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Landscape and Ecological Engineering

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04-03-2024 | Original Paper

Urban parks in crisis…again? A historical examination of the political, economic and social context of UK parks

Authors: Nicola Dempsey, Jinvo Nam

Published in: Landscape and Ecological Engineering | Issue 3/2024

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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-keeping as a conceptualisation of long-term green space management and stewardship.

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Title: Urban parks in crisis…again? A historical examination of the political, economic and social context of UK parks
Authors: Nicola Dempsey
Jinvo Nam
Publication date: 04-03-2024
Publisher: Springer Japan
Published in: Landscape and Ecological Engineering / Issue 3/2024
Print ISSN: 1860-1871
Electronic ISSN: 1860-188X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-024-00597-7

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