The GREENSPACE Project is examing the value of parks using participatory, visualization and quantitative survey methods.  The Project has been supported by the European Commission (DG Research) 5th Framework Programme.  The interest is on-going, although the Project formally concluded in a final report and workshop in 2004.  For more details contact the Co-ordinator.

Rationale

Many European towns and cities possess attractive parks or recreational areas. This green space makes an essential contribution to the quality of life of urban citizens. It provides a recreational resource, a peaceful retreat, a medium for social interaction, safe and exciting play areas for children, and a reserve for urban wildlife as well as an attractive backdrop to built development. Yet green space is often not given the same priority as other calls on municipal funds. The portfolio of space is often a legacy of earlier decades and in relatively few cities has the planning of urban squares, parks, green corridors and urban nature reserves been approached in a comprehensive manner.

The GREENSPACE Project has begun to define the types and variety of green space and other landscaped public space that best satisfy people’s needs.  In particular, it has demonstrated how citizen participation can be brought to the strategic planning of "green space" on a continuing basis.

Through the unique application of socio-economic techniques, the project has described and quantified the benefits that people attach to different types of green space.  It has investigated the various functions (e.g. recreation, social interaction, heritage, ecological) of green space and other considerations such as equity or conflicts of use. One of the major outcomes of the project will be a Decision Support Package which can be used interactively by planners, decision makers and citizens.

Issues

The GREENSPACE project has been driven by a number of strategic issues, particularly the need to understand how green space and amenity open space contributes to quality of life.  How do people use green space and what value do they attach to it?  What types of green space would best meet people's social and recreational needs?  How does green space relate to the built environment?  How can ecological value be maximised given recreational pressures?  

In particular, the project has attempted to establish what mix of "green space" is most valued.  For instance:

• traditional parks, wild areas or linear corridors;  

• green areas or new landscaped space such as waterfronts, 

• parks close to home or protected areas to which people will occasionally  travel. 

Scientific Objectives

The principal scientific objective has been to apply methods (choice experiments, contingent rating) to determine the value that people attach to the key attributes of green space, both in different contexts (e.g. built environment, naturalness) and depending on the characteritics of the users themselves (e.g. house type, dependent children, regular/irregular users).  

State-of-the-art visualization techniques (both 3D and dynamic) have been applied to this process in order to increase realism and accuracy.

Both types of data have been included within a spatial, GIS-based Decision Support System, which is available to inform planners and parks managers of type of park provision, relative needs (individuals / neighbourhoods), and accessibility considerations (distance, road, bus links).  As well as being a practical planning tool, the DSP also has the potential to assist with citizen participation in relation to green space management.

Project Team & Funding

The Project commenced in January 2001.  It is co-ordinated by the Department of Planning & Environmental Policy at University College Dublin and has six partners in other European states, namely The Robert Gordon University/Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen; The University of Surrey, Guildford/University of Brighton; the Eindhoven University of Technology; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich; the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, and the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

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