EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - GREENSPACE project - public participation in urban green spaces' management

GREENSPACE project - public participation in urban green spaces' management

Introduction

With the help of public participation theory, this research paper examines the ways in which the GREENSPACE project partners have stimulated constructive public engagement in the management and planning of urban green spaces.

Description

The first part of the paper provides a brief overview of the role and benefits of public participation. This is then augmented by focusing on the four levels of public participation and their accompanying techniques:

Level 1: Education and Information provision
Level 2: Market research
Level 3: Consultation
Level 4: Deliberation

Public participation was a cornerstone of the GREENSPACE project. The second section of the paper therefore discusses the levels and techniques of public participation that the seven GREENSPACE project partners used in their cases.

Background information

This research was part of the GREENSPACE project, an applied research project on green space in urban areas. It had the aim of demonstrating the contribution that urban green space makes to people’s quality of life.

The GREENSPACE project was carried out by a team of seven European partners:

University College Dublin;
Robert Gordon University / the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen;
University of Surrey / University of Brighton;
the Eindhoven University of Technology;
University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart;
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich;
the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

This research paper is chapter 3 of the GREENSPACE final report.

EU involvement

The GREENSPACE project was funded by the European Commission under the Key Action Environment and Sustainable Development of the EU Fifth Framework Programme.

Conclusions

Local people value good information above all else.
The indirect benefits of market research are only realised when participants receive feedback from the agency that initiated the work.
If consultation exercises are carried out only to gain local information by the facilitator, they often have few benefits for the participants. More interactive consultation results in participants generating ideas and taking responsibility for their ideas, and council staff being more transparent in their decision making.
In these seven cases, public participation allowed green space practitioners and the public to appreciate their reciprocal difficulties and needs.
There is not one level of public participation to be preferred in green space management. Different levels of public participation are appropriate in different contexts, for different issues, institutions and potential outcomes.
There is a strong link between the availability of good information, the consultative skills and willingness of city councils to engage in genuine public participation and the degree of engagement felt by many citizens.

Contact info

University of Surrey
Ms Gerda Speller (Associate Lecturer in Environmental Psychology), tel. +44 20 83941616

Publication date

01/01/2005

Researcher

Gerda Speller, University of Surrey and Dr Neil Ravenscroft, University of Brighton

Links

GREENSPACE Project University of Surrey University of Brighton General description of GREENSPACE project in EUKN e-library

GREENSPACE Final Report - Chapter 3 'Public Participation in Green Space Management' (PDF, Eng, 2.7MB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Keywords

Citizens' participation