the city: a summary of recent environmental psychology research.. Child Care Health Dev, 26(3), 181-197.
- Town centre management awareness: An aid to developing young people's citizenship. Cities, 17(6), 453-459.
- Pakistani teenagers' use of public open space in Sheffield. Managing Leisure, 4(3), 156-167.
- The child as citizen: Experiences of British town and city centres. Journal of Urban Design, 4(3), 255-282.
- Children describe their experiences of the city centre: A qualitative study of the fears and concerns which may limit their full participation. Landscape Research, 24(3), 287-301.
- Ethical practices in the landscape profession: a research note. Landscape Research, 20(3), 147-151.
- Space, people, activity and time: A theoretical model for understanding children's outdoor play with specific reference to the historical protected central areas of Beijing, China. Children & Society.
- Optimizing Urban Children’s Outdoor Play Spaces: Affordances, Supervision, and Design Dynamics. Sustainability, 15(20), 14661-14661.
- Overview of urban planning policy and urban green space system at a national level in China. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 349, 012021-012021.
- Children’s Play Environment after a Disaster: The Great East Japan Earthquake. Children, 2(1), 39-62. View this article in WRRO
Chapters
- No time for play: Children's daily activities during summer holidays in the beijing central area, Place, Pedagogy and Play: Participation, Design and Research with Children (pp. 31-40).
- Living with nature, sheffield, england, The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People: Processes, Practices and Policies for Youth Inclusion (pp. 375-379).
- Through engagement to design: Working with children, young people, and communities to improve green spaces in social housing areas, The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People: Processes, Practices and Policies for Youth Inclusion (pp. 209-219).
- Is Society Now Being Social? In Ergler CR, Kearns R & Witten K (Ed.), Children’s Health and Wellbeing in Urban Environments (pp. 72-83). London and New York: Taylor & Francis.
- An ecological approach to behavior mapping: Developing a new mapping tool to understand children's experiences of urban water features In Koleva I, Yuksel DL & Benaabidate L (Ed.), Ecology, Planning and Design (pp. 237-244). Sofia: St Kliment Ohridski University Press.
- Being Ourselves: children and young people sharing urban open spaces In Bishop K & Corkery L (Ed.), Designing for Kids in the City: beyond Playgrounds and Skate Parks (pp. 92-101). New York: Taylor and Francis/Routledge.
- Green Space and Housing In Frances A (Ed.), Foxes Have Holes Christian Reflections on Britain's Housing Needs (pp. 71-80). London: Ekklesia.
- Children and Young People's Agency In Hackett A, Proctor L & Seymour J (Ed.), Children's Spatialities Embodiment, Emotion and Agency (pp. 163-177). Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Children and Young People's Spatial Agency, CHILDREN'S SPATIALITIES: EMBODIMENT, EMOTION AND AGENCY (pp. 163-177).
- What makes a good outdoor environment for young children In Maynard T & Waters J (Ed.), Exploring Outdoor Play In The Early Years (pp. 29-41). Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
- Including children with disabilities in the playground In Safford K, Stacey M & Hancock R (Ed.), Small-Scale Research in Primary Schools: A Reader for Learning and Professional Development (pp. 120-124). London: Routledge with The Open University.
- Acting in the landscape: a week in the life of young people in outdoor spaces in Sheffield In Meire J (Ed.), Tussen kind en samenleving: Over het sociale actorschap van kinderen (Children and Society: On children's social agency) (pp. 51-62). Netherlands.
- Every child matters in public open spaces, Securing Respect: Behavioural Expectations and Anti-Social Behaviour in the UK (pp. 97-116).
- The Listening Game In Brebbia C (Ed.), Sustainable Streets Southampton: Wessex Institute of Technology.
- Young people and town centres In Adams E & Ingham S (Ed.), Changing Places Children's Participation in Environmental Planning London: The Children's Society.
- Designing Cities with Children and Young People Routledge
Conference proceedings papers
- Breaking the downward spiral: The evolution of a methodology to investigate children's attitudes towards and behaviour in town centres. STREETS -AHEAD- (pp 259-270)
Reports
- Access to Play in Crisis: Review of Literature
- Stories of Living with Nature
- Housing and Play
- Living Green: Evidence to support the provision of green space around housing
- QUERCUS Rivers Project: Evaluating the Trans National Partnership
- The State of Play in Groundwork: An investigation into the understandings and delivery of 'natural' playspaces under the 'Playing it Naturally' programme.
- Children and the Natural Environment: Experiences, influences and interventions
- Assessing Links Between Local Authority Expenditure and Quality of Urban Green Spaces
- Value of Public Space
- Improving Urban Parks, Play Areas and Green Spaces
- Inclusion of disabled children in primary school playgrounds. Ncb.
- Research group
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Potential areas of research supervision
I am interested in working with PhD candidates who want to research about children’s outdoor environments from playgrounds, to playful landscapes and skateboarder’s use of open spaces. I have an increasing interest in how adults control children and young people’s use of outdoor spaces and children in non-western cities, crisis and difficult situations.
Currently supervised:
- Melih Bozhurt: Children’s use of water features in open spaces in Sheffield
- Junfang Xie: Landscape design, planning and everyday use of green spruce: a case study of Huangpu district, China
- Maryam Mani: Children’s experiences of outdoor environments in orphanages in Iran
- Teaching interests
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I teach both undergraduates and postgraduates and supervise PhD students. I co-ordinates all the Masters Dissertations for: MA in Landscape Architecture, MA in Landscape Studies, MA in Landscape Management, MA in Landscape Research – I also supervise some of these dissertations.
The undergraduate module Sustainable Communities is the revised version of Social Aspects of Design and continues to work with real clients from across the City of Sheffield.
During the last ten years these clients have included children’s nurseries, Rushey Meadow respite home for disabled children, the neo-natal unit at the Jessop’s hospital, St. Luke’s Hospice, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Homes (now Housing Services) for play sites and sheltered housing sites, Hartley Brook Primary School, Bents Green Special School, Hallam Primary School, St. Wilfred’s School and a mosque and nursery for the Muslim community in the north of the city.
At the postgraduate level students research these social topics to inform their approach to the planning, design and management of sites in other modules.
At postgraduate level I teach on Greenspace Management and Special Project where my focus is on the Planning Management and Planning Design strands. I also contribute to Introduction to Planning. Previously I have taught Professional Practice and Site Planning for Housing amongst other subjects.
- Teaching activities
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- LSC 232 Sustainable Communities
- LSC 6006 Green Space Management
- LSC 6060 Social Aspects
- LSC 6003 and LSC 6140 Research Dissertations
- LSC 6026 Special Project Brief
- LSC 6005 Special Project
I also contribute to:
- LSC 304 Housing
- Introduction to Planning.
- Professional activities and memberships
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Having held many administrative responsibilities over the years I am currently Director of Research and Chair of the Departmental Ethics Review Committee and a member of the Departmental Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.
I am a senior member of the Faculty of Social Sciences Student Review Committee, and a member of Appeals Committee of Senate; The University of Sheffield Women’s Network Steering Group and a small University wide group exploring Management across the University.
Professional Interests
Academic
I am a member of the Editorial board of the Journal of Urban Design. I also reviews academic articles for 16 journals, book proposals and research proposals for a range of international funding bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council, British Academy, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. I also review for a range of conferences including ECLAS, CELA, EDRA and IFLA. I examine PhD candidates on topics relating to green and open spaces, children’s outdoor environments and play.Landscape Institute
I have previously held various responsibilities for the Landscape Institute including being a member of: Council, the Yorkshire and Humberside Branch Committee, a range of Course Accreditation panels and the Professional Practice Examination Written Paper Group. Helen has organised a range of Landscape Institute and interdisciplinary events and initiated CDP events.CABE Space
I was one of the first fifteen, and only academic, to be selected as a CABE Space Enabler in 2003. I worked with and supported many local authorities in their development of green and open strategies, play strategies and training activities. I also undertook research for CABE Space and ODPM and sat on advisory groups for other CABE Space research. I advised the consultants who developed the Green Space Leaders programme and supported them in the first of these events which took place in Sheffield.Green Space/Urban Parks Forum
I was a Director of the Urban Parks Forum (before it became Green Space) and in this role gave verbal evidence to the House of Commons sub-committee into the revision of PPG17, Planning Policy Guidance for Open Space, Sport and Recreation and helped to organise conferences.Sheffield Botanical Gardens
I was involved with the £6.75 million restoration and regeneration of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens for more than 10 years: initially chairing the publicity and communications working group and then as Chair of the Steering Group for the partnership with Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Town Trust, the Friends of the Botanical Gardens and the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust.Memberships, affiliations, extramural
Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute
- Awards
- 2014: Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Visiting Fellowship, hosted by Chiba University.
- 2008: Visiting Fellow at Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture, Regents Park College, Oxford University.
- 2003: Her Majesty the Queens’ Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in recognition of work Chairing the Steering Group for the Restoration and Regeneration of Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
- 2000: Nominated for the Association of European Schools of Planning Aesop Award by the Editorial Board of the Journal of Urban Design
- 1997: Landscape Institute Research Award
- 1982: Winner of the Sunday Telegraph Town Garden Design Competition