The Social World of Nottingham's Historic Green Spaces: follow-on project

Despite significant increases in population between 1760 and 1840, Nottingham remained hemmed in by common lands, the rights to which were fiercely preserved by a determined band of burgesses. After much campaigning, an Enclosure Act was granted in 1845 which allowed housing development on previously open fields to relieve the severe overcrowding and insanitary living conditions of the town. Importantly, the Act ensured that 130 acres were set aside for public open space intended to improve the health and conduct of the townspeople, particularly the working classes. During the second half of the twentieth century this originally middle-class district became a working class area with significant mixed immigrant and student communities, many multi-occupied properties and different kinds of social needs. The open spaces, however, continue to fulfil their original purpose, though the uses have changed.

The co-produced community project, The Social World of Nottingham's Historic Green Spaces, investigated the influences that led to the creation of the spaces, their changing use and misuse, the impact of war, the evolution of planting schemes, and conflict and debate about twentieth century modernisation and re-development. The project brought together community groups and stakeholders with different interests, mirroring its emphasis upon the historical co-creation, co-management and shared community usages of Nottingham's parks. The project's findings were shared through two showcase events at which 78% of the audience was non-academic, mainly from local history and heritage groups. These were followed up by articles based on the joint research, some co-written, published in local history journals.

This follow-on project will use innovative, popular and easily accessible activities to engage and share the research with a much broader audience than was reached in the original project. The core will be a community play, written by Andy Barratt, an experienced community playwright, in collaboration with the academic and community partners of first project. The all-age cast will be recruited from the local community. It will be performed in the green spaces it discusses, mainly during 'Love Parks Week' (Aug 2016) a national Festival that celebrates parks and open spaces. Performances will be informal, allowing audiences to observe and interact as little or as much as they have the time or inclination to do. It will portray the most important and exciting moments and issues in the history of the parks, including how they have been used, developed, policed and contested from their creation to the present day. It will also challenge common assumptions about how green spaces are used now and how they might be used in the future. Videoed excerpts, together with blogs and short articles, will be uploaded to the web to geographically and demographically widen its reception.

Around the performances will be a host of community-focused activities organised in collaboration with the project partners. All will link to the original research findings and be designed to encourage participation and knowledge sharing. Some activities will take the research into the heart of the community, using local community centres and facilities. Many will be held during 'Love Parks Week' to ensure all promotional opportunities are exploited. Some, e.g. treasure hunts or traditional games that highlight how the spaces have been used, will have broad, family appeal. Others, such as county-wide Study Day to promote the historic role of parks, will appeal to a non-academic audience from a wide geographic area. Opportunities provided by interest groups, e.g. the Friends of The Forest's annual 'Inclosure Walk' and a collaboration with Framework House Association will be used as platforms to engage and share with new groups and individuals including vulnerable adults.

It is anticipated that the project will benefit the following groups in particular:

1. Nottingham City Council will benefit in two ways. First the project will engender a better understanding and appreciation of the city's parks and gardens, which in turn will lead to improved community involvement in the care and protection of such spaces. Second, it will raise the profile of these places locally, nationally and internationally and help with projecting a positive image for the City. Both these benefits are highlighted in the City Council's recently published Nottingham Heritage Strategy 2015-2030, which promotes a heritage-led approach to economic and social regeneration. The Strategy recognises the value of open space for sport, recreation, improving social behaviour, mental wellbeing, as well as being tourist attractions in their own right.

2. The mixed communities in the vicinity of the Nottingham green spaces will have an improved awareness of the historic importance of these places, the potential of these sometimes under-utilized places for health, well-being and recreation, and the role and potential benefits of parks and gardens to local communities in the 21st century. Increased awareness of the history of the origins, community usage and social conflict in relation to Nottingham parks will help empower local communities to actively participate in, and to share a sense of ownership and responsibility for these places.

3. Members of Nottingham's student communities are among the most avid users of the city's green spaces for work, sport, recreation and festivals. Although a largely transient population, students are a significant aspect of the local economy with two large universities and numerous FE and other colleges; many students choose to remain in the city beyond graduation. Numerous student halls of residence and Nottingham Trent University's main campus are close to green spaces such as the Arboretum and Forest. Moreover, Nottingham has one of the largest proportions of foreign and non-European students of any British university town, many of whom bring aspects of their own cultures (including their own traditions of using parks and gardens) and will take their experiences of Britain to their countries of origin. Students are also a very diverse group with wide subject interests and enquiring minds and a receptive audience, sometimes with passionate interests in politics and environmental issues, who would benefit significantly from greater engagement with the history and natural history of their local green spaces, and they will be strongly encouraged to take part in the performances, meetings and other activities.

4. Working with particular partner organisations, such as Framework Housing Association's 'Nature in Mind' project which works with local homeless people, people with addiction problems and other vulnerable adults, will be encouraged to contribute to the understanding and valuing of these green spaces by adults for whom local parks and gardens often represent a hospitable and safe environment, as well as a cost-free resource for health and well-being.

5. The various community groups, associations and organisations involved will benefit from the opportunity to create and participate in new networks and finding sustainable ways of working together, both during and beyond the life of this dissemination project.

6. Visitors to the City, both physical and virtual, will benefit from the far greater variety of historical information concerning the parks that will be made freely available via a range of websites and other media.

7. Groups and individuals who use Nottingham's parks and gardens will gain a much deeper understanding of historic development, public usage and social conflict that will inform their engagement in current and ongoing debates concerning resources, usage and the reconciliation of different community demands and expectations within these green spaces.