If girls in the study don't like MUGAs, then by the transitive property**, we can deduce that that women don't like MUGA's either.
But something interesting happened during the research (which involved showing girls images of all sorts of outdoor spaces).
This picture (above) got a different response. Can you guess what it is?
If you are a woman, I bet you know.
These are the thoughts that passed though my brain in rapid succession when I saw this image:
- "What kind of child molester is lurking in the creepy white van?!?"
- "Mom's don't drive pychopath cars."
- "No logo = No go" ***
- "CODE RED!! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!"
- "Oh, I'm supposed to be considering the MUGA? I'm sorry, I got distracted. But yeah, the MUGA is meh, I would never hang out there. Not even when I was a very sporty 15 year old."
- "Can someone get me a cup of tea? I need to calm down."
-My Rational Adult Woman Brain
The teenage girls also got sidetracked by the unnerving van parked where it should not be. I trust the research team learned an unexpected lesson about what makes inviting places for women.
.....
Guess what elicited the opposite effect of a MUGA?
Adult sized swings.
Girls/Women like swings. Especially ones that feel safe.
This tracks:
There was a tree swing outside the house I lived in, in college. It was a common place to have the best most impactful, life-changing, conversations (break-ups, proposals, degree program changes, early career decisions, etc. etc).
A mega-swing in Moscow's, Gorky park is the recipient of a many design awards. I suspect it wasn't just for the cool lighting it incorporated.
Consider an empty swing in the landscaped distance - it is a whole story (and focal point) in single glance.
Swings don't have to look like something from the playground. Here are some of my favorite ideas for placing a swing your own garden.
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