A More Walkable World Is A More Playful World

A recap of the We Are Playful Conference and what we can learn from it

One of the most rewarding parts of local advocacy for me is seeing how the work of others fits into the work that I am doing. Dr. Julie Jones and Jed Dearybury are two folks who really believe in Spartanburg and believe in investing into our little slice of the world. They are the authors of The Playful Classroom and The Playful Life, with Jed also writing a book titled The Courageous Classroom. They have enriched the lives of many, including myself. I have had conversations with each of them about education and walkability and playfulness and all of the connective tissue linking these topics. I even got mentioned on an episode of their (now wrapped up) podcast! They are educators and advocates at heart who truly exemplify their playful worldviews.

On March 16th, 2024, I got the opportunity to attend the We Are Playful Conference, hosted by the pair. I excitedly walked from Converse University to the conference venue in the heart of downtown Spartanburg. As a teacher-in-training and a current college resident director, I came into this experience excited to see how I could integrate more playfulness into those areas of my life. I ended up leaving with plenty of additional ideas on how playfulness and walkability go hand in hand. I hope this blog inspires you to live a more walkable and playful life, exploring the world around you on a human-scale.

A photo of us hanging outside the venue prior to the conference.

Defining Playfulness

In The Playful Classroom, the playful mindset is defined as “having an awareness of our world, being intentional about our choices, honoring the process until is becomes a habit, and using results as a catalyst for more creativity.” There were various experiences that we had during this conference that reinforced this definition and added more insight into what it is like to live more playful lives. Before I go into the specifics of those experiences, I will break down how this definition of a playful mindset is reflected for those who engage in active transportation.

First off, having an awareness of the world is one of my favorite things about walking as transportation. I feel as though I have a more intimate and close experience with all of the nooks and crannies of Spartanburg than most. I feel very familiar with the roadways that I most often walk alongside. The second part of the definition mentions intentional choices. In a car-dominant transportation system, it takes intentionality to even integrate a little bit of transportation into your life. This means intentionally saying “oh, this coffee shop is a 10 minute walk and it is nice outside, why would I get in my car right now?” And once you make that choice, you can honor that process until it becomes a habit, eventually seeing the ways this more dynamic commute allows you to experience the world.

I do believe that walking as transportation has allowed me to be more playful and spontaneous and dynamic. Rather than sitting in my steel box and yelling at the cars around me, I stand at crosswalks and look up at the clouds and wave to folks I recognize. I stop to pick a flower or look at a mural or to watch a train go by. I do genuinely really love the time I get to feel present with the world around me.

I had no idea this was back here until I explored down this section of the trail!

The We Are Playful Conference

And now it is time to switch gears and talk about some of the specific experiences that comprised this conference, and how they connect back to the purpose of this blog — walkability!

Now I have to be honest here and state that I almost put the word “activities” where experiences is, but Jed is pretty against the idea of activities. Activities are there to fill time, while meaningful experiences are educational and transformational. I want y’all to understand the usage of “experiences” here to basically refer to the meaningful exercises that Jed facilitated during this conference.

Jed and city councilwoman Meghan Smith at the conference.

Many of the experiences we engaged in encouraged us to be creative and collaborative. They encouraged us to embrace fun and playfulness, even in front of strangers. We created masks for ourselves using tape, and had to get rid of that feeling that we may look foolish. We had to go outside and ask strangers in downtown Spartanburg to arm wrestle us. We had to go around and learn from each other, even if we may not be familiar with one another.

I believe that one of the core aspects of walkability that this conference reinforced is the importance of social trust in our communities. In American society, we can often feel paranoid about others. We often believe the worst of our neighbors, even if we do not even know them. During our Goose Chase activity, we went out in Morgan Square and had to take photos and videos of different scavenger hunt tasks. Think of The Amazing Race but here in Spartanburg and with bigger groups than just pairs of people.

Myself and the Converse MISTERs wearing our tape masks.

Many of our Goose Chase tasks included engaging strangers in the city. This meant asking folks to race us or take a selfie with us or even give one of our group members a piggyback ride. Did we look silly? Yeah, I am sure we did. But that is part of the experience. We had so many fun interactions with strangers. We laughed and joked and told them what we were doing and why. I have similar experiences while I am walking around and I talk to an older cyclist I have never met who is waiting on the same crosswalk. I have similar experiences after a walk to the coffee shop. These experiences show that community needs to be trusting and fun and dynamic.

The Goose Chase also incentivized us exploring the built environment of Spartanburg. This meaning racing down Morgan Square and looking at the Love Where you Live Mural and looking from Hub City Bookshop. Some of us, like myself, were already intimately familiar with the city of Spartanburg. Others in the group were either exploring Spartanburg for the first time or exploring Spartanburg at this scale for the first time. From a walkability standpoint, this is such a meaningful step towards understand how important our city centers and town squares are for community.

In Conclusion

I can likely go in depth on every experience I took part in during this conference, but I will stop here. This was a meaningful experience and I am sure these lessons will find their way into more of my work. It was so rewarding to spend time in Spartanburg being intentionally creative and playful. This conference often made me feel silly. I think that sometimes it can feel extremely scary to feel silly; feeling silly can make you feel exposed. I sometimes feel silly on my walking commutes, because our infrastructure is built in a way to discourage walking.

I have learned that sometimes it will look silly to create a life that is fun and playful. A cycling commute can be a rewarding experience, but some of your coworkers may look at you like you’re an alien. Participating in active transportation has many benefits; I believe that the spontaneity and creativity of a life outside of the car can be transformative for one’s mental health and one’s overall outlook on the community they are around.

So do the silly thing. Wear a fun hat into the coffee shop. Ride your bike to work. Use sidewalk chalk in the middle of your downtown as a grown adult to draw pictures (there is no age where playfulness goes out of fashion). Laugh with a stranger. Advocate for what you care about. Be intentional about the way you live your life and the way that you move around your environment. And, I think this goes without saying, but play purdy y’all.

Until next time,
Liv.