EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01HRS FRIDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2004
Urban planners must recognise that green spaces are not produced by professional designers alone, but by ordinary residents and all manner of plants and insects, animals and birds making themselves at home in our cities and towns, says new research sponsored by the ESRC.
What makes urban green spaces green is that they are 'living' - and it is this 'more-than-human' interactivity that is key to understanding what makes cities habitable, argues the study led by Professor Sarah Whatmore of the University of Oxford and Dr Steve Hinchliffe at the Open University.
Over the past decade, the ecology of the UK's urban areas has gained the kind of conservation significance once reserved for rural and sparsely populated regions. Scientists now recognise that cities sustain important 'communities' of plants and animals drawn together from many different routes and places. Urban wildlife groups, amateur naturalists and voluntary organisations have been key players in bringing about this change of emphasis.
For the study, researchers investigated cultivation, conservation and restoration activities in the allotments, woods and brownfield sites of Birmingham and Bristol, including producing 60 hours of video footage recording social and ecological changes through the year.
Their report describes in detail, among other things, the benefits of interaction between people, creatures and plants in activities such as allotment gardening, hedge-laying and landscaping.
Professor Whatmore said: "Our research has highlighted the ecological and social diversity of urban landscapes, tracking some of the flora and fauna of cities. These plants and animals are not only valuable in conservation terms - some of Britain's rarest species, like water vole and Black Redstarts, live in cities - they are also key components of urban life. Whether rare or abundant, people put a lot into and take a lot of pleasure from urban green spaces."
Importantly, researchers found a great variety of ecological expertise among residents' groups; allotment associations, and others such as wildlife groups, including practical skills and local knowledge picked up through everyday observations, acquired know-how and shared enthusiasms. As a result, their report calls for a 'redistribution of expertise' to ensure that valuable local skills and knowledge are tapped by scientists and planning authorities responsible for green spaces.
Among examples of local action they describe are an informal group of Birmingham residents fighting alongside a wildlife trust to save a site threatened by fly-tipping, off-road driving and dog walking. Others include a project aimed at working with a local community to make better use of community gardens, many of which have been long abandoned and are a danger to public health. And they cite examples of people who organise regular wildlife surveys and clean-ups in their local woods.
A forum entitled Living cities: a new agenda for urban natures, was staged by the research team in December, 2003. It was favourably received by participants as a rare opportunity for people making decisions at national and city level to talk face-to-face with local residents' and activists' groups.
Professor Whatmore said: "This project has strengthened our grasp of the practical know-how, passionate enthusiasm and ecological concern that city residents bring to bear in creating various kinds of urban green space.
"And our findings challenge policy makers and scientists to engage the knowledge of ordinary local people more constructively in the future."
For further information contact:
Professor Sarah Whatmore, Telephone: 01235 851488 or 01865 271930, Email: sarah.whatmore@ouce.ox.ac.uk
Dr Steve Hinchliffe, Telephone: 01908 654456 or 0121 441 1309 (out of hours), Email: s.j.hinchliffe@open.ac.uk
or Iain Stewart, Lesley Lilley or Becky Gammon at ESRC, Telephone: 01793 413032/413119/413122
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- The research project "Habitable cities: civic spaces and ecological practices" was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Professor Whatmore is at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, OXFORD OX1 3TB and Dr Steve Hinchliffe is at the Geography Discipline, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA.
- Methodology: Research included 20 in-depth interviews with key figures in national policy agencies and non-governmental organizations; 40 interviews with local figures associated with six case studies, including use of focus groups, 12-month records of seasonal observations of plants, insects and animals, and involvement in activities such as planting, guided walks, conservation and restoration work and management meetings. The project experimented with use of video, generating some 60 hours of footage. Participants received a 10,000 word report 'Living cities: a new agenda for urban natures' and a 30 minute DVD presenting an edited compilation of sounds and sights from the case study sites through use of video. Both are also available on the project website: www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/habitable_cities/index.html.
Sites studied were at Royate Hill, Thingwall Park allotments and Manor woods in Bristol, and at Vincent Drive, Balaam's Wood, Small Heath Park, Adderley primary school and Hob Moor road allotments in Birmingham. - The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC invests more than £93 million every year in social science and at any time is supporting some 2,000 researchers in academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences to nurture the researchers of tomorrow. More at www.esrc.ac.uk
- The ESRC confirms the quality of its funded research by evaluating research projects through a process of peer review. Sometimes the ESRC publishes research before this process is finished so that new findings can immediately inform business, government, media and other organisations. This research is waiting for final comments from academic peers.