Abstract
The UK has a long history of providing and managing urban parks. The formal park and garden, developed as a morally improving ‘place apart’ in the city, can inform people’s idea of what a park is. This paper aims to explore the legacy of this conceptualisation of the park through an extensive review of literature and policy documents. This paper examines prevailing discourses by locating them more accurately within its political, economic and social context of the times. The paper also examines why, despite being described as ‘treasured assets’ by national government today, UK urban parks continue to be undervalued and taken for granted? Why does the lamenting of the fate of UK urban parks sector persist in the twenty-first century? To answer this question, the paper will focus on the formal urban park by applying the analytical framework of place-kee** as a conceptualisation of long-term green space management and stewardship.
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Notes
The percentages add up to more than 100% as respondents were asked about all organisations that contributed to parks maintenance.
Although it should be noted that the Business Improvement District (the idea upon which the Parks Improvement District is based) is very successful in the UK, and focuses on streets rather than parks, with over 70 in London.
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This Research was supported by Research Funds of Mokpo National University in 2020.
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Dempsey, N., Nam, J. Urban parks in crisis…again? A historical examination of the political, economic and social context of UK parks. Landscape Ecol Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-024-00597-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-024-00597-7