AGENDA
AGENDA
WOULD LONDON BENEFIT FROM BEING MADE A NATIONAL PARK CITY?
T
he National Park City campaign has been set up to try and make London the first city in the world to also be a national park. In the UK there are 15 unique national parks, with the areas that have been selected for protection including mountains, meadows, moorlands, woods and wetlands. London becoming a national park would ensure that the city’s greenspaces are conserved, enhance their natural beauty, and promote the need for these spaces among the public. A number of local ward councillors are still required to declare in favour of the decision. With this in mind, this month we have been asking: would London benefit from being made a national park city?
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FutureArch December 2017/January 2018
Agenda.indd 6
Martin Savage
Tom Venables
landscape architect director, BDP
regional director, AECOM
London has long been known for its parks and greenspaces, with anecdotal figures suggesting it has twice as much as New York and four times that of Paris. With hundreds of greenspace initiatives taking place in the city in recent years, the proportion of accessible landscape – much with the potential to create attractive new habitats – is set to rise dramatically. So, in the words of the National Park City campaign – why not? Over the last decade, our own experience in locations such as Ladywell Fields and Cornmill Gardens, both along the corridor of the River Ravensbourne in Lewisham, has shown that with relatively small budgets and the help and enthusiasm of local communities, new green places can be created that are accessible for everyone. While these individual spaces provide excellent local amenities, they can play an important role in establishing a truly connected green network across the whole metropolitan area. A national park city might just be the vehicle to make this happen.
I believe that making London into a national park city can only bring benefits. It would encourage people to rethink open spaces and better connect people with nature, as well as protecting our assets. The initiative would also promote better air quality and greener, more affordable homes, and ensure that London’s greenspace is more embedded in development decisions. London being made a national park city could help us rethink its green belt – which, in reality, is a growth boundary, rather than a policy to protect green areas – so that the environmental and amenity benefits it provides are brought into the city. This could assist in trading off areas of green belt with poor environmental quality that could provide space for much needed growth, with areas of high environmental quality within the city that are not protected. This may particularly be the case around rail and tube stations. Consideration needs to be given to creating expanded or new communities at some of these nodes; considering these as part of a national park city makes sense, and will ensure London’s long term resilience.
www.futurearch.co.uk
14/12/2017 12:56