Place-keeping: capturing and developing the capacity of cross-sector partnerships to deliver successful green spaces

Lead Research Organisation: University of Sheffield
Department Name: Landscape Architecture

Abstract

This project aims to examine the extent to which cross-sector partnerships are effective in managing green spaces. There is a long history of public, private, third sector organisations and community stakeholders involved in the management and maintenance of green spaces. However, we do not know how successful cross-sector partnerships (i.e. those made up of stakeholders from different sectors) are at achieving good green space management. The economic recession has led to severe budget cuts by local authorities to green space management, in essence because they are under no legal obligation to provide it - unlike health service and education provision, green space management is a non-statutory service. Nevertheless, the benefits of good quality green space have been well-documented in research, and local authorities are under pressure to continue to provide good-quality green space with considerably fewer resources. In this way, local authorities (such as Sheffield City Council) are looking to involve communities and organisations from other sectors much more in how they deliver green space management on the ground. This might range from specific activities such as grass cutting and litter picking to becoming landowners and running existing facilities (e.g. cafes). But the motivations, responsibilities, commitment and skills of partners from different sectors are as yet unclear in relation to green space management. This project aims to make sense of the complexity of cross-sector partnerships through the concept of place-keeping. Place-keeping is long-term and flexible management of green spaces which ensures that they can be enjoyed by all users now and in the future. Place-keeping acknowledges that partnerships are one element of successful green space management, alongside decision-making, design and maintenance, policy, funding and evaluation. Initial research into place-keeping in Sheffield undertaken by the academic project partners shows that poor communication both internally and between organisations to share knowledge and information may be a key barrier to effective green space management. To address these gaps in our knowledge, this project aims to answer the following questions:
- Who does place-keeping?
- How does place-keeping work on the ground when in partnership with cross-sector organisations?
- What are the barriers to successful place-keeping partnerships?
The project team will focus on place-keeping in two areas of the city of Sheffield. These areas have been selected following the 'Place-making and place-keeping' conference (summer 2012, Sheffield). Conference participants identified a need to explore place-keeping in more detail in the city, and the areas of the north and south-east of Sheffield were selected at a meeting with non-academic project partners. The project team will use a research method, 'partnership capacity analysis', which has been developed by academic project partners to evaluate the nature and extent of contribution that partners make, individually and together, to cross-sector partnerships.
As well as exploring how successful partnerships are for place-keeping, the project is primarily aimed at improving knowledge exchange between academics, policymakers and place-keeping practitioners in general (i.e. those individuals, groups and organisations who are involved in any aspect of green space management). The project team will host a series of workshops, interviews and a final event to provide participants with the opportunity to explore place-keeping in partnership, contribute to the project findings and help refine the method of partnership capacity analysis. The team will also create an interactive place-keeping website as an important tool for knowledge sharing. This team is made up of one academic and five non-academic partners to ensure that the project is as useful and relevant to those practitioners who are engaged in place-keeping on an everyday basis.

Planned Impact

Who will benefit from this knowledge exchange project?
Alongside the project partners, the following beneficiaries will be interested in, and benefit directly from, the project's focus on place-keeping:
Public sector including Sheffield City Council departments (particularly Parks and Countryside, Planning, Roads and Transport) and Core City councils (including Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham); and at a local level, Community Assemblies in Sheffield;
Private sector including contractors employed (e.g. by councils) to engage in place-keeping activities (such as maintenance of verges and tree management); businesses using green space volunteering within corporate social responsibility programmes, and interested in active engagement in place-keeping in green space (e.g. through sponsorship);
Third sector including organisations engaged in green space management including social enterprises, contracting organisations and trusts, who may rely on volunteers to deliver place-keeping activities on the ground;
Community groups including Friends groups, Tenants and Residents Associations, sports groups whose are engaged in place-keeping activities within green spaces such as parks and residential areas;
The wider public who use green spaces in Sheffield (and beyond Sheffield in the Core Cities) will benefit indirectly from this project.
How will they benefit?
This project will contribute directly to increasing cross-sector capacity in Sheffield to deliver place-keeping in times of economic constraint. This project uses innovative research methods to explore how place-keeping happens in partnership, fully involving public, private, third sectors and community group users and beneficiaries. The project's focus on cross-sector partnerships has not been explored before in relation to green space management, and has been highlighted by practitioners, who participated in the recent 'Place-making and place-keeping' conference, as an important gap in their knowledge. This project builds on this conference held in Sheffield (July 2012) by using findings and contributions from participants to inform the collaborative development of this project. The project provides cross-sector users and beneficiaries with the valuable opportunity to come together to reflect on individual and collective contributions to partnerships, and see how place-keeping knowledge and information flows between/ among different practitioners, and identify the gaps and barriers to good communication. With place-keeping as the linchpin of this project, and the university as non-partisan facilitator, the project will provide an innovative forum for cross-sector users and beneficiaries to come together and share their knowledge collaboratively in an inclusive environment. Participating in the project workshops/ event and making use of the resources made publicly available on the project website means that users and beneficiaries will have the opportunity to improve their working practices through better communication and sustained knowledge exchange. This will help contribute to better decision-making about use of scarce resources and ultimately contribute to benefiting the wider public by improving place-keeping activities on the ground. In addition, using digital media will help reach a wider range of people such as younger people who may not currently be active in (or aware of) place-keeping. The final event will be a high-profile event aimed at keeping place-keeping on the political agenda by ensuring the involvement of policymakers from Sheffield, members of the Core Cities group and other place-keeping practitioners and professionals around the UK. Users and beneficiaries will continue to benefit from this project beyond the one year timescale as the website will be active for much longer, and the team will develop findings to develop new project proposals and produce articles in practitioner-focused journals/ outlets.
 
Description This project aimed to develop and apply a particular research method - the partnership capacity approach - as a place-keeping evaluation tool in collaboration with a range of stakeholder organisations involved in green space management in the city of Sheffield. The project applied this approach to partnerships in two areas of the city of Sheffield. We applied the approach to two partnerships in Sheffield. In one, a partnership was developed in the early 2000s to deal with the fragmented and ineffective green space management processes to a more joined-up and coordinated approach. Alongside this, significant funding was made available to improve green space and involve communities - all in all, ingredients for a successful partnership. Our analysis showed that this was far from the truth. The second area for the research approach was proposed by our Advisory Group of non-academic partners. This was a neither affluent nor deprived area of Sheffield which has lots of green space, but little funding, input, or real interest in the area in relation to its green space management.
The partnership capacity analysis was applied alongside the dimensions of place-keeping because the issues that emerged in both instances were not partnership-specific but related more broadly to issues of governance, evaluation, funding, policy and design/ maintenance. We conducted 15 interviews with stakeholders in the public, community and voluntary sectors about partnership working and feedback from with the Advisoy Group. Our main findings are fourfold, with the underlying message that partnerships for place-keeping don't work without a number of factors in place. Firstly, there needs to be a willingness to change to challenge the following perceptions held by organisations: fear of change, inflexible/ entrenched culture, perceived loss of power, priorities held by stakeholders, and, inflexible decision-making processes. Secondly we found that partnerships need the power to change, to challenge existing decision-making processes. In essence this is about challenging who makes the decisions, why and how they make the decisions, and with what information. Thirdly, effective partnerships need effective decision-making structures to challenge individuals who are hugely important but may have own agenda, the amount of time wasted and also the poor channels of communication across stakeholders and to the wider public. Finally, partnerships need flexible and effective resources to challenge the status quo, the scope and time restrictions of funding programmes, the amount of money spent in 'the wrong way' and 'on the wrong things', and lastly, the loss of skills and knowledge.
The current economic situation with public sector budgets cuts and limited resources, can drive innovation, force change and break down power relations, and our analysis shows how this is happening in Sheffield. However, without the willingness to change, this will be very difficult to achieve in a meaningful manner which has the scope for long-term and effective partnerships.
Exploitation Route Our collaborative role in this project puts us in the unique position to act as a mediator and apolitical friend to bring together cross-sector stakeholders together in matters of landscape design, planning and management in Sheffield. We currently facilitate the Sheffield Green Space Forum which brings together Friends Groups (with representation from Sheffield City Council) from across the city to form a group which promotes and safeguards Sheffield's green and open spaces, and builds a partnership to share best practice, skills, talent and experience. This is an ongoing endeavour which is a direct result of the work we have been doing on this project. The group has recently affiliated to the National Federation of Green Spaces.
The follow-up workshop which we secured funding was via the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences and was a successful event (7 November 2014) open to Friends groups and other community organisations. It was also attended by a number of Sheffield City Council officers and environmental enterprise staff. This provided an opportunity for delegates to explore online communication tools in a safe and relaxed environment which was hands-on and practical for people to 'have a go'. This has led to a number of Friends Groups now having active Twitter and Facebook accounts.
We have created a place-keeping partnership toolkit which will be available in the new year, hard copies of which we will distribute to community groups in Sheffield, and we will make digital copies available to all groups online and promoted to wider audience (outside Sheffield) through our website and twitter. This will provide advice which emerges as a direct result from the project findings to help partnerships work effectively and efficiently, while acknowledging the challenges and barriers to partnership working to deliver place-keeping.
The project has consolidated working with key advisory group partners, Sheffield City Council and Green Estate Company and the Place-keeping Group has been invited to contribute to several partnership initiatives that are exploring alternative approaches to green space management including the Sheffield Green Consortium (public, private and third sector city-wide partnership), Endowing Parks in the 21st Century led by the National Trust (public, private, third sector) and Re-thinking Parks, led by Nesta (Sheffield City Council/third-sector).
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Environment

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Government

Democracy and Justice

URL http://www.place-keeping.org
 
Description Our work has been used in different ways. Our research activity has led to us being invited to advise council and national government on parks management matters. This includes our participation in a National Green Spaces workshop for invited experts only which was hosted by the Department for Communities and Local Government about long-term green/ open space management, February 2015. The place-keeping team are members of the Sheffield Green Infrastructure cross-sector Consortium, led by Sheffield Wildlife Trust (established 2014), - a cross-sector group to identify how green spaces are managed and promoted across the city in a sustainable and integrated way. We are members of the Rethinking Parks group - led by Sheffield City Council (SCC) (representatives from Planning, Sheffield Housing Company, Parks & Countryside) and the social enterprise Green Estate. The group is identifying new ways of managing economically sustainable parks to bring added societal and environmental benefits to Sheffield's residents. This group has since been disbanded and we have been resurrected in the form of PUGS - the Public Urban Green Space - cross-sector group. With Sheffield City Council (SCC), we have been facilitating a Sheffield-wide Friends of Parks groups - which is now a constituted group called the Sheffield Green Spaces Forum which is a self-supporting group for the SCC and a voice in the changing management of parks debate. In this way, our research findings have helped direct how SCC work with community groups in face of austerity. Dempsey was made a Management Committee member of the SGSF in 2018. Place-keeping is being used as a term of reference by the international firm, the Grosvenor Group. An email from Andrew Maskell, Head of Landscape Management, 7th May 2015, stated "I really like your work on Placekeeping - as a Landscape Manager I am passionate about the Placekeeping element and found your website really usefulThe London Estate has just launched a new Placemaking Department, with a new Director etc, lots of emphasis has been placed on the Making and I'm keen to shout about the Keeping.I feel your knowledge could really assist us going forward"). Invited guest speaking includes the sold-out Royal Society of Arts 'Psychology of Home' event in Burlington House, London (April 2015), the AECB network Annual Conference with a paper on 'Place-keeping at a community level' (2015 - AECB is a UK network of companies with the common aim of promoting sustainable building). Since 2013, I have co-hosted an in Sheffield for non-academics and academics to discuss the challenges of long-term management in practice, with on average 80 attendees. This has been co-sponsored with Sheffield City Council, Green Estate, and South Yorkshire Forest Partnership. Our next high-profile, national and free place-keeping event will be co-sponsored by Nesta and the Land Trust in January 2016. The place-keeping team has continued to be invited to do radio appearances, with the city's radio station Sheffield Live, including one on 14 May 2015 about 'Urban Agriculture in our cities?' We are also working closely with Sheffield City Council in a collaboration around teaching and research in specific areas of the city where green infrastructure are in need of examination. Our students are able to provide site analysis, designs and management plans for the council in collaboration. We have collected user data on a number of sites in Sheffield, providing valuable 'before and after an intervention' user datasets for the council. I chaired the 2019 Futurebuild Urban Infrastructure Hub session on place-keeping with landscape consultant Peter Neal and Ece Ozdemiroglu, Founding Director eftec and Member of the Committee on Climate Change - Adaptation. Futurebuild is a London-based three-day event directed at built environment professionals from around the world.
First Year Of Impact 2012
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services

 
Description Evidence given: House of Lords Design Commission Inquiry
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Influenced knowledge base that green space managers have access to
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
URL https://portal.greenflagaward.org/research
 
Description Invitation to act as 'Challenger' on the Grosvenor Green Strategy
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Citation in other policy documents
Impact Grosvenor have directly incorporated the place-keeping research into their Green Strategy for all their assets in the London area. This text below was taken from an email dated 28.06.2016: "The Green Estate Strategy incorporates three elements: 1. Placeshaping - A master plan identifying opportunities to enhance urban ecology and create a constellation of exemplary connected green space, 2. Placekeeping - A green infrastructure toolkit incorporating a Landscape Management Plan, Tree Strategy and estate wide habitat management guidance, 3. Place living - A Living spaces blueprint setting out how high quality green spaces will help to animate the estate through community interaction; connecting people to nature as well as promoting a healthy environment. As a summary our future vision would be: Mayfair and Belgravia are two of the greenest neighbourhoods in central London. The Estate is characterised by thriving trees, planting and high quality open spaces. This has been achieved by adopting a long-term approach and through planning on a district-wide scale. The Estate's natural environment is cherished by residents and visitors, complementing its exceptional buildings. There are large green spaces open for public use, providing a focal point for neighbourhood activity. The Estate has become a beacon of environmental excellence. It has a network of green corridors including pocket parks, rain gardens, green walls and green roofs, using the natural environment to enrich local ecology and enhance the experience of the Estate".
 
Description Invitation to and attendance at DCLG Green Spaces Seminar
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Invitation to join Sheffield Green and Open Spaces management committee
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
 
Description URBACT blog written on "From place-making to place-keeping?"
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
URL https://www.blog.urbact.eu/2017/11/from-place-making-to-place-keeping/
 
Description Cultural Heritage and Rapid Urbanisation in India Networking Grants
Amount £34,556 (GBP)
Funding ID AH/N007328/1 
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2015 
End 05/2016
 
Description Dalgas Innovation
Amount £30,000 (GBP)
Organisation Aalborg University 
Sector Academic/University
Country Denmark
Start 12/2014 
End 01/2016
 
Description Street Scene & Regulation, SCC-RE-ESS
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Organisation Sheffield City Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2024 
End 12/2025
 
Title Place-keeping analytical framework - incorporating communication 
Description This normative concept was applied in the Reflecting the River project and communication became a significant part of this analysis - it had not emerged in the same way in UK/ European-based research using the concept. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact There is a paper which will shortly be sent for review which uses this more holistic conceptualisation of place-keeping. This has led to an invitation from the East Midlands Park Forum for Dempsey to present at with communication as an important part of this concept. 
 
Title Place-keeping: capacity analysis 
Description This is a framework within which the capacity of partnerships can be assessed. This was tested and refined as part of the ESRC-funded place-keeping research project. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2014 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact We have worked this into two research papers (listed as outputs from this project) and also the place-keeping handbook (also listed) 
URL http://www.place-keeping.org/
 
Description Nesta-place-keeping collaboration 
Organisation Nesta
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution We co-hosted a national conference which brought together the place-keeping research, a subsequent research project for which we had received funding (INOPS) and NESTA's recently completed Rethinking Parks Programme. We were able to host the conference at the University of Sheffield, providing the stimulating research environment for discussion among academics and non-academics involved in the place-keeping and NESTA projects, with delegates from around the country.
Collaborator Contribution Having this collaboration with NESTA has meant that we were able to target a wide non-academic audience, which we would not have been able to do ourselves. NESTA contributed financially to the event costs (including catering, accommodation and subsistence costs for speakers), which again, we could not have done alone, to make the free conference as attractive for potential delegates as possible.
Impact Conference papers x 2 which are also listed in the relevant section of the form. Dempsey, N. and Burton, M. (2016) Learning from Partnerships: examining how cross-sector partnerships in Sheffield work on the ground, Rethinking Parks in Partnership conference, Sheffield, Thursday 28 January. Burton, M. and Dempsey, N. (2016) Innovative Models of Contracting: Results of research across Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the UK. Rethinking Parks in Partnership conference, Sheffield, Thursday 28 January.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Ongoing collaboration with Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust (SWT) 
Organisation The Wildlife Trusts
Department Sheffield Wildlife Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution SWT worked with us - on our Advisory Board and as co-producers of the project idea itself for the place-keeping project funded by ESRC. We continue to collaborate in an informal capacity.
Collaborator Contribution SWT are non-governmental practitioners based in the Sheffield area. They provided essential contextual knowledge of the area and the issues around place-keeping of pertinent interest to their focus on nature-based solutions including conservation and water management.
Impact We are developing ongoing networks in the Sheffield area in close collaboration with SWT, one of which is the Waterways heritage group (see separate entry).
Start Year 2014
 
Description Public Urban Green Space (PUGS) partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield City Council and local NGOs in Sheffield 
Organisation Sheffield City Council
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I have co-founded the PUGS group which aims to: • champion the green spaces in the city through capacity-building and trust providing a neutral space for us to debate, share knowledge and provide insights from across the city and sectors. We need to keep talking about our great outdoors in Sheffield. • PUGS can collect and analyse information, disseminate it and look to challenge and explore the different expectations held by stakeholders around the city. • PUGS can bring citywide and multi-scale analysis and critique to the design, planning and management of our city's green spaces (which goes beyond park, ward and even city boundaries)
Collaborator Contribution We have held a week-long public event funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences (through SIPS) and a debate on The Great Outdoors http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/its-great-outdoors-the-debate/ We are working with the council in their internal re-alignment of the Sheffield Green and Open Spaces Strategy.
Impact We have held a week-long public event funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences (through SIPS) and a debate on The Great Outdoors http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/its-great-outdoors-the-debate/
Start Year 2018
 
Description Public Urban Green Space (PUGS) partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield City Council and local NGOs in Sheffield 
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I have co-founded the PUGS group which aims to: • champion the green spaces in the city through capacity-building and trust providing a neutral space for us to debate, share knowledge and provide insights from across the city and sectors. We need to keep talking about our great outdoors in Sheffield. • PUGS can collect and analyse information, disseminate it and look to challenge and explore the different expectations held by stakeholders around the city. • PUGS can bring citywide and multi-scale analysis and critique to the design, planning and management of our city's green spaces (which goes beyond park, ward and even city boundaries)
Collaborator Contribution We have held a week-long public event funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences (through SIPS) and a debate on The Great Outdoors http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/its-great-outdoors-the-debate/ We are working with the council in their internal re-alignment of the Sheffield Green and Open Spaces Strategy.
Impact We have held a week-long public event funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences (through SIPS) and a debate on The Great Outdoors http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/its-great-outdoors-the-debate/
Start Year 2018
 
Description Sheffield Hallam-Sheffield University evaluation monitoring 
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Co-author and researcher on the project which evaluated the Future Parks Accelerator (FPA) programme.
Collaborator Contribution SHU led the collaboration, project managed the project and led on the publication
Impact Eadson, W., Dobson, J., Harris, C. and Dempsey, N. (2022) Future Parks Accelerator evaluation: final report, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Trust, July 2022. https://tinyurl.com/2p82u3pk Multidisciplinary - landscape planning - planning - economics - landscape management - public policy
Start Year 2019
 
Description A invitation to present work at the Royal Geographical Society 2017 conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I presented a mixture of place-keeping and INOPS research which emerged as a direct result of the place-keeping research project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.pgf.rgs.org/rgs-ibg-annual-international-conference-2017/
 
Description Attendance at the Future of Public Parks event, British Academy, London 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Engaging with other attendees at the Future of Public Parks event led by University of Leeds.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Bi-monthly convening of the Sheffield Green Spaces Forum meeting - the umbrella organisation for the Friends Groups across the city of Sheffield. This has been going on since 2016. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact This is an ongoing bi-monthly meeting which I convene, on Wednesdays every other month. Between 30-50 Friends Groups are represented at the meetings which include guest speakers - including myself - and knowledge sharing and skills exchange among members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.sgsf.org.uk/sgsf/
 
Description Chair of Urban Infrastructure Hub session at Futurebuild 2019, ExCel, London. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact 60 delegates attended from various sectors and disciplines in the Futurebuild event, directed at built environment industry professionals. I chaired the session and the Q&A session afterwards. Questions were from housing professionals working on garden town developments and they were directed to the Place-keeping book, and took over 20 of the Place-keeping partnership handbooks away to share with colleagues. My fellow presenters were: Peter Neal, Landscape Consultant, Peter Neal Consulting and Ece Ozdemiroglu, Founding Director eftec and Member of the Committee on Climate Change - Adaptation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.futurebuild.co.uk/speakers/dr-nicola-dempsey#/
 
Description Facilitation of the Sheffield Waterways heritage group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact I facilitated a meeting of all those stakeholders with an active interest in Sheffield's waterways and heritage. This is against the backdrop of Sheffield City Council's proposals for flood protection, which a number of stakeholders felt did not give adequate consideration of the city's valuable heritage assets along its rivers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Guest speaker Royal Society of Arts 'Psychology of Home' event 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact This event was for Royal Academy of Arts members and the general public to attend. It was part of a series of events on the importance of home. Over 100 people attended and there was a question and answer session, at which a number of people asked about my place-keeping research and information was shared.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/event/the-psychology-of-home
 
Description Invitation to join the Sheffield Green and Open Spaces Forum management committee 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact I have a seat on the SGSF management committee as academic advisor. This relates to shaping the governance and partnership structure the SGSF has with Sheffield City Council and local NGOs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invitation to join the team developing the set up of a new charitable trust in Sheffield around PUTTING THE SHEAF BACK INTO SHEFFIELD 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Contributing to the set up of a new charitable trust to promote and fund-raise for the deculverting and restoration of the rivers Sheaf and Porter in the inner city of Sheffield.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Invitation to participate in the Public Space Design and Social Cohesion event, Cardiff University, December 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact High-level discussion about development of a cross-sector, multi-institution research project on New public space design programs in Europe and their role in promoting social cohesion.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Invited Chair and panel member of international conference sessions: Panacea Green Infrastructure, Essen Germany. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was invited to co-design and chair the practitioner conference's session on Governance/Long-Term Management Dimensions of Green Infrastructure. Over 30 people attended the session and I was also part of the final expert discussion panel. This was a successful session in terms of international knowledge exchange as contributions were made from Romania, UK, Poland and audience members were from Germany, Denmark, Sweden and other European countries.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.ils-forschung.de/index.php?lang=de&s=2017_02-panacea-green-infrastructure
 
Description Invited exhibitor at the Wardsend Cemetery Annual event, 24th June 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An event organised by the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery, we exhibited the place-keeping research findings and have since been asked to return in 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://wardsendcemetery.wordpress.com/
 
Description Invited speaker at the AECB network Annual Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was asked to present on my work into 'place-keeping at a community level'. This generated a significant amount of debate and twitter activity. I have since been in contact (not a formal collaboration) with a number of delegates from different councils around the UK and industry about this AECB session.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.aecb.net/aecb-annual-conference-and-agm-19th-and-20th-june-2015/
 
Description Invited speaker at the International Tree Foundation annual event, 23rd June 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Over 100 people attended event which brought together experts and activists from a range of civil society groups to discuss the varied relationships between people and trees in the urban environment. This led to me being invited to present at a further event in September 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://internationaltreefoundation.org/annual-event-2018/
 
Description Invited speaker at the Sheffield Street Tree Festival, 29 September 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A free festival, described as a joyful and thought-provoking celebration of the city's beautiful street trees, which had around 450 visitors. My involvement was in the programme of expert discussions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://sheffieldstreettreefestival.wordpress.com/programme/
 
Description It's Great Outdoors public debate, Millennium Galleries, Sheffield city centre. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 75 or so people attended this public debate, led by Jill Dickinson and Will Eadson (Sheffield Hallam University) and Nicola Dempsey (University of Sheffield)

We discussed the fantastic array of parks and green spaces in Sheffield and the hive of green space activities that take place across the city, which are organised by, and involve, the council, third sector/charitable organisations festival organisers, volunteer groups, sports clubs and members of the public. All of this takes place in the face of ongoing austerity, not only in Sheffield, but in towns and cities across the country. This raises important questions for this debate: What are the long-term implications of austerity for our parks and green spaces? Who are the best custodians of parks and green spaces? And how does that happen in practice?

We had speakers representing the private, public and voluntary sector and had a lively and stimulating debate about these big issues.

Members of the panel include Sue France, CEO Green Estate; Andy Jackson, Heeley Trust; Councillor Mary Lea, Sheffield City Council; Peter Neal, University of Sheffield; and Julian Dobson, University of Sheffield.

The event marked the launch of the Public Urban Green Space Group (PUGS) which brings together academics, policy-makers, practitioners, community groups and members of the public who are interested in parks and other public green spaces. Working collaboratively the group aims to develop and share ideas for making green spaces available for everyone to enjoy. This initiative is being driven by Sheffield Institute for Policy Studies (at Sheffield Hallam University), The University of Sheffield and Sheffield City Council.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/its-great-outdoors-the-debate/
 
Description It's Great Outdoors public exhibition, Millennium Galleries, Sheffield city centre. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interactive exhibition where the general public could find out more about different initiatives in their local area and learn how they can get involved in shaping Sheffield's green spaces.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/its-great-outdoors-celebrating-sheffields-green-spac...
 
Description Keynote speech 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact 150 people attended this event which was all about partnerships in practice. This called directly on findings from this research project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Meeting with Chair of the Nene Valley Park Trust, Matthew Bradbury 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was a high-level meeting to discuss not place-keeping input into the work of the Nene Valley Park Trust but also of the national Parks Action Group, set up by the then DCLG, now MHCLG, of which Matthew is a member.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Meeting with The Land Trust at Rabbit Ings Country park, August 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact A stakeholder engagement meeting with representatives from the Land Trust out on site at Rabbit Ings Country Park.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Sheffield Green Spaces Forum launch, Sheffield Town Hall, May 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact We co-hosted the launch of the Sheffield Green Spaces Forum launch, Sheffield Town Hall, May 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Stakeholder meeting with Parks Department, Sheffield City Council 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A meeting to discuss collaborations between the Parks Department and me. We have since collaborated on a number of research bids via in-kind support. For example, SCC have a bid submitted to Nesta with us as in-kind supporters.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017