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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Claire Walsh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Green Belts are longstanding planning designations, which primarily seek to prevent urban sprawl. Importantly, they form the open spaces close to where most people live, but we lack clarity over how Green Belts are used and valued by publics, and the cultural ecosystem services they provide. To address this policy and research gap, a public participatory mapping survey was conducted on the North-East England Green Belt, with 779 respondents plotting 2388 points. The results show for the first time that in addition to being a planning policy zone, Green Belts are important, and widely used open spaces for ‘everyday nature’, providing several cultural ecosystem services including recreation, connection with nature, sense of place and aesthetic value. Several factors were found to influence the supply of cultural ecosystem services in Green Belts, including proximity to urban areas, woodland land cover and access designations. Whereas most demand pressures on Green Belts were on public rights-of-way, nature designations and deciduous woodlands. Pervasive barriers inhibiting Green Belt’s full potential were identified including management issues, concerns over personal safety and lack of access. We argue that opportunities to further enhance the cultural ecosystem services provided Green Belts and peri-urban landscapes more broadly, not only come from planning policies themselves, but from the design and delivery of approaches integrating urban, rural and land-use policy silos. The findings have wider implications for policy including potential conflict with future development, and opportunities for greater access to greenspace.
Author(s): Kirby MG, Scott AJ, Walsh CL
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Ecosystems and People
Year: 2023
Volume: 19
Issue: 1
Online publication date: 14/11/2023
Acceptance date: 19/10/2023
Date deposited: 27/11/2023
ISSN (print): 2639-5908
ISSN (electronic): 2639-5916
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2023.2276752
DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2023.2276752
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