Session Two: Grounds for Play
Grounds for Play: How an IRJ Design Lab Advanced Research on Joy, Belonging, and Public Space
IRJ Design Labs are built to strengthen justice-centered research through partnership. Rather than a traditional presentation, each Lab convenes faculty, students, community partners, and practitioners to help a live project move forward—ethically, strategically, and with community realities at the center.
Recently, IRJ hosted a Design Lab connected to Grounds for Play: Race, Space, and Joyful Cities, a community-engaged research project led by Dr. Teresa Gonzales. The session created space for collaborators to refine how collective play in public spaces—particularly among Black and Latino men—supports belonging, care, and civic connection, and to identify pathways for expanding the work in Illinois communities.
Momentum after the Lab: reframing and expanding pathways
In the weeks since the Design Lab, Dr. Gonzales shared that conversations from the session helped clarify how to translate the project across audiences and sectors. Participants highlighted the value of reframing play as civic and public health infrastructure, strengthening its resonance with funders, policymakers, and community partners.
As she reflected in the Design Lab debrief, “I got off the call and immediately said I was just in this really generative space that was a total gift in terms of thinking about ideas and having a chance to talk about ideas.”
The Lab also surfaced concrete next steps—including power-mapping relationships in Waukegan, identifying trusted community channels for dissemination, and adapting the research for parks, recreation, and community-based settings—affirming directions already underway and expanding possibilities for growth.
A key insight: joyful spaces must be elevated—and protected
One of the most important takeaways from the Design Lab was the need to both elevate and safeguard community-created spaces of joy. Participants noted that public gathering spaces rooted in culture and belonging can easily be misunderstood, stigmatized, or disrupted when attention increases.
This insight resonated strongly with Dr. Gonzales, who emphasized in the debrief that the Lab .
The session sharpened a central tension in the project: how to make visible the ways communities build care and connection through play without exposing these spaces to surveillance, regulation, or displacement.
From planning to action
Design Labs are designed to activate collaboration. This session helped move Grounds for Play from a paused federal funding phase toward continued momentum by strengthening framing, identifying cross-sector partners, and clarifying actionable steps for community engagement and translation.
Dr. Gonzales also noted the value of IRJ’s convening role, sharing that “knowing that a space like this exists on campus and that you’re providing such a valuable resource to all of us has just been great to know.”
Participants generated ideas for accessible storytelling, public communication, and pilot partnerships that can extend the research beyond academia while remaining rooted in community realities.
Why it matters
Dr. Gonzales hopes this work reaches two audiences in particular:
- Communities and residents, to affirm and make visible the ways people already create belonging, care, and joy in public space
- City leaders, planners, and public health stakeholders, to encourage investment in inclusive gathering spaces as essential civic and community infrastructure
Her goal is to help shift narratives about communities of color away from deficit and danger, and toward recognition of collective care, cultural vitality, and shared public life.
Get involved
Want to support this work or IRJ’s Design Lab model? Here are a few ways:
- Faculty: Bring your research project to a future Design Lab for strategic feedback and connection-building. Sign up to be a presenting partner
- Share community connections in Waukegan or similar cities relevant to public space, parks, or belonging initiatives. Contact Dr. Gonzales at tgonzales3@luc.edu
- Collaborate across sectors (parks, recreation, public health, community organizations) to pilot or adapt this work
- Join our mailing list to learn about upcoming opportunities
Together, we can advance research that is responsive, ethical, and community-rooted—and ensure that knowledge leads to meaningful change.
Grounds for Play: How an IRJ Design Lab Advanced Research on Joy, Belonging, and Public Space
IRJ Design Labs are built to strengthen justice-centered research through partnership. Rather than a traditional presentation, each Lab convenes faculty, students, community partners, and practitioners to help a live project move forward—ethically, strategically, and with community realities at the center.
Recently, IRJ hosted a Design Lab connected to Grounds for Play: Race, Space, and Joyful Cities, a community-engaged research project led by Dr. Teresa Gonzales. The session created space for collaborators to refine how collective play in public spaces—particularly among Black and Latino men—supports belonging, care, and civic connection, and to identify pathways for expanding the work in Illinois communities.
Momentum after the Lab: reframing and expanding pathways
In the weeks since the Design Lab, Dr. Gonzales shared that conversations from the session helped clarify how to translate the project across audiences and sectors. Participants highlighted the value of reframing play as civic and public health infrastructure, strengthening its resonance with funders, policymakers, and community partners.
As she reflected in the Design Lab debrief, “I got off the call and immediately said I was just in this really generative space that was a total gift in terms of thinking about ideas and having a chance to talk about ideas.”
The Lab also surfaced concrete next steps—including power-mapping relationships in Waukegan, identifying trusted community channels for dissemination, and adapting the research for parks, recreation, and community-based settings—affirming directions already underway and expanding possibilities for growth.
A key insight: joyful spaces must be elevated—and protected
One of the most important takeaways from the Design Lab was the need to both elevate and safeguard community-created spaces of joy. Participants noted that public gathering spaces rooted in culture and belonging can easily be misunderstood, stigmatized, or disrupted when attention increases.
This insight resonated strongly with Dr. Gonzales, who emphasized in the debrief that the Lab .
The session sharpened a central tension in the project: how to make visible the ways communities build care and connection through play without exposing these spaces to surveillance, regulation, or displacement.
From planning to action
Design Labs are designed to activate collaboration. This session helped move Grounds for Play from a paused federal funding phase toward continued momentum by strengthening framing, identifying cross-sector partners, and clarifying actionable steps for community engagement and translation.
Dr. Gonzales also noted the value of IRJ’s convening role, sharing that “knowing that a space like this exists on campus and that you’re providing such a valuable resource to all of us has just been great to know.”
Participants generated ideas for accessible storytelling, public communication, and pilot partnerships that can extend the research beyond academia while remaining rooted in community realities.
Why it matters
Dr. Gonzales hopes this work reaches two audiences in particular:
- Communities and residents, to affirm and make visible the ways people already create belonging, care, and joy in public space
- City leaders, planners, and public health stakeholders, to encourage investment in inclusive gathering spaces as essential civic and community infrastructure
Her goal is to help shift narratives about communities of color away from deficit and danger, and toward recognition of collective care, cultural vitality, and shared public life.
Get involved
Want to support this work or IRJ’s Design Lab model? Here are a few ways:
- Faculty: Bring your research project to a future Design Lab for strategic feedback and connection-building. Sign up to be a presenting partner
- Share community connections in Waukegan or similar cities relevant to public space, parks, or belonging initiatives. Contact Dr. Gonzales at tgonzales3@luc.edu
- Collaborate across sectors (parks, recreation, public health, community organizations) to pilot or adapt this work
- Join our mailing list to learn about upcoming opportunities
Together, we can advance research that is responsive, ethical, and community-rooted—and ensure that knowledge leads to meaningful change.