Protecting parks saves lives too

Sarah Gaventa

You know we are living in extraordinary times when banana cake recipes are trending, the new voice of reason on Twitter is Piers Morgan and a housing minister is talking about how important parks are.

The history of parks in Britain has always exposed an interesting and fraught relationship between the state and the public. Whether they were transformed from hunting parks, created by philanthropist and councils, by subscription to keep the riff raff out, only open to the poor for free for two days a week (Regent’s Park), they all helped to keep civil order by giving the underprivileged (but not the ‘verminous’) a chance to cough up the dirt from factories and the smog from our cities. Many were created due to the determined petitioning by the public who demanded them as their right, reflecting how social justice and our parks have always been intertwined.

But we have rarely valued them at a government level (certainly not since WWII) nor have ever defined them as a statutory service, which has always left them exposed and a local authority headache rather than a national benefit. In the 1980s compulsory competitive tendering was the parks sector virus, combined with the Thatcherite anti-society vision which seemed to despise them as much as anyone who travelled on public transport or miners. Certainly, when CABE Space was formed – yes by government – it focused on how best to support those who wanted to reverse their decline and address the demoralisation of the sector. The fact that CABE Space had to produce myriad reports about the value and benefits of parks from physical and mental health to social inclusion, shows just how far they had slipped from the consciousness of those making the decisions about where monies were best spent. Certainly, we were even considered the poor relation at CABE, something the team fought hard to change.

Finsbury Park.

© Meredith Whitten

Parks and their keepers are amazingly resilient, bearing the brunt of many cuts and abuse before the effects begin to show. But it took coronavirus to make parks a national issue – their access debated again – their benefits and values much more obvious when it is suggested they may be abruptly taken away through closure, rather than fading away through lack of funding. It is essential that the park sector use this zeitgeist and the public’s renewed ‘petitioning’ to protect their future.

In the near future we know that as restrictions are lifted the last places many go us will be heading for (and for the old and vulnerable perhaps never again) will be confined places like cinemas, theatres and stadia. We may not be staying metres apart, but many will want or need to keep their distance and parks will be one of the places where that should be possible. How do we make this work, though? Especially given some of the issues people have been complaining about during lock down, particularly joggers and cyclists whose increased exertion can expose others who cross their path. So while public spaces and parks are for all – maybe not all at once or in the same areas. Time to think the unthinkable and to separate pedestrians (which the vulnerable and the old are more likely to be). Feels strange to be advocating against shared space, but for a while sharing may not be best. Otherwise certain groups will be disenfranchised from the places that will do them the most good. Children, too, must be given space to roam again and reclaim some freedom and childhood without scolding or reproach from other users. Just as we need a network of green spaces with different functions to support neighbourhoods, play spaces, adventure playgrounds, quiet spaces, recreational and sports spaces – now is time to look at how these networks can support our changing user groups. To give all the opportunity to enjoy doing what they prefer to do and yet acknowledge that these needs will be different for a while. Parks have always brought people together, now we need them to help us keep some apart and safe too. It could be as simple as different pathways and routes or times for different users, but it needs some sensitivity and public support. Increased thought for others has been one of the positive outcomes of COVID-19, but this needs to continue. We need to be creative to ensure that parks can still be for all without the use of barrier tape on seats and jobsworth heavy handedness. Some clear and simple ideas that can be adopted until the winter for a start, or until testing and/or a vaccine has had an impact and has reduced anxiety and risk. Car-free days and reclaiming car lanes for cyclists and joggers would be wonderful to see and give these groups and others more freedom too. Opening private school grounds and other private green spaces to the public, even temporarily, would help: perhaps a 21st century version of the Victorian Metropolitan Public Gardens Association which created many public spaces from private cemeteries and gardens. I’m happy to jump over a few walls to look for spaces like they (often women) did.

Now parks are in the spotlight it is the time they must be recognised as part of our health service and become statutory – as the sector has advocated for decades. At the best of times we expect great spaces, but it is at the worst of times that we need them to be great. Protecting parks saves lives too. Our government mustn’t be allowed to forget this.

Sarah Gaventa is director of the Illuminated River Foundation which is delivering the longest public art project in the world, which will light up the bridges of central London. She is a public space and public art expert and curator, and was previously the government’s advisor on public space as Director of CABE Space at the Commission for Architecture and Built Environment. Sarah is also an Honorary Fellow of both the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Landscape Institute and a Freeman of the City of London.