Reinventing urban spaces through co-production
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 was supported by the Positive Impact Partners programme, culminating 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.
Project overview: developing a pathway towards urban co-production of disused land in Leeds
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 underutilized land, often managed through traditional top-down methods that overlook local communities' needs and aspirations.
Previous research had highlighted the availability of unused land and the community’s interest in accessing it. This project aimed to explore how Leeds City Council and community groups could address this challenge by co-managing under-used land across Leeds.
The project brought together a diverse team of collaborators to explore existing models of urban co-production, identify potential benefits and barriers, and provide recommendations to support better partnerships between communities and the local authority.
It included academics from the University of Leeds—Dr. Paul Chatterton, Dr. Marie Avril Berthet, and Dr. Rebecca Brunk—and 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 potential of public-civic partnerships
The project was focused on the idea of public-civic partnerships, a model of asset management that promotes collaboration between local communities and public authorities to manage urban spaces. This model democratizes the management of public resources, encouraging a participatory governance structure that allows for greater community involvement and shared decision making.
A network of council officers involved in the management of land was brought together to explore this model and how appropriate it might be for Leeds. Case studies from outside Leeds, such as Northern Roots in Greater Manchester and Plymouth Community Energy, were shared with council officers. These demonstrated how public-civic partnerships effectively manage public assets in other places, transforming underutilized spaces into community assets that are also financially sustainable.
The research team also organised a workshop with communities’ experiences as the focal point. In this workshop, people with lived experiences of the challenges, barriers and successes associated with building a collaborative relationship with the local authority for community-led projects shared 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, as well as 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 the community’s 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 shared:
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.
Reimagining neighbourhoods for community nature recovery
As well as proposing a new approach to asset management, the research team 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 the communities of Seacroft and Alwoodley.
Using Dr Tomkins’ creative and visually compelling methodology, people in these areas took part in a participatory walking and mapping exercise. During the walks they identified under-used spaces in their local area and worked together to imagine how they could be transformed into thriving green spaces that support biodiversity and community wellbeing. 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 by saying:
Engaging participants in research can be challenging when the 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.
Lessons learned: on the importance of partnership work
When asked what lessons were learned through the partnership, the research team reflected on the importance of balancing lived experiences with academic theory through a foundation of trust and respect amongst all research partners.
Engaging in a partnership doesn’t have to be overly formal or bureaucratic just doing the exercise of putting each other’s interests and expectations into one document has the potential to very profoundly transform the relationship.
- Dr. Marie Avril Berthet
When this trust and respect exists within the research team, the project can be transformed through exploration, creativity, and flexibility, into something beyond what was originally set out to do.
It felt like we expanded much further beyond where I expected us to go, and occasionally it felt like we’d made a big, complicated mess that wouldn’t connect together in a coherent or meaningful way, but actually, the threads that bring it together are really clear to me now, and the process has given the project a sense of clarity and richness that we wouldn’t have achieved if we had just stuck rigidly to the brief we created.
- Pete Tatham
It's within this potentially messy process that truly innovative solutions can emerge. As Dr. Paul Chatterton notes, “collaboration across the public, private and civic sectors is essential for addressing the complex challenges of the multifaceted crises facing local places today.”
What next?
The research team is working to publish the final outputs of the study, with the aim that it can be used to help inspire better use of urban spaces both in Leeds and in other urban areas facing similar challenges. Check back here, as we will update with links to the research findings when they become available.
If you’re interested in getting involved in partnership research, either as a community organisation or an academic, then you can email the Positive Impact Partners team at sustainability@leeds.ac.uk. The Positive Impact Partners programme aims to bring together third sector and civic organisations with researchers and students at the University of Leeds to build long-term collaborative partnerships focused on addressing our city’s sustainability challenges.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to guide our activity. Our work on this Positive Impact Partners initiative is linked to the following SDGs:
- Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
- Goal 15: Life on land
- Goal 17: Partnerships
Find out more about our impact on the SDGs.
