Wealthy City: Rethinking Sheffield's Parks and Public Spaces

Al Oswald, Landscape Archaeologist at the University of Sheffield discusses the importance of the properly surveying and researching public spaces and parks, before any planning decisions are made.

John Ruskin; the Victorian art critic, social reformer and philanthropist said "The measure of any great civilisation is its cities and a measure of a city's greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces, its parks and squares". Clive Wilmer, fellow at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge has written extensively on Ruskin, and is the Master of Ruskin's charity, the Guild of St George. He delves into Ruskin's past, and describes his relationship with Sheffield.

Simon Ogden, Head of City Regeneration at Sheffield City Council discusses the inequality of public spaces in Sheffield, shares some success stories, and looks towards the future of public spaces and parks in the city.

Victoria Bradford Keegan from the National Trust shares the nationwide problem of local government funding cuts to public spaces and parks, and describes a novel scheme the National Trust is investigating to provide alternate resources.

Kate Genever discusses the relevance of Ruskin's essays to artists, and the construction of public spaces and parks today.

Carolyn Butterworth is an architect from the School of Architecture at University of Sheffield. Carolyn describes what informs her practice when working with public spaces, and shares some projects from Sheffield - the Peace Gardens and Castlegate redevelopments.

Professor Angie Hobbs from the University of Sheffield introduces the members of the panel, and describes some of the challenges involved with managing and maintaining the public spaces and parks in Sheffield today.