Behavioral Change Project: Encouraging Parent-Child Joint Play

As part of an international course led by Urban95 and INSEAD University in Paris, representatives from the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Urban95 team were invited to explore strategies for driving behavioral change, with a particular focus on early childhood development. The course challenged participants to develop an urban behavioral change project as their final deliverable.

The project selected for implementation addressed a specific need we identified in the Neve Ofer neighborhood: the lack of joint play between parents and children.

The main question guiding our efforts was: How can we encourage meaningful joint experiences for children and parents in public spaces?

Prior to the trip, we conducted observations, interviews, a focus group with parents, and a mapping of behavioral patterns. Our findings revealed that many parents routinely visit parks in the neighborhood with their children and spend significant time there. However, during 90% of the observed time, adults were passive, just watching their children without engaging in any shared play. While children played alone or with peers, parents tended to converse with one another or spend prolonged periods on their mobile phones. We are also aware that at home, children are often alone in front of screens. This motivated us to create opportunities to bring families outdoors and foster quality interactions that differ from typical at home routines.

During the course, we learned a practical methodology for leading the process, which we applied in Israel with the guidance and support of the course team.

• Defining the challenge: The lack of joint play between parents and children.

• Brainstorming workshop to develop the pilot: The workshop included 25 participants from various municipal departments (community, education, city beautification, engineering, and more). The participants were divided into three groups and discussed ways to enhance public spaces and ideas for fostering shared experiences in parks that would appeal to both parents and children.

• Evaluating ideas on an implementation-impact matrix: Ideas were mapped based on their feasibility (ranging from easy to difficult to implement) and potential impact (low to high). They were further categorized by resource requirements - those needing significant investment and those suitable for quick implementation or piloting.

• Developing a work plan for short- and long-term goals: The plan encompassed both community-oriented and public-space initiatives, addressing infrastructure improvements as well as community engagement aspects.

A little about the Neve Ofer neighborhood: The neighborhood is characterized by a strong sense of community, neighborhood pride, and a diverse population. We felt that this was a community we could actively engage with, making it an interesting and suitable setting to pilot such a project.

Location: We chose Iris Park for its many advantages - it is spacious, safe, and far from traffic, offering a quiet and pastoral setting. The park provides opportunities for encounters with wildlife, plenty of space for free play, sand play, physical challenges, and social games.

At the same time, several challenges made it less appealing for residents to spend time with their children. These included its distance, lack of shade, poor maintenance, neglected grassy areas, limited play equipment, a multi-age play area that could be unsafe for toddlers, insufficient seating near play areas, and a lack of benches and picnic tables throughout the park.

Piloting the project (the launch event): As a starting point, we integrated the pilot into the annual neighborhood celebration event, which is a regular community gathering. We saw this as an opportunity to explore and test several aspects we believed could influence behavioral change among parents and encourage meaningful joint activities with their toddlers. During the event, we ran five stations, each focusing on a different theme: nature-related activities, nostalgic games, sports, and heritage. These activities were designed based on insights from our preliminary research and brainstorming workshop, aimed at promoting various types of play: free movement, physical challenges, learning and exploration, social and imaginative play, and collaborative content creation. Throughout the event, we conducted observations and measurements to map the factors influencing engagement and behavior.

Additionally, the event served as a firm deadline for implementing the recommended infrastructure changes in the park:

• Shade: Fruit trees and other plants were planted, and temporary shading was installed across the area.
• Cleanliness: The park was thoroughly cleaned before the event and remained clean throughout and after the event.
• Seating: New wooden log seats were added and mats were spread across the park.

Our findings showed that using a community festival as a platform to explore parent-child interactions was highly effective. Both children and parents enthusiastically engaged with the activity stations, many of which were new and unfamiliar to them. Parents also expressed strong interest in making these activities a regular part of their routine. Moreover, the event played a crucial role in raising awareness of the park among residents, leading to a significant increase in the number of visitors to the playground equipment, which is typically underutilized.

Less than a month after the event, the October 2023 war broke out. This led to the suspension of many plans nationwide, which are now under reevaluation.

Partnering municipal units: The Community, Culture, and Sports Administration; the Neve Ofer Community Center; the City Beautification Department; and the Education Administration.