Author(s)

K. J. Doick, G. Sellers, T. R. Hutchings & A. J. Moffat

Abstract

Greenspaces in the urban environment are widely recognised for their importance in the creation of healthy and sustainable communities. Greenspace establishment on reclaimed brownfield land is an important mechanism for reviving the urban environment. However, greenspace establishment impacts not only social but also environmental, ecological, economical and cultural dimensions. The identification of successes and failures within brownfield regeneration, through qualitative and quantitative evaluation, is paramount for demonstrating whether projects have attained their primary objectives, offer value for money and are sustainable. Currently, tools available for such evaluation fail to evaluate the true plethora of impacts of greenspace establishment and, hence, sustainability. This paper summarises over 110 identified impacts which could be used as evaluation criteria. The development and implementation of a toolbox based on the evaluation criteria is discussed, that would offer a means of determining monitoring needs on a site by site basis and a viable means of evaluating local or national impacts for a variety of urban greenspaces. The final product would provide a defensible mechanism by which redevelopments could be shown to have succeeded, according to a composite of individual functional aspirations and impacts. The lessons learnt through implementation of our toolbox would benefit future projects, enable Best Practice to be demonstrated and improved upon, and identify areas where benefits are not being fully realised. Keywords: brownfields, urban regeneration, greenspaces, impacts, monitoring, evaluation, toolbox, social, environmental.

Keywords

brownfields, urban regeneration, greenspaces, impacts, monitoring,evaluation, toolbox, social, environmental.