Adelaide’s cherished Parklands need ‘activation’: nature play, pop-up dining and seasonal attractions

Adelaide is famous for its green surrounds, but critics say the Parklands are dry, dusty, empty and in dire need of some inviting attractions.

Too much of Adelaide’s parklands are dry, dusty and empty and in dire need of ­activation, a key figure driving the city’s landscape board says.

Green Adelaide deputy chairwoman Felicity-ann Lewis, who was the state’s 2014 Australian of the Year, says the parklands – often touted as the key feature that makes Adelaide unique – are far from living up to their ­potential as a family activity magnet and tourism ­drawcard.

Dr Lewis, a former president of the Australian Local Government Association who served four terms as Marion mayor, said she wanted to be able to walk through fields of wildflowers in the parklands in spring, not dry grass.

She called for themed gardens around the green belt, a summer carnival, winter ice skating a la Central Park in New York, and pop-up bars, restaurants, retail spaces and immersive art installations.

“You want to be able to do something with your family,” she said.

“It’s all very well to say, ‘look, isn’t it lovely, we’ve got these trees’, but if this is not inviting, then what?

“We need to (activate the parklands) because otherwise it looks like an empty spot to people ... some parts are dry and dusty.”

The emptiness led some people wrongly to believe the parklands were ripe for development, she said.

Children enjoy the nature playground in Kings Park, Perth.

Tourists skate in Central Park, New York. Picture:. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

The national heritage-­listed parklands played a key role in the successful bid to make Adelaide the world’s second National Park City after London, announced last month. But debates over their use have dragged on for decades.

Nature Play SA chief executive Sarah Sutter said the parklands were an “amazing” asset but “we need to bring them alive and we need to bring people into them”.

“I’ve always wanted to ... build a huge nature play space in the city parklands,” Ms Sutter said. “That is my dream – a nature play space very much like in WA where you have (one in) Kings Park in the city. We need that similar concept. It’s for everyone, there’s ­adventure play, connection to Kaurna, it’s inclusive as well.”

Nature Play SA chief executive Sarah Sutter with her daughter Jazz, 13, climbing on the wooden logs in the big kids play-space behind Marshmallow Playground in Park 19. Picture: Keryn Stevens

TreeClimb Adelaide ­owner Seb Packer said good projects had the potential to activate dormant, neglected areas of the parklands with wide-reaching benefits.

“Where an area or a space that’s underused can be activated, in a way that brings people into the parklands, in a way that doesn’t leave a permanent footprint, that has ­restrictions around perform­ance, it can be a win-win for everybody,” Mr Packer said. “It’s just a no-brainer.”

TreeClimb is the poster-child of parklands activation, celebrated by Adelaide City Council as an example of what could be achieved.

“When I walked through that area seven years ago, when I just had a crazy idea, it was dirty, it wasn’t used, there was rubbish there, there were rough sleepers,” Mr Packer said.

“Now ... you’ve got families, people with picnics, people going and having parties, corporates and school groups coming through ... it shows you what good activations can do.”

SA Tourism Commission boss Rodney Harrex defen­ded the parklands as already being a “unique and special attraction” for visitors.