Green Spaces in London

Green Spaces in London

by Cole Fawcett

Green Spaces in London

Hyde Park

Abstract

1) a summary of the aims of your project
2) your prior experience with humanities and arts courses and disciplines
3) your major takeaways from the experience
Clearly state a one-sentence statement that summarizes your main objective for this milestone such as "a comparison of the text of Medieval English choral music to that of the Baroque" or it may be a question such as "to what extent did religion influence Christopher Wren's sense of design?"

Introduction

Often dismissed in the dichotomy of defining terms of rural and urban, nature's presence within the city finds itself frequently overlooked. As such, London distinguishes itself with a percentage of green space at 33.0%, higher than any major city in the United States. While other cities across the world are known for larger percentages than even London, ...
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Cover what others have done like it, how your project is different.
Discuss the extent to which your strategy for completing this project was new to you, or an extension of previous HUA experiences.
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Section 1: Background

The city of London boasts 'an astonishing sixty seven square miles of parks, commons, community gardens, garden squares, nature reserves and churchyards to be enjoyed' such a diverse quantity of green spaces within an urban setting comes only as a result of of a long evolutionary process, beginning in the late eighteenth century.

Pre-Modern Development

Greenwood's Map of 1827.

Like any aspect of history, nothing occurs in a vacuum. Most prestigious green spaces that would become public space derived from aristocratic and royal residences. Parks on the West End eventually became staples in London's Image as a capital city. Of these parks, Hyde Park would be the earliest one to successfully combine pleasures of the elite, including walking and riding, with more popular recreational use. In the late 1700s, population pressure on older central London began to change the character of a pre-existing green London as older commercialized pleasure gardens began to disappear alongside earlier forms of natural green space. Several London commons, part of manorial legacies, persevered through. The green spaces that survived this decline in public green space can be seen on Greenwood's map of 1827, clearly marked in green. No established right of public access, although commons such as Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest had become recreational areas by customary usage

Innovative period with aristocratic estate developers, villa architects and landscape gardeners leading actor in shaping new forms of landscaped open space. Aristocratic estate, late 1700s, pioneered the square garden, privately however. Kew Gardens and botanical and zoological gardens in Regent's Park opened to the public in the 1830s. with the park, a project of the crown estate commissioners, opened fully in the 1840s. The park's layout, planned by John Nash in 1818, adapted the picturesque design features of the aristocratic country park to an urban setting. Nash's protégé, James Pennethorne, contributed the most to shaping he London examples of an English style of landscaped urban park with ornamental water features. Victoria Park (1845) and Battersea Park (1860), the largest and most costly, exemplified the concept of the people's park, an important element in the ideology of Victorian liberalism.

Green Spaces introduction to the Modern era

in regulation of commons and the formation of parks, communal gardens and smaller recreational areas from the 1860s, over a hundred years, diversifying in the inter-war years as metropolitan expansion and changing patterns of recreational activity incited new types of provision. increase in number of commons acquired in the 1870s, proliferation of small open spaces in the 1880-90s, steady progress of park creation from 1880s to 1930s

Metropolitan Green Belt (MGB) embodied a perceived need both to make greater provision for London's recreational space and to protect countryside amenity.

Victoria Park exemplified/exploited an idealized landscape, contrasting commons 'wild and uncultivated condition.

Look at 'The battle for the commons' for Hampstead Heath info (commons)

(LCC) London County Council (pg. 33) Parks and Popularity (pg. 52)

Ideologies, politics and planning in the inter-war years after WWI, representantives of new generation of professional and political interests look to the future of London and quality of life of Londoners. persistent atmospheric pollution punctuated by repeated episodes of smoke fogs call for exposing Londoners to more air and light Along with Educational and popular interest in playing games and keeping fit grew in the inter-war years, called for playing fields and recreational facilities.

Major change from pre-war days: growing recognition of the need for situating open space provision within a planned approach to reconstruction of central London, and more effective control over land. A number of planners and environmental reformers held to a common belief in the possibility of raising the tone of society through recreating a sense of community and civic duty. (The Garden City movement) Sybilla Gurney, "to transform the modern congeries of persons into a real community - to make citizens as well as cities - and to restore the interaction of town and country'.

Independant action of the LCC brought a MGB into being through a system of subsidized land purchases not an inevitable process, but was shaped by political considerations. LCC's intervention was crucial since it meant that London's first Green Belt was brought into being mainly through a complex process of negotiation between the LCC parks committee and out-county authorities responsible for making acquisitions. more on pg. 65

Conclusion activities of governmental agencies in acquiring and controlling open spaces...

A perspective focused on the role of the big players fails to do justice to the range of other interests involved in the social construction of green space: local residents, park and garden users, the staff of parks departments, school authorities, institutions, clubs, and societies, and a varitety of propery interests all had a part to play. Parks are undoubtedly popular adn appealed to a wide range of different users.

This period undoubtedly saw a developing agreement about the value of open space provisions, while illustrating that this was no straightforward consensus but contained problematic elements like saving the London commons. also priorities of policy-makers were frequently subject to competing pressures (MGB). pressures only intensifed in the aftermath of WWII

Modern Green Spaces

The importance of green spaces in towns and cities has been recognized to varying degrees since the 19th century. The apparent value of green spaces in providing an escape from widespread urban air pollution serving as a major driver in creating new parks and green spaces. Over the last 20 years, a rise in interest has taken shape for quality and quantity of green space in urban areas. Three major factors have contributed to this trend: 1) concern about the decline in the quality of green spaces, due largely to low priority in the political agenda on national and local levels, 2) emphasis on the necessity for more intensive development in urban area, informed by "the hight-density 'compact city' " as the model for European cities and where green spaces fit into that, and 3)Improved evidence base supporting the benefits of urban green space, and environmental social and economic value to society.

Brown spaces also need to be taken into account

upsurge reflected as increase in research and professional activity In the UK a number of key documents produced in the last decade has led to government recognition of the vital importance of urban parks and green spaces as key components of urban environments

significance of urban green space on the developing urban environment and urban city life recognised by the Urban Task Force Report and the Urban White Paper, DETR 2000

Section 2: Deliverable

London's Metropolitan Green Belt

In this section, provide your contribution, creative element, assessment, or observation with regard to your background research. This could be a new derivative work based on previous research, or some parallel to other events. In this section, describe the relationship between your background review and your deliverable; make the connection between the two clear.

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Conclusion

In this section, provide a summary or recap of your work, as well as potential areas of further inquiry (for yourself, future students, or other researchers).

External Links

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