Public Places
Contemporary annual planting on a roadside verge -a positive sign for the future?
“ 94 I PC APRIL/MAY 2015
Lawn tennis courts closed due to cut-backs in a Manchester park
Now is a perfect time to rethink the role of parks and open spaces, and how they are maintained, if our parks and green spaces are not to decline to the level of the semi-derelict sites seen thirty years ago, and currently seen in many parts of Europe
next few years, especially if the dire forecasts and expectations come true, especially as the limited current economic growth is not proving to be robust. This will be the challenge of our time, for this generation of landscape and green space sector professionals, volunteers and supporters. Now is a perfect time to rethink the role of parks and open spaces, and how they are maintained, if our parks and green spaces are not to decline to the level of the semi- derelict sites seen thirty years ago, and currently seen in many parts of Europe. Some local authorities are taking the lead in their local areas with innovative approaches, but wouldn’t it be really helpful to have a national body to turn to, which is capable of leading and advising on coping strategies for cutting costs with the minimum damage? So where do parks managers and officers look for guidance, support and inspiration in tackling the challenges of the austerity era?
In the 1990s, the campaign to create a
national parks body to protect and champion parks and provide guidance and training, was led by a distinguished group of green space luminaries, including the late Alan Barber from the Institute for Leisure and Amenity Management, Ken Warpole from Comedia/Demos, Alan Ruff from Manchester University, Stewart Harding and David Lambert from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the author Dr Hazel Conway and many others. By providing clear evidence of the critical
importance of parks green spaces, they succeeded in persuading the government of the day that a national body for parks was urgent and essential. How could the evidence and the lessons of a few years ago be forgotten and ignored so quickly? The hollow argument that parks and
greenspaces are non-statutory belies the fact that there is a duty of care to keep any site open to the public in a safe condition. This could mean that some sites will be required to close if they decline too far, despite the evidence base for the importance of parks having grown richer and more persuasive over the years. In particular, the positive benefits to physical and mental health, the effect of good green space on increasing property values and the spiral of decline and anti-social behaviour associated with neglected parks. For example, a team led by Professor
Derelict pocket park in Rome. Is this our future too?
David Sloan Wilson at Binghampton University, New York, recently carried out anthropological research work on ‘prosociality’ - the trait that makes people and communities care for each other and allow some neighbourhoods to thrive and those without it to sink. He showed that many people in neighbourhoods fail to interact socially, and that these neighbourhoods are places where people least enjoyed living. When given a shared goal to improve the neighbourhood, people became more considerate and supportive
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