AusLeisure

Professionals who work in parks and recreation have made a “great career choice” as they deliver “joy” to children and the wider population with the facilities they provide, according to Parks and Leisure Australia President, Paul Jane speaking today at the opening of the association’s annual conference in Perth.

Being held at Crown Perth from 27th to 30th October, the 2019 Parks and Leisure Australia National Conference is focusing on the importance of linking parks, open spaces and facilities to health, well-being and sporting performance.

Jane explained how PLA members “make a difference in delivering joy and engaging community passion” which also “translates into your own world in the football club you take your kids to, the sport field you created or avenue of trees that you planted which will be there for the next 200 years.”

Jane introduced Indigenous business achiever Kia Dowell, WA Tourism Commissioner and Executive Director of Indigenous Business Australia.

A Gija woman from Warmun Community (Turkey Creek) in the East Kimberley of Western Australia, Dowell shared her passion and experiences in working to support the growth of profitable and sustainable organisations that serve a greater social purpose with Aboriginal communities.

The final keynote of the opening morning of the PLA Conference, was delivered by Erion Veliaj, Mayor of the Albanian capital of Tirana.

Coming from a nation that none of the 500 plus conference delegates admitted to ever having visited, Mayor Veliaj outlined the challenges of providing parks, play and recreational opportunities in a city that had grown by times since the fall of communism in 1991.

Explaining a focus on making playgrounds and play opportunities for children a cornerstone of a grand plan to refashion Albania’s capital city as a more walkable, more sustainable, less car-dependent city, Mayor Veliaj outlined how the needs of the city’s youngest citizens had been placed at the epicentre of policy.

He outlined how the policy had sparked one of the most intense urban debates in Albania’s recent history, with the city’s Grand Park playground, the largest of its type in eastern Europe, becoming a flagship for a municipal scheme that has since seen 33 more playgrounds installed across the city, with more on the way.

This focus on both children’s needs and reclaiming public space runs like a seam through Mayor Veliaj’s attempts to refashion Tirana as a greener, denser, and less car-dependent city.

Click here more information on the Conference in the Australasian Leisure Management industry Calendar. 

Images: Parks and Leisure Australia President, Paul Jane opens the 2019 Parks and Leisure Australia National Conference (top) and Erion Veliaj, Mayor of the Albanian capital of Tirana (below).

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