'The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation'
Bertrand Russell
Related Projects
Contested Common Land: Environmental Governance, Law and Sustainable Land Management, c. 1600-2006
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Start project |
2007-02-01 |
End project |
2010-05-31 |
Main topic |
Common land in England and Wales, which is an important communal resource with multiple (and often conflicting) land uses. It provides some of the UK’s most ecologically sensitive environments and landscapes, it is an important agricultural resource (especially in upland areas) and a recreational resource that provides public access to the countryside for walking and other recreational uses. |
Description of project |
This inter-disciplinary project, involving collaboration between historians from Lancaster University and environmental lawyers in Newcastle Law School, examined:
The methodology centered on the study of common land in four case study areas, using a micro-historical approach to illustrate the changing patterns of land use, differing management principles and regulatory mechanisms applied to common land from c. 1600 to the present day. The research married archival evidence with qualitative data generated by semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the four case study areas, which were in the following locations:
The project took has contributed to ongoing policy discussions surrounding the future management of common land in England and Wales. Modern farming methods, intense recreational use and other land use pressures have resulted in the ecological degradation of much common land. The United Kingdoms Commons Act 2006 has introduced a new legal framework for the governance of common land, aimed at improving environmental governance and the protection of both the biodiversity and landscape values of common land. The Act is based on a self-regulatory model, which introduces measures enabling commoners to establish statutory commoners associations with legal powers to pass binding bylaws regulating land use on each common, and to enter into binding agreements with governmental agencies to promote sustainable management.
Commoners, land managers, voluntary groups and the public agencies responsible for the governance of common land were involved in the project through the process of qualitative data collection and through participation in seminars for stakeholders held in the concluding phase of the research project. |
Activities |
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Participants |
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Funding body |
Arts and Humanities Research Council, funded as a large research grant under the ‘Landscape and Environment’ programme. |
Co-ordinator |
Prof. dr. Christopher P. Rodgers (Newcastle Law School) |
Contact details |
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Links to project |
AgendA
24-26 February 2021
online
Workshop
7th International Workshop on the Sharing Economy
25 March 2021
online
Webinar
Commons and the power of food communities
by Stadslandbouw Nederland
1 April 2021
online
Seminar
Brussel Solvay
by Coline Serres
More info to follow
25-26 April 2017
Utrecht
Conference
SOSCO
International
Conference
'Sovereignty, Contestation
and "the Economy"'