Tassy Thompson is a researcher at the Department of Architecture and Planning, working on transdisciplinary practices for social transformation within the Enhance Alliance project, aligned with the New European Bauhaus goals. Tassy is an experienced outdoor play space designer. Her design practice and research frames all-age play as 'critical infrastructure' and foundational for healthy and liveable, multi-species, urban, peri-urban, and rural ecosystems. Tassy's design and research practices approaches all age play and playfulness as fundamental to human and more-than-human wellbeing and to liveable neighbourhoods.

With 25 years of practical experience in the built environment, Tassy has co-created and project managed award winning, nature-based outdoor spaces for play and recreation, as well as large-scale public realm and architectural artworks in UK, Norway and USA. With others she co-founded and has co-directed the Elvelangs i Kongsberg community festival since 2018, which won the City Development Award for 2023. Her work combines co-created, participatory design, site specific and performative arts, and landscape architecture practices with ethical, pro-ecological approaches informed by posthuman and vital materialist perspectives. Tassy has a strong interest in methodological pluralism and diverse critical practices in theoretical and methodological enquiry.

Tassy collaborates widely with colleagues across sectors including health, planning, digital innovation, geography, architecture, ecology, pedagogy, sport and culture, and serves on the editorial board of IPA Play Rights Journal. Tassy was on the Academic and Practitioner Advisory Board of the International Play Association Triennial 2023 and the Norwegian Lighting Prize Jury 2025. Tassy has taught and lectured in play design, public realm design, innovation, community participation, craft, arts, architectural subjects since 1999 in the UK, USA, Norway, and Denmark, and holds degrees from Glasgow School of Art, Ohio State University, and a PhD from the University of South-Eastern Norway. 

Thank you for your interest. Please do make contact for possible collaborations.