Connecting people, spaces and places – a can of worms or a life time commitment?

Speaker: Ian Baggott

Margam Castle and parkland project, Port Talbot, Wales   Image CFP Landscape and Heritage

The talk will explore the changing role of urban green space professionals with respect to community engagement and how government policy has influenced this. Ian will explore what connection and engagement mean, what forms they might take, what levels there might be and why does it happen. Who leads, who facilitates and supports, who does and doesn’t get involved.

He will try to use examples from his 30 years’ experience in the sector including working with diverse and disconnected communities, contested landscapes and uncomfortable stories.

Ian Baggott is the MD of CFP, a Landscape and Heritage consultancy, which he set up over 20 years ago. Over that time the small and highly skilled team has delivered over 600 projects including almost 150 NLHF funded schemes. He has written national guidance, led national research, given evidence to parks enquiries and a parks APPG. He holds Fellowships of the Royal Society for Arts and the Royal Geographical Society, is an Associate Member of the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates, a collaborator with the Centre for Heritage Research and Training at Swansea University and has recently been a visiting lecturer at the Welsh School of Architecture.