Ep 246 - Relational Capability Approach w/ Dr Wendy Russell

Ep 246 - Relational Capability Approach w/ Dr Wendy Russell

From The Forest School Podcast by Lewis Ames and Wem Southerden

May 22, 2026 · 1h 3m · Season 2 · Episode 246

About this episode

Dr Wendy Russell discusses the relational capability approach and its implications for children's play and wellbeing.

This one is special. Wem and I got to sit down with Dr Wendy Russell, independent play researcher, senior research fellow at the University of Gloucestershire, and 50 years into a career that started on an adventure playground apprenticeship in the 1970s. I came away from this conversation needing to go for a long walk and think about everything. The first half covers Wendy's work on spatial justice for children, the politics of public space, and what it would actually mean to have a statutory play sufficiency duty in England. We talk about what play sufficiency means in practice, why Wales has led the way, and why politicians keep defaulting to playgrounds when the picture is so much bigger than that. The second half goes deeper, into the relational capability approach to playing and being well that Wendy has developed with Mike Barkley and Ben Tawil of Ludicology. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre's production of space, Karen Barad's concept of intra-action, and the relational turn across academic disciplines, Wendy patiently walked Wem and me through a genuinely paradigm-shifting way of thinking about children, play, agency and wellbeing. By the end, the playwork principles themselves…

People in this episode

Hosts: Lewis Ames, Wem Southerden

Guest: Dr Wendy Russell

Topics covered

  • relational capability approach
  • play sufficiency
  • spatial justice
  • public space politics
  • children's agency
  • wellbeing
  • playwork principles

Keywords

  • play research
  • spatial justice
  • public space
  • play sufficiency duty
  • children's agency
  • wellbeing
  • playwork principles

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Gloucestershire

Books & works: Henri Lefebvre, Karen Barad

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