CV: Anne Beer -planning and regeneration of urban greenspaces

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Anne R. Beer

Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield
Town and Environmental Planner

email

anne.beer@btinternet.com

Webpages

http://www.map21ltd.com

Nationality

British - born 15 Dec 1941 - Inverness, Scotland

Academic and Professional Qualifications

BA (Geography), M.Civic Design (Town Planning), Dip.LA (Landscape Arch.), MRTPI

Occupation

 

Employment History:

Academic Posts

Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield (1997 -)
Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield (retired 1996)
Head of Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, 1981-84 and 1985-1994.
Initially appointed as Lecturer specialising in Environmental Planning in the Dept. of Landscape- 1974
Guest Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1984 to 1996.

Professional practice - Town and Environmental planner

Environmental Consultancy University of Sheffield (a founder and Director - 1984 - 1998)
Weddle Landscape Research - Associate, 1973 - 1980 (Research into children's play in housing areas)
Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall, Consultant Architects and Planners, 1972-1974. (New Town Landscape Planning).
Craigavon New Town Development Corporation, 1969-1972 (Landscape Planning).
Redditch New Town Corporation, 1965-1969 (District Planning).
Director - MAP21 Ltd.
MAP21 Ltd was a small environmental planning consultancy - specialising in greenspace planning and place making projects at the local community level, 1998 - to Aug 2006

Research: greenspace and environmental planning

Past research related to Urban Greenspace

Planning for Children's Play with special reference to Housing Areas (1976-78) and (1989-90) New edition of planning for play - online (2003)
Designing the External areas of Housing estates to support user needs (1979-1985)
Environmental planning and design as a means of ensuring effective environmental protection and sustainability in urban areas (1986-present)
Greenspace planning as a means of improving environmental quality of urban areas (1981-1986)
Planning external environments for children within residential environments (1972- 1992)
Design quality in residential areas (1976-1982)
A Case Study of Overvecht ( a District of Utrecht, NL)- an area of 680 hectares housing 30,000 people. Built 1965-1970 this area of mixed mainly high-rise slab blocks needs massive investment in its greenspace to bring them up to present day standards. ARB outlined effective approaches to the re-design and management of local greenspaces over the coming decade with regard to user needs (40% immigrant popn.), the need to enhance biodiversity and financial limiations (study period 2000-2002)

Present research

see also consultancy

* Urban Greenspace Regeneration - a Case study to develop an Internet based information system for managing the greenspaces of Stocksbridge District Sheffield - working for the Steel Valley Project (project completed 2006)

- aiding in the preparation of a report for Utrecht Cirty Council on questions of "liveability" as they realte to open and greespaces in a regeneration scheme for part of the city centre (published July 2003)

* Planning Urban Greenspaces - working since 1987 as part of a european network of researchers on the identification of effective planning tools to support ecologically sound urban development. ARB is a member of the european research team on Green Structure and Urban Design. Research group drawn from 13 countries and funded by the EU (2000 - 2004) European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research - (COST) Action C11. This group has met in nine differnt countries over the past 5 years. ARB makes and runs the website for the group and has written the Sheffield Case Study for the UK element of this research project. The COST C11 project is directly linked to another EU funded research group which is investigating : the communication of ideas about Greenspace between the users and the various professions involved.

This ongoing long term research has involved developing and testing a methodology which uses Urban Structure Zones as the local level units for a GIS - recording social, economic as well as environmental and greenspace data for each Zone . This approach allows an analysis of the wide range of environmental attributes involved in forming and supporting our urban greenspaces.


* More recently work has been undertaken with local community groups (voluntary sector) to develop techniques appropriate to the encouragement of Local Agenda 21 initiatives - mainly using Stocksbridge as a case study (ongoing). This includes the use of IT to facilitate user participation in community level regeneration initiatives in the voluntary sector- including the development of Local Agenda 21 initiatives (1998 - present)

Research Grants and Commissions

In the past research funding came from: the SSRC (1978-80), the Leverhulme Trust (1984), The Gulbenkian Foundation (1991) and the Countryside Commission (1994) as well as various University Funds.
MAP21 Ltd has undertaken urban environmental planning based research commissioned by: Sheffield Hallam University (1997-1999), Stocksbridge Training and Enterprise Partnership (1999), Development Trusts Association - Yorks & Humberside (2000-present), Sheffield University (2001) , Utrecht City Council (2001 and 2003), Steel Valley Project (2003-5).

Some publications related to green space planning and other urban greenspace issues

A.Manneke,
R.Hammel,
A.R.Beer,
A.van den Berg, P.Schildwach

2006 Leefkwaliteit voor het stationsgebied in Utrecht, Groen, Juni 2006, p24-29 (Summary of the study of livability undertaken for the area around the Station in Utrecht)

A.R.Beer and A. Jorgensen

2004

New approaches in Europe, Decent Homes, Decent Places, Improving the greenspaces for social housing, Peobody trust, 2004 (in press), p14-16

A.R.Beer and A. Jorgensen

2003

Greening Social Housing - the European prespective,Green Places, No.1, Dec. 2003, p19

A.R.Beer, T. Delshammar, P.Schildwacht

A changing understanding of the role of greenspace in high density housing and the need for urban greenstructure planning - a european perspective, Built Environment Vol 29 No 2 p132-143

A.van den Berg, A.R.Beer, R.Hammel, A.Manneke, P.Schildwacht

Leefkwaliteit - Stationsgebied Utrecht,Dienstdt Statsontwikkeling, Gemeente Utrecht, Utrecht, 2003, 97pp.
(Quality of life study for the redevelopment of the Station Area of Utrecht City Centre)

A.R.Beer

2002

The decline of the urban park in Britain: the impact of over twenty years of neglect on the quality of parks and greenspaces - in Danish journal -Stads & Havne ingenioeren May 2002 See web based version in english

A.R.Beer and P.A. Draper

2001

Innovative solutions from Denmark and Sweden to the design, management and maintenance of urban greenspace &endash; with particular reference to high density housing areas and local public greenspace (working paper Dept. of Landscape, University of Sheffield background data for: DTLR project : Improving Parks, Play Areas and Greenspace, 2002) See web-based version)

Anne.R. Beer

2001

Greenstructure Planning in Europe - aspects of developing an effective mechanism for the planning of urban greenspace, (working paper Dept. of Landscape, University of Sheffield background data for: DTLR project : Improving Parks, Play Areas and Greenspace, 2002)

A. R. Beer

second edition with Catherine Higgins

2000

Environmental Planning for Site Development - a manual for sustainable local planning and design (Second edition), E&FN Spon - Taylor & Francis, London, 352pp.

This book deals extensively with issues relating to greenspaces in urban areas -and in particular people's involvement with their local greenspaces ( see pages 141 to 211). Translated into Chinese 2002

Anne R. Beer

2000

Aspects of the link between urban nature and city planning in northern European Countries
( Workshop on the Flemish Long-Term Vision of Nature Conservation in Urban and Suburban areas - Brussels 7 Nov 2000)
english version

with Attwell K.

1999

Ecological Sustainability and Urban Greenspace, Danish Building Research Institute, Hoersholm, Denmark, 98pp.

1995 to 1998

no paper publications relating to greenspace but - see section on CD Roms and Internet below

A.R. Beer

1994

Urban greenspace and sustainability, in Sustainable Urban Development: Research and experiments, ed H.van der Vecht et al, Delft University Press, p 69-88.

1993

Landscape Planning and environmental sustainability, Town Planning Review, 64,4. v-xi.

1993

Amenity Trees, a european comparison, Environmental Consultancy University of Sheffield, 21pp

1992

Urban Design: the growing influence of environmental psychology, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11, 359-371

1991

Landscape planning for environmental protection in Kiemstedt H. ed., Beiträge zur räumlichen Planung, "The contribution of Landscape Planning to Environmental Protection" , Hannover University, 94-102.

with Gulinck H.

1991

Bijdrage van de Universiteiten to de Groenvoorziening in Steden en Gemeenten, Groenkontakt 91/2 , Bruges.

A.R.Beer

1990

Environmental Planning for Site Development, Spons - Chapman Hall, London, 304pp.

1987

Per un nuova approccio alla pianificazione del verde in Gran Bretagna, Urbanistica N. 86, Marzo 87, Milan, 49-57.

1987

Landscape Planning in Britain, Landscape Architecture and Landuse Planning 1987, American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington, 6-7.

1986

Landscape Planning as an aid to Land Use Planning, recent developments in the Netherlands. in Willis K.G. ed , Contemporary Issues in Town Planning, Gower, 112-129

Some Webpage and CD Rom based publications related to sustainable urban greenspaces

written and designed in digital formats by Beer Anne R. (1995 to present)

see:

http://www.map21ltd.com

i) Making-places in the urban environment, MAP21 Ltd (2003)
incorporating the earlier - Social Aspects of Housing Area Design, MAP21 Ltd (2000)
ii)
Planning for Children's Play in Housing Areas, MAP21 Ltd (online version of earlier reports-2003)
iii)
Sheffield's greenspaces, MAP21 Ltd prepared for COSTC11 (2003)
iv)
Overvecht District - an approach tosutainable greenspace planning (2000-2002)
v) Contemporary Housing Design (with Prof. I.Colquhoun -University of Humberside) (CDRom based - 1995).
vi)
Sheffield Greenspace Atlas, 2002
vii) Planning Sustainable Urban Environments, MAP21 Ltd (CD Rom based - 1998)
viii) A neighbourhood atlas for Netherthorpe - Sheffield, for Sheffield Hallam University (CD Rom based - 1997)
ix) Ecological Sustainability and Urban Green Space Ringkøping Seminar 1998, Danish Building Research Institute - SBI (2000-
http://www.arbeer.demon.co.uk/MAPweb/en_menu.htm )
x) Communication in Urban Planning Gothenburg Conference 1999, Chalmers University, Gothenburg (2000 -
http://www.arbeer.demon.co.uk/MAPweb/Goteb/index.htm
xii)
Connecticut Riverscape - the landscapes of a river a photographic essay prepared by Barrie Greenbie and presented here in his memory

Websites designed and managed by Map21 Ltd for community groups

http://www.broomhillonline.org.uk

updated: 11 Dec 2003