mp4 making places profitable: public & private open spaces experiences from open space...

MP4Making Places Profitable: Public

& Private Open Spaces experiences from open space

regeneration in Scotland

Marilyn Higgins, Alicia Montarzino, Marcia Pereira & Harry Smith

Urban Studies Seminar Series Edinbrugh 30 September 2010

European UnionEuropean Regional Development Fund

Structure

Urban Studies Seminar Series Edinburgh, 30 September 2010

• MP4 project • Theoretical basis• Analytical framework• Case studies in Scotland:

– Craigmillar– Grassmarket– Hailes Quarry Park

• Conclusions

MP4 Project

“Making Places Profitable – Public and Private open spaces”

AIM: to demonstrate how open space improvements offer positive socio-economic benefits, and how the benefits offered to key communities can be maintained in the long

run (‘place-keeping’). • supported by Interreg IVB North Sea Region European funding

• four local authorities/public bodies (Emmen, Flemish Land Agency, Gothenburg, Sheffield)

• one charitable foundation (Lawaetz Foundation DE)

• four universities (HCU, HWU, UoC, UoS)

Urban Studies Seminar Series Edinburgh, 30 September 2010

MP4 ProjectMP4 Project Objectives

• Assess existing transnational experiences with place-keeping – literature review & case studies

• Produce model agreements for sustainable partnerships and develop innovations in place-keeping

• Implement, promote and test place-keeping models transnationally

• Monitor and evaluate socio-economic impacts

• Develop place-keeping policies and ‘mainstream’ best practiceUrban Studies Seminar Series Edinburgh, 30 September 2010

Theoretical Basis

shift from government to governance & from a providing state to a enabling estate: acknowledgement of wider range of stakeholders in urban management

new institutionalism: importance of understanding mental models in order to understand organisational arrangements

this helps see urban development as a socio-spatial process rather than simple implementation of a “product”

open space: growing body of research into qualities, perception & impact on well being, but less on long-term management & maintenance

our approach: to understand wider stakeholder involvement processes in long-term management of public space based on institutionalist approaches - using case studies in Scotland as examples.

Edinburgh, 30 September 2010Urban Studies Seminar Series

Analytical Framework

Istanbul 14 October 2009

type of urban public space

stakeholders involved in “place-making” & “place-keeping”

resources available to stakeholders and their deployment

ideas & mental models related to urban public space & stakeholders

process of physical, organisational & mental “requalification”

Urban Studies Seminar Series

UK Context


• 19th Century: private sector provided public space as part of housing & municipalities provided parks & green spaces

• 20th Century: public sector predominant provider of public space - public-private partnership regeneration in latter part of the century

• firmly established mental model of local authority having responsibility for “place-keeping”

• recent attempts to draw in private sector participation in “place-keeping”

• strong civil society & mental model of voluntary participation, expressed in trusts & “friends of “ societies

• current experimentation with new models of private sector & civil society’s relationship with public space.


Craigmillar

Istanbul 14 October 2009Urban Studies Seminar Series

Location: Mostly residential suburban area – mainly social rented housing – South-eastern side of Edinburgh

History: Decline & regeneration

Partnerships:

URC model & PARC

CEC decentralisation policy – East Neighbourhood Team

Local communities organisation – The Neigbourhood Alliance

Craigmillar


Place-Keeping

Design-stage consideration

PARC strategy: capture income from private development to contribute to funding of public and amenity projects & community involvement

Still conventional, but new initiatives are being explored mainly due to community involvement.

Community Trust

Craigmillar


Evaluation: formal & informal

Scottish Government commissioned study of URCs

Neighbourhood Alliance – informal monitoring

Awards for the quality of development, policies & processes.


Transferable aspects

Policies – decentralisation

URC model

Community engagement & support

Flexibility

Sensitiveness to socio-political context

Grassmarket


Context In the Old Town of Edinburgh,

valley to the South of Edinburgh Castle.

Simple paved area with trees and benches, surrounded by a lively mixture of uses, including housing, shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels.

2007/08: £5 million improvement project

Grassmarket


PartnershipFunding: local economic development agency & Government’s Cities Growth fund allocation to the local council.Consultative stakeholder groupCommunity engagement events

Place-KeepingFrom design stageManagement & maintenance: Grassmarket Forum & Council officers.

Grassmarket


Evaluation

Contentious: good for local business, unhappy residents.

Baseline study carried out & definition of evaluation indicators for later comparison.

Transferable Lessons

Effective engagement

Clarity about remit & aims of a project – expectations management.

Consultation, participation & compromising

Need for in-built evaluation in place-making & place-keeping

Need for a strong and committed client-team – openness to new ideas.


Context

Location: Large open space in the south west of Edinburgh -15ha - surrounded by low-income residential areas.

Hailes Quarry Park

History: Old quarry & previous use as landfill


Place-Keeping

Implicit place-keeping: five-year plan +10 years partial maintenance agreement

Building-up community involvement & ownership

Hailes Quarry Park

Partnerships

Involvement of public, private and voluntary sectorsGreenspace Scotland (GS) & Strategic Greenspace Partnerships (SGPs) + Project for Public Spaces (PPS)The Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust

The Scottish Executive + Sustrans + WREN + local associationsCommunity engagement


Evaluation

No formal evaluation

Events used as means to steer apathetic community towards space ownership

Small scale infrastructure investments to increase use by pedestrians, cyclists, women & older people.

Steering Group

Aims & expectations – displacement (who does what)

Hailes Quarry Park

Transferable LessonsMultiple-inter sectorial partnershipsAttitudes (problem when prevalent at wider level)Scale (small)Flexibility (tailored interventions with rapid response)

Conclusions

• wide range of types of stakeholder and forms of organisation, with shift from government to governance

• shift from state-financing of open space regeneration and management to diversification of funding sources

• in all cases, central role of more direct relationship between stakeholders and open space through some form of responsibility

• potential political & social issues: re-definition of the role of the state & of other stakeholders, ownership of open space, social responsibility.

• scope to learn more through wider and more in-depth research on impact of these practices on the wider community, via a longitudinal study.


Thank You

MP4 HWU Team:

Dr Harry Smith [email protected] - Principal Investigator

Dr Marcia Pereira [email protected] - Research Associate

Prof Glen Bramley

Dr Caroline Brown

Dr Scott Fernie

Marilyn Higgins

Dr Alicia Montarzino


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mp4 making places profitable: public & private open spaces experiences from open space...

Documents

urban development

funding of public

improvement project

community trust slide

private development

test place

grassmarket edinburgh

open space regeneration