Monitoring urban greenspaces using Methuselah - Site Management

 

The site management plan

A great deal of information is gathered about a site during management operations.  When collected appropriately this information is monitoring data, useful for evaluating the greenspace. In particular, this data may be used to:

• Assess performance against site aims and objectives
• Promote efficiency and effectiveness in site management
• Demonstrate success
• Promote the site
• Anticipate change.

Site management operations for a greenspace are typically documented in the site management plan.  All activities related to the management of the site will be described, including details of operations to be carried, when and how. The site management plan will also detail how the activity relates to achieving the site aims and objectives, the progress expected over time and when a review of management operations is required.

Monitoring activities undertaken as part of the site management plan can therefore be used to support evaluation of the overall impacts of a greenspace. The Site Management section of Methuselah is intimately linked to the site management plan as it reinforces the monitoring requirements of the plan.

Practical and process-based, Methuselah aims to utilise existing work practices, thereby preventing any un-necessary repetition of monitoring activities.

The site management questionnaire

In addition to use of the site management plan, a Methuselah site management questionnaire has been designed in support of identifying data routinely collected at a greenspace.  The questionnaire also serves to identify where there are gaps in existing practices; so that monitoring activity may be directed toward them.

The Methuselah site management questionnaire considers:

• Land management
• Economic/business development
• Environmental/biodiversity
• Social and community
• Heritage/archaeology.

Please contact us for further information on and to obtain the Methuselah site management questionnaire.

Site management within the Methuselah strategy

In summary, the Site Management section of Methuselah incorporates monitoring data collected via the site management plan and other routine management practices, as identified through using the site management questionnaire.

In the diagram ‘Opportunities for monitoring and evaluation of greenspace’ below the inter-relationship between the different opportunities and how they can be utilized is shown:

The opportunities for monitoring and evaluation of greenspace and how these interlink.
Shows the inter-relationship between the distinct monitoring opportunities that exist in greenspace establishment and management. Data collected during routine operational site management, community engagement and environmental conservation work practices is useful for evaluating the success of the regeneration project, site management effectiveness, and the wider impacts of the greenspace.

Following evaluation, information gathered in the Site Manangement section of Methuselah is appended to the Project Portfolio, which is the co-ordinating document for the monitoring process, and disseminated to wider stakeholders as described in the Project Portfolio section of Methuselah.

This information may also be used in the evaluation of the function and impacts of a greenspace and its contribution to policy objectives in the Impacts Appraisal section of Methuselah.