Most Britons live within 20 miles of where they were born

Most Britons live within 20 miles of where they are born and are incredibly invested in the places they live. During Covid they have explored those places, played in the woods rode their bikes on empty roads, nodded to their neighbours. As the New Local Government Network says, people used the time not for self-help, but for community help. More time used for delivering food parcels & medicines delivered for shielding neighbours than words written on that novel you always wanted to write. If more people are going to be working from home, holidaying close to home and spending time locally then public parks have a huge amount to offer for healthy, active, reflective, fun bits of our lives. www.nlgn.org.uk/public/2020/mutual-aid/

So, what does this have to do with future parks? Well parks are some of the most invested, well used, cared for bits of collective space in some of the most densely populated parts of our country. They also feel a bit disconnected from how we run our lives in other ways. We often don’t feel we have control over how they’re run, know who runs them, nor how we might be able to help run them better. When the population is more capable, educated and invested than ever this feels like a missed opportunity.

We’re running peer networks with parks people all over the country to explore these issues and test ways of chipping away at them. At its heart there’s a solid evaluation of what works and how we can experiment in different places to learn about what works. A question I ask a lot is: what would be better than that? so when you’re talking about how people are involved in the places, they live I think we can do much better than a volunteering programme, some friends of groups (however ace) and some basic public consultation. These things can be hard to quantify, but we’re going to do our best and focus on an evidence base. What works wellbeing is a good place to start: https://whatworkswellbeing.org

Covid has partly been about us coming together and mobilised in an interesting way. According to the LSE Mutual Aid Groups may have increased intergroup solidarity and may lead to greater empowerment, self-esteem, politicisation, as well as sustained commitment.  So, a question for you, looking at the greenspace around you. As well as tending to the flowers and skateparks, could we grow ourselves and our neighbours at the same time. We’ll be living locally for a while yet. What would be better than that?

Blog written by Casey Morrison, 28 Aug 2020