Governance Factors Shaping Greenspace Provision: From Theory to Practice

ABSTRACT

Few studies have considered greenspace governance provision from a local government perspective. This paper applies previously overlooked insights from urban planning and social research, to investigate the key question: ‘how do governance factors influence the provision of greenspace in cities?’. It examines governance tools, organisational leadership and culture, and political leadership. Findings reveal the tensions between a need for certainty and a desire for flexibility, highlighting inconsistencies between planning theory and practice. Better understanding the interplay of these enablers and constraints can inform policy-making to ensure that rapidly growing cities can respond to their residents’ needs using available resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban park planning policy
• organisational leadership and culture
• political leadership
• municipal government
• Australia

Acknowledgments

We express our earnest gratitude and sincerely thank the interviewees for their time and frankness in responding to our questions and confirming the accuracy of the interview transcripts. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and comments. All errors of course, remain our own.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2021.1879240.

Notes

1. In Queensland all land is part of an LGA and local government boundaries include vast areas of nonurban uses such as national parks and farmland.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chris Boulton

Chris Boulton is the Founding Principal of The CityGreen Lab, pursuing a better approach to providing urban greenspace through greenspace management consultancy services. Chris is also an Adjunct Research Fellow with Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute and a Research Fellow with University of the Sunshine Coast’s Sustainability Research Centre. With expertise in landscape architecture, urban planning, local government, crime prevention and urban greenspace management over 30 years, Chris is a recognised leader and passionate professional, awarded: an honorary Fellowship in 2012 by Australia’s Institute of Landscape Architects in recognition of her commitment to the profession and outstanding leadership within local government; an Endeavour Research Fellowship (2017-2018) by the Australian Government to undertake research in Canada; and Parks and Leisure Australia’s 2020 Research Award for her co-authored Landscape & Urban Planning article (2018).

Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes

Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes is a Senior Lecturer of Urban and Environmental Planning at the Griffith School of Engineering and Built Environment and a member of the Cities Research Institute. Aysin has expertise in environmental planning, natural resource management, governance and collaborative planning, regional planning, and growth management. Her current research focuses on governance of climate change adaptation and disaster resilience, water resource management, and urbanisation in subtropical areas and coastal cities. She is the co-editor of the book Off the Plan: The Urbanisation of the Gold Coast.

Jason Byrne

Jason Byrne is Professor of Human Geography and Planning in the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences at the University of Tasmania. He researches urban political ecologies of green-space, climate change adaptation, and environmental justice. Co-editor of the multi-award-winning book – Australian Environmental Planning: Challenges and Future Prospects (Routledge), Professor Byrne has been twice awarded the Planning Institute Australia’s national award for cutting-edge research and teaching. He is an editorial board member for Landscape and Urban Planning, Local Environment, and the Journal of Political Ecology.