The Social World of Nottingham's Historic Green Spaces: A Community History Project

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The main economic and societal impacts will be in the Nottingham region, largely realised through the vehicle of the partner organisations. The research will help forge complementary regional partnerships between the two universities and with Nottingham City Council and local heritage organisations who, with the wider community, will be the main non-academic beneficiaries of the project.For the partner organisations it will facilitate hands-on experience of research, engagement with a rich field of knowledge, and create opportunities for knowledge exchange. Participants in a Gateway to Nature Framework project conference (which encourages involvement in green and nature-related activities for vulnerable members of the community) held in Nottingham in October 2012, stated that they were partly inspired by the historic ethos of Nottingham's green spaces. The project aims to capitalise on such community-led initiatives to raise awareness of the historic importance of green spaces and their surrounding communities, challenging both local people and visitors to the city to value and utilise them even more for recreation, education, research and scholarship. Through the development of networks and exchange of experiences it hopes to ameliorate tensions between preservation, heritage and community demands such as those demonstrated recently when one group concerned with preserving the Forest's heritage clashed with community groups wanting improved sports facilities.The City Council faces many challenges managing and preserving Nottingham's historic green spaces which are used by diverse groups with different needs and expectations. It will benefit from the project in two ways. First, the project will build on and expand existing relationships with community groups and improve communication. Second, as part of a programme to promote understanding of Nottingham's historic green spaces, and inspire interest in their varied history, the project will provide a context for understanding the diverse landscapes including the planting schemes, the original buildings and the other structures, and how they are used. In a period of financial austerity and local government budget reductions, it will provide a useful source of information and inspiration for the work of gardeners, rangers and other parks staff, who are active in the friends groups, and aid the landscape-gardening, planting and management of Nottingham green spaces.For local communities and local cultural consciousness, the project will enhance the sense of belonging and well-being implied in connecting the city with its green spaces, and provide the urban community with a cultural resource. For the wider community, the project will contribute to the regeneration ambitions of Nottingham City Council which rely on the active participation of local and regional leaders in the public and private sector. Overtures to these leaders to discuss the results of the project will secure lasting impact because of their resulting contribution to city planning and policy making. As well as providing the benefits of new knowledge for the wider community, it will create potential for economic benefit in the region through tourism. By placing Nottingham's Victorian parks, gardens, cemeteries and public walks into the context of the city's industrial and urban history, the intention is to build on and link to the city's wider regeneration strategy, which links directly to its tourism and heritage strategy, including regeneration of the Castle Quarter; Professor Beckett is a member of the working group preparing a major HLF bid for this area.In these various ways, the project will have an impact among conservationists, heritage and museum specialists, local history enthusiasts, and people interested in the wider aspects of landscape design, conservation and history, not least some of the thousands of contemporary users of historic green spaces.