Public defence: Tassy Ellen Thompson

Tassy Ellen Thompson will defend her PhD degree in Humanities, Cultural and Educational Sciences. Her dissertation explores how humans understand outdoor landscapes through play and playfulness, and importance of this for geospatial mapping, eco-systemic thinking and sustainable suburban development.

17 Jun

Practical information

  • Date: 17 June 2025
  • Time: 10.00 - 15.00
  • Location: Kongsberg, Auditorium Becker og Zoom
  • Download calendar file

    • Link tol digital participation (Zoom)

     

    Programme

     

    Kl 10.00-10.45. Trial Lectur: What key lessons about play does this thesis offer for future practical application in suburban settings which are ecologically varied and socially diverse?

    Kl 12.00-15.00. Public Defense: Survey by Play. Pro-ecological understandings of outdoor landscapes.

    The public defence will be hosted by Head of Departement Laila Belinda Fauske

    Bedømmingskomité

    • First opponent: Professor Hayden Lorimer, University of Edinburgh
    • Second opponent: Associate Professor Henriette Steiner, University of Copenhagen
    • Administrator: Professor Camilla Groth, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Supervisors

    • Professor Inger Birkeland, University of South-Eastern Norway
    • Professor Niamh Stack, Mary Immaculate College, Irland 

     

Any questions?

Tassy Ellen Thompson is defending her dissertation for PhD in Humanities, Cultural and Educational Sciences at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Humanities, Sports, and Educational Science.

You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

Summary

The thesis argues that play is the primary way we, as humans, engage with our environment, and that playfulness is the way we make sense of those relationships.PhD candidate Tassy Ellen Thompson

Focused on better understanding how humans understand landscape, the thesis presents a theory of ”survey by play” explored through qualitative and creative mapping research methodologies in Norwegian and United States locations. Surveying by play and playfulness is examined as a cartographic challenge to the powerful hegemony of digital survey technologies, including remote sensing, robotic surveying and satellite mapping powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The research aims to contribute to play theory, play design and ecological systems thinking. It is intended for researchers and practitioners in play, urban realm design, planning and geospatial technologies. The research is motivated by systemic global ecosystem change, habitat loss and species extinction. The research is founded on an understanding of humans as part of the natural world, not separate from it.

The findings are assembled as four identifiable themes:

  1. the importance of play and playfulness as affective geography, mapping humans and landscape relations,
  2. the influence of “play cultures” formed intergenerationally over time,
  3. play as part of the “porosity” of physical matter which disrupts notions of neutrality and otherness in how we make knowledge about outdoor landscapes, and
  4. playfulness as a radical act of ecological neighbourliness.

The argument is made for a theoretical paradigm shift in play research and geospatial practices, not only in terms of what play looks like and who and what is involved but also in terms of why it matters for the planet. In practice, the research suggests that for urban design and geospatial professionals, who as powerful agents in land use and development decision making and change, play and playfulness should be a fundamental mode of site survey providing lively and dynamic data for pro-ecological design.