From Making to Keeping in Parks and Green Spaces, UK Towards Long-term Management: Historical Drivers from the Victorian Era to the 21st century

Background and objective: In the UK, political shifts and dramatic budget cuts to non-statutory services have fundamentally altered the ideology of public park management, forcing a transition from park-making to park-keeping. However, the specific drivers of this change are not fully understood.Methods: This study addresses this gap by analysing post-Victorian UK park policies through the lens of the place-keeping (PK) analytical framework to identify these change drivers and propose directions for long-term management. The analysis draws on a range of policy documents, including British government manifestos and parliamentary records.Results: The findings are threefold. First, the paradigm shift and the call for active governance were primarily driven by disproportionate budget allocations between statutory and non-statutory services after 1972. Second, the resulting governance-centred approach fostered the growth of partnerships and the principle of shared responsibility. Third, the PK framework reveals that this new ideology expanded to include concepts such as income generation, evaluation, and maintenance as essential strategies to overcome the crisis. To secure the long-term viability of urban parks, this study proposes a cultural transition toward a PPCP-based stewardship framework. Such a shared responsibility model enhances financial resilience and management sustainability through multi-sectoral collaboration, even amidst public budget constraints.Conclusion: In conclusion, the study demonstrates that politically driven crises have forged a new park management model in the UK defined by active governance and partnership-based responsibility. This model offers a pathway to harnessing the benefits of public parks through sustainable, long-term management.