Place-making and place-keeping of open spaces – MP4 Harry Smith – Heriot-Watt University

1. Edinburgh Knowledge Environment Partnership 21 June 2012 Place-making and place-keeping of open spaces – MP4 Harry Smith – Heriot-Watt University

2. MP4 Project Aims (2008-2012) Funded by EU – Interreg IVB North Sea Region • Demonstrate how positive socio-economic impacts of open space improvements can be maintained in long term • Provide solutions for maintenance & management needs • Mainstream best practice in place-keeping across North Sea Region • Embed place-keeping innovations into policy • Develop shared agenda for long-term open space improvement HafenCity, Hamburg Firth Park, Sheffield Temalekplats playground, Malmö

4. Place-making • Creation of high-quality places that people want to visit, experience and enjoy • Implies a people-centred approach • Health and wellbeing • Sense of belonging and attachment • Welcoming and inclusive places HafenCity, Hamburg; River Don, Sheffield; Hailes Quarry Park, Edinburgh.

5. Place-keeping • What happens ‘after’ high quality places have been created • Retaining, maintaining and enhancing the qualities and benefits through LTM • Long-term management of places • to ensure that the social, environmental and economic quality and benefits can be enjoyed by future generations • E.g. trees in park growing to maturity (increased biodiversity/ aesthetic value/ interest) Woesten, West Flanders; Leuven, Flemish Brabant; Manor & Castle, Sheffield.

6. Place-making and place-keeping • A process leading to a product? • A process influenced by the type of product required? • A two-way relationship between process and product where place-keeping is considered at the beginning?

7. MP4 Activites • Assessment of current practice • Case studies • Literature review • Demonstration – pilot projects • Assess partnership and agreements • Evaluate process and product • Identify ways to improve, share good practice • Information sharing, influencing • Outputs – knowledge transfer • Changing practice and policy Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland; Bürgerpark, Bremen, Germany; Aarhus, Denmark.

8. Policy • Widespread area-based policy initiatives are based on place-keeping ideas • Place-keeping often included in policy guidance, but not in statutory legislation • some aspects may be covered by policy (e.g. health+safety) • Rules/ regulations may influence use + behaviour • e.g. through signage • aims to support long-term positive use of and behaviour

9. Policy Gothenburg Strategic Park Programme 5 strategies for the landscape of Göteborg: • 1. Identify and enhance the characteristics • 2. Make sure that green areas are accessible and within reach • 3. Make sure every place is taken care of (=place keeping) • 4. Make places and spacesavailable for the residents to use • 5. Creatediversifiedenvironments

10. Governance & engagement • The processes of interaction between public, private, third sector and community partners involved in place-keeping • Government does not work in isolation, but through the above relations with a range of stakeholders • Participatory model of decision-making: • is underpinned by democracy • puts emphasis on consensus

11. Governance & engagement Shared space in Barger-Compascuum, NL Town Council Residents (Comm. Group) Project team Project group Reflection group (centre group) Communication Design Implementation

12. Partnerships • Agreed shared responsibility for place-keeping • Partnerships are effective in achieving place-keeping, especially: • a combination of public-private-third sector • where the local community is involved + engaged Emmen, the Netherlands; Steilshoop, Hamburg; Woesten, Belgium.

13. PartnershipsRipples in the Pond, Firth Park, Sheffield • Joint partnership project between Friends of Firth Park and Parks & Countryside Service • Friends Group – highly involved in consultation, securing funding, design development, tendering • Ownership/Empowerment • Identity – local identity & site history fed into design • Design – innovative and adventurous, bespoke to the site • Sustainability – ongoing maintenance and community use

14. Funding/ finance • Funding is crucial for place-keeping but limited • ideally in place from the outset/ place-making stage • Funding easier to access for place-making • place-keeping costs often not considered • Tends to come from the public sector • the funding of place-keeping is not statutory • place-keeping is particularly at risk when budgets are cut

15. Funding/ financeFrom BIDs to NIDs, Hamburg • Business Improvement Districts • Joint financing of public realm improvements via obligatory levy • Additional to public provision • Landowners in Germany; businesses in UK • Neighbourhood (Housing) Improvement Districts • Legislated for in Hamburg in 2007 • Pilot project in Steilshoop

16. Evaluation • Wide range of existing tools: e.g. awards, competitions, user counts, surveys but… • not a statutory obligation & not carried out regularly • Evaluation often not a priority • it can be costly and time-intensive • but can lead to secure funding for place-keeping (e.g. Green Flag (UK)) • Can everything be measured? • e.g. quality/ aesthetic value…? • increasing attempts to give landscape/ green space a monetary value

17. EvaluationSociotope mapping, Gothenburg • Lövgärdet and Eriksbo: two deprived 1960s/70s housing estates with under-used adjacent nature areas • Identified high priority areas through sociotope map and park plan

18. Challenges • Policy: How can we improve the current policy framework for place-keeping? • Governance: What can and should the role of government, business and communities be in the place-keeping of open space? • Partnerships: How can long-lasting partnerships be formed that ensure access to resources and deliver place-keeping that meets the needs of different stakeholders? • Funding/finance:How can the economic benefits of open spaces be harnessed to secure funding of place-keeping? • Evaluation:How can barriers be overcome to ensure more widespread evaluation of open space that contributes to it its long-term management? • Design: How can open space be designed to facilitate long-term management?

19. http://mp4-interreg.eu Temalekplats playground, Malmö