By Pete Tatham at Hyde Park Source -"Nature" Transition Partner for Climate Action Leeds.
CAL continues to work with the University of Leeds to identify opportunities for collaboration and supporting climate activity n in the city.
This month we’re shining the light on an innovative research project that highlights the power of partnerships between civic, public, and the higher education sectors. The project culminated in a gathering where people from these sectors shared insights, research findings, and policy updates on how communities can access council-owned land for nature recovery and urban regeneration.
Overview: Developing a Pathway toward Urban Co-Production of Disused Land in Leeds
The project brought together a diverse team of collaborators. It included academics from the University of Leeds—Dr. Paul Chatterton, Dr. Marie Avril Berthet, and Dr. Rebecca Brunk—and external partners from Hyde Park Source, represented by Pete Tatham, as well as Mark Mills and Neil Young from the Leeds City Council Asset Management team. The project would not have been possible without the support of Policy Leeds and the funding provided by the Policy Support Fund.
The team worked together to explore how Leeds City Council and community groups could co-manage under-used land across Leeds, building on prior research that highlighted both the availability of such land and the community’s interest in accessing it.
The project explored existing models of urban co-production, identified potential benefits and barriers, and provided recommendations to support better partnerships between communities and the local authority.
The Potential of Public-Civic Partnerships
Urban spaces are not just physical locations but vibrant social ecosystems that shape and reflect the city’s cultural and economic life. However, many urban areas are hindered by disused or underutilised land, often managed through traditional top-down methods that overlook local communities' needs and aspirations.
A key innovation of this project was the introduction of public-civic partnerships, a model of asset management that focuses on shared governance where local communities and public authorities collaborate to manage urban spaces. This model democratises the management of public resources, promoting a participatory governance structure that allows for greater community involvement and shared decision making.
Investigating this model and its appropriateness for Leeds entailed creating a network of council officers involved in the management of land, and facilitating a workshop space where the potential of public-civic partnerships could be imagined and their feasibility discussed. Case studies from outside Leeds, such as Northern Roots in Oldham, UK and Plymouth Community Energy, were showcased to demonstrate how public-civic partnerships have effectively managing public assets in other places, by transforming underutilised spaces into community assets that are also financially sustainable.
The research team also organised a second workshop where communities’ experiences were the focal point, so that people who have lived experiences of the challenges, barriers, and successes associated with building a collaborative relationship with the local authority for community-led projects could share their knowledge.
The outcomes of these activities will include policy recommendations for streamlining community access to council land opportunities through a public-civic-partnerships framework, and a flowchart for community organisations that will support them in making applications for land access to the council. The impact of this work will hopefully enable citizens to participate more actively in decision-making processes surrounding public assets and foster sustainable urban development that reflects community needs and aspirations.
The idea of partnership was at the heart of this project, both in the exploration of the public-civic partnership model and within the research team itself.
Reflecting on the value of the project’s community-university collaboration, Pete Tatham from Hyde Park Source said: “Partnering with the university on this project gave us an additional sense of validity and authority. It allowed us to access spaces and people we wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise. We were able to change the dynamic with the council—from merely voicing our concerns to engaging in constructive dialogue.”
Re-imaging Neighbourhoods for Community Nature Recovery
In addition to advocating a new approach to asset management, the research team also collaborated with Dr. Mikey Tomkins and Wildlife Friendly Otley to trial a creative method for mapping land to develop community-led nature recovery. This work was led by Hyde Park Source as the Nature Transition Partner for Climate Action Leeds and involved organising a series of ‘re-imagining neighbourhood’ walks in Seacroft and Alwoodley.
Using Tomkins' creative and visually compelling methodology, people in these communities engaged in a participatory walking and mapping exercise to envision how underutilised areas in their local area could be transformed into thriving green spaces that support biodiversity and community wellbeing. This potential for local nature recovery was complemented by the community nature recovery initiatives developed by Wildlife Friendly Otley to create a map for each area that captures what could be. This collaborative effort highlighted the power of combining community knowledge with innovative mapping techniques to reimagine and reclaim urban spaces for ecological and social benefits.
Dr. Rebecca Brunk reflected on how this level of community-engaged research wouldn’t have been possible without the community-university partnership, saying: "Engaging participants in research can be challenging when topics don't seem immediately relevant to their lives. Partnering with Hyde Park Source allowed us to connect with community members who were already involved in similar work and eager to collaborate. Their networks, local knowledge, and enthusiasm were invaluable, making it possible to explore the issue with a broader and more engaged group than we could have reached alone.”
The blend of grassroots activism and institutional support seen in this project underscores the value of public-civic partnerships in driving community-led environmental action. It moves beyond traditional top-down or private sector-led models of urban management, empowering local communities to co-create sustainable solutions. By promoting equitable access to land and resources, utilising public-civic partnerships for community nature recovery can help cultivate a sense of ownership, responsibility, and shared purpose among all stakeholders, making urban spaces not just more vibrant and inclusive, but also more resilient and sustainable for the future.
This partnership project was supported by the Positive Impact Partners programme at the University of Leeds, a programme which aims to foster academic and practice-based knowledge exchange to address community challenges in creating a more sustainable city. If you’re interested in this type of work, please contact Dr. Rebecca Brunk at r.l.brunk@leeds.ac.uk
.png)
Comments