The Social World of Nottingham's Historic Green Spaces: follow-on project

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Despite significant increases in population between 1760 and 1840, Nottingham remained hemmed in by common lands, the rights to which were fiercely preserved by a determined band of burgesses. After much campaigning, an Enclosure Act was granted in 1845 which allowed housing development on previously open fields to relieve the severe overcrowding and insanitary living conditions of the town. Importantly, the Act ensured that 130 acres were set aside for public open space intended to improve the health and conduct of the townspeople, particularly the working classes. During the second half of the twentieth century this originally middle-class district became a working class area with significant mixed immigrant and student communities, many multi-occupied properties and different kinds of social needs. The open spaces, however, continue to fulfil their original purpose, though the uses have changed.The co-produced community project, The Social World of Nottingham's Historic Green Spaces, investigated the influences that led to the creation of the spaces, their changing use and misuse, the impact of war, the evolution of planting schemes, and conflict and debate about twentieth century modernisation and re-development. The project brought together community groups and stakeholders with different interests, mirroring its emphasis upon the historical co-creation, co-management and shared community usages of Nottingham's parks. The project's findings were shared through two showcase events at which 78% of the audience was non-academic, mainly from local history and heritage groups. These were followed up by articles based on the joint research, some co-written, published in local history journals. This follow-on project will use innovative, popular and easily accessible activities to engage and share the research with a much broader audience than was reached in the original project. The core will be a community play, written by Andy Barratt, an experienced community playwright, in collaboration with the academic and community partners of first project. The all-age cast will be recruited from the local community. It will be performed in the green spaces it discusses, mainly during 'Love Parks Week' (Aug 2016) a national Festival that celebrates parks and open spaces. Performances will be informal, allowing audiences to observe and interact as little or as much as they have the time or inclination to do. It will portray the most important and exciting moments and issues in the history of the parks, including how they have been used, developed, policed and contested from their creation to the present day. It will also challenge common assumptions about how green spaces are used now and how they might be used in the future. Videoed excerpts, together with blogs and short articles, will be uploaded to the web to geographically and demographically widen its reception. Around the performances will be a host of community-focused activities organised in collaboration with the project partners. All will link to the original research findings and be designed to encourage participation and knowledge sharing. Some activities will take the research into the heart of the community, using local community centres and facilities. Many will be held during 'Love Parks Week' to ensure all promotional opportunities are exploited. Some, e.g. treasure hunts or traditional games that highlight how the spaces have been used, will have broad, family appeal. Others, such as county-wide Study Day to promote the historic role of parks, will appeal to a non-academic audience from a wide geographic area. Opportunities provided by interest groups, e.g. the Friends of The Forest's annual 'Inclosure Walk' and a collaboration with Framework House Association will be used as platforms to engage and share with new groups and individuals including vulnerable adults.