BRIDGES to Play for Wellbeing

Overview

BRIDGES: Building Relationships, Intergenerational Dialogue, and Global Exchanges to Play for Wellbeing is a research program led by Professor Lisa Kervin and funded through the Australian Research Council’s Future Fellowship scheme (FT240100511).

The project brings together international experts and diverse locations to examine intergenerational play (IGP) as a fundamental right across all ages and cultures.

Why This Project

Intergenerational play has existed across communities for millennia, yet the processes that make it meaningful—and beneficial—remain under‑examined. BRIDGES responds to this gap by exploring how play, shared practices, oral narratives, and expressive culture create powerful exchanges between generations. The project recognises the importance of place, participants, context, and behaviour, and argues that understanding these constructs across diverse cultural settings is essential for shaping future opportunities for IGP.

By studying IGP, the project aims to identify the connections that sustain community wellbeing and to articulate the benefits for all participants, across generations and geographies.

Research Questions

The questions that guide BRIDGES to play for wellbeing:

• How do the generations play together and where are the opportunities for agency?
• How do the generations engage with expressive culture during IGP?
• How is IGP experienced in different cultural communities?
• What benefits does IGP offer to all participants?
• What are the constructs for IGP in diverse contexts?
• How can international and interdisciplinary perspectives deepen our understanding of IGP?

The BRIDGES to play for wellbeing offers:

1. A Global Intergenerational Play Observatory – a collection of National and international IGP examples
2. Constructs for Intergenerational Play (coming in 2028) - Building on the examples within the Intergenerational Play Observatory, constructs to guide future intergenerational play initiatives will be developed.

Together, these outputs will generate a robust evidence base for understanding, designing, supporting, and expanding intergenerational play opportunities worldwide.