Diversity, communities and equality:

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Diversity, communities and equality

• what space for bio?
• Dr Scott Ferguson
• Communities and Greenspace Group
• Scottish Natural Heritage

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• People gather in the cites to live they remain
  there to live better
• Aristotle

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• Its the economy, stupid!

quality of life stupid!
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• "A conscious cognitive judgement of satisfaction
  with one's life."
• Rejeski and Mihalko (2001)

"Community QoL is a function of the actual
conditions in the environment as well as how
these conditions are perceived and experienced by
the individual residing within the
community". Proshanky and Fabian (1986)
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Its nice down here. Me and my daughter, weve
been all over here, by the stream, down in the
woods. In the springtime . its a picture and a
half. Really, there are certain places that are
unique. I love it. Community Woodland, Bristol
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Access to quality greenspace is a key element of
quality of life.
But how does biodiversity fit into an assessment
of quality greenspace?
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• biophilia hypothesis nature makes us feel good

• Natural environments are likely
• to benefit health in three ways
• Providing and opportunity to relax from stress
• Providing opportunities to be physically active
• Providing opportunities to socialise

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• When does an inequality become an injustice?

• Addressing injustice in terms of
• access to greenspace
• Standards based approach
• Quantity, quality and accessibility
• Target interventions to address injustice

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EUCLIDEAN vs. NETWORK ANALYSIS
EUCLIDEAN
NETWORK
1387 residential addresses within 300m
971 residential addresses within 300m
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ACCESS TO QUALITY GREENSPACE
971 residential addresses within 300m of an open
space
847 residential addresses within 300m of a
quality open space
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ADDING VALUE

• Data sources
• Census

• Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation
  (SIMD)

• Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics

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• The good, the bad and the ugly

• One persons good may be anothers bad
• Natures good may be peoples ugly

• Define goods and bads by
• the impacts and benefits
• associated with them
• Need a complex matrix of spaces

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There are three issues. Having the facilities,
access to those facilities, and knowing what to
do when you get there. Focus group participant,
Leicester
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Justice and inclusion means combining top down
and bottom up.
But how does biodiversity fit into these
approaches?
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• To contribute to a better quality of life by
• improving our understanding of the form and
  function of existing urban green networks
• examining benefits for both people and wildlife
  and
• identifying opportunities to improve the planning
  and management of these networks.

Does an environment that functions well for
biodiversity also function well in terms of the
benefits that people derive from it?
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The garden is a miracle. Every year I let a bit
go wild just for the pleasure of seeing the
nature struggling away to get itself
sorted Davy Macdonald
Collectively, gardens make up the best nature
reserve weve got in this country Mike Toms, BTO
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Recent research into horticulture and
biodiversity1. Biodiversity in Urban Gardens
(BUGS)2. Growing Nature
Garden first, biodiversity second
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Greenspaces provide an real opportunity to
involve people in action
But how does biodiversity fit into involving
people in action?
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no conscious emphasis on prioritising social
exclusion (but) several LNRs have progressed the
social inclusion agenda implicitly as part of
their promotion and use SNH LNRs Evaluation
(2006)
..benefits to local communities, increased
community cohesion and involvement, educational
opportunities and personal development were
fully realised Wildspace Evaluation (2006)
there is a substantial amount of work taking
place which achieves outcomes for both Community
Learning and Development and the natural
heritage CLD and the natural heritage (2007)
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• Social capital
• Bonding - Linking Bridging

• Action research
• Experts on tap
• Demonstrating the links

• Evaluation
• Helps plan against outcomes
• Understand wider benefits

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• SNH - Working with communities

• Everyone in Scotland lives within easy reach of
  places where they can enjoy the natural heritage
• More people are involved in initiating, planning
  and delivering practical action
• More people know how to access information about
  the natural heritage and how to contribute to
  decisions affecting it

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Urban areas - links between biodiversity and
communities primarily defined by social factors
Rural areas - links between biodiversity and
communities primarily defined by economic factors
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New solutions in this field may be devised by
science, but they will be evaluated by citizens
and - if they really seem to work - applied by
society EU RAISE project