People’s Parks : The design and development of public parks in Britain

Authors : Hazel Conway and Paul Rabbitts

Most of our urban parks had their origins in the 19th Century and in 1991 the late Hazel Conway’s People’s Parks; The design and development of public parks in Britain, published by Cambridge University Press, described the development of municipal public access for ‘rational recreation’ alongside burgeoning urban and industrial growth, which was often the model for similar developments overseas. During the Covid pandemic we were reminded forcefully of the importance of publicly accessible space for physical and mental wellbeing, following years of inadequate funding and the hiving off of many of these spaces to private management. Hazel’s original edition of the book is long out of print, and as a recognised classic, used copies command high prices.

With the approval of Hazel’s family, noted parks and landscape historian Paul Rabbitts has updated the book to include developments of the past century including the Garden Cities movement, the Garden Festivals of the 1980s, the London Olympics legacy and the impact of the Heritage Lottery Fund. He addresses questions about how parks will develop in future, and how the recent rediscovered enthusiasm may best be harnessed.

The revised and greatly expanded edition will be published in November 2023 and will be available through all book trade channels and distributed by Boydell & Brewer in the usual way.

Publication – November 2023

352 pages, 260 x 210mm, with over 400 historical and contemporary images, mostly in colour

ISBN 978-1-7398229-8-9 Hard cover £60 ($85)

ISBN 978-1-7398229-9-6 PDF Ebook £19.99 ($29.99)