DOI: 10.5061/dryad.x69p8czz3
title: Enabling effective urban green space stewardship through planning: A qualitative comparative analysis in Southwest England

description: Amid increasing urbanisation and biodiversity decline, ‘effective
 stewardship’ of urban green space (UGS) is a complex but critical
 nature-based solution for long-term environmental, social, and economic
 gain. In this study, we investigate which social and ecological conditions
 can enable effective stewardship in UGS sites, aiming to assist Local
 Governments in future-proof UGS planning. Through 138 on-site interviews,
 project meetings, online research, and biodiversity and landscape
 appraisals, we scored the likelihood of ongoing effective stewardship at
 25 UGS sites across Cornwall (England). These sites had been enhanced for
 people and wildlife through a local government-led project. We created
 this score by combining measures of inclusive volunteer activity at the
 site after completion of works (IND), local government maintenance budget
 for the site (BUD), biodiversity change at each site (BIO), and local
 people’s perception of site enhancement works (POS). Through Qualitative
 Comparative Analysis (QCA), we found five social/ecological conditions
 influenced the likelihood of ongoing effective stewardship after project
 end: pre-existing neighbourhood capacity (NCAP), pre-existing landscape
 quality (LQ), relations between residents and local government bodies
 (REL), change in sense-of-place from before to after enhancement works
 (SOP) and financial cost of enhancement works (FIN). This
 dataset brings together and summarises the anonymised qualitative
 and quantitative data used to inform QCA calibration and scoring (final
 scores are given in Appendices 9.1 and 9.2 of the published article). The
 aim of publishing these data is to encourage greater transparency of a
 predominantly qualitative process and provide an example of how this can
 be done. A careful balance has been sought between transparency and
 confidentiality needs.
description: # Enabling effective urban green space stewardship through planning: A
 qualitative comparative analysis in Southwest England Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.x69p8czz3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.x69p8czz3) ##
 Description of the data and file structure This dataset consists of a CSV
 spreadsheet (Combined__summarised_scoring_data_for_achive_21.10.25.csv) to
 supplement Appendices 9.1 and 9.2 of the published manuscript (final QCA
 scores). The 25 UGS sites are listed in column A. Columns B to L summarise
 anonymised qualitative and quantitative data on constituent factors used
 to score the output 'likelihood of ongoing effective
 stewardship' (IND, BUD, BIO, and POS). See below for acronym
 definitions. Columns M to O summarise anonymised qualitative and
 quantitative data for NCAP, columns P to W summarise data for LQ, columns
 X to Z summarise data for REL, columns AA to AF summarise data for SOP,
 and columns AG to AI summarise data for FIN. 138 on-site interviews were
 undertaken by the lead author across 25 urban green space sites across
 Cornwall (England) in summer 2022. Interview schedules are provided in
 Appendices 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, and 3.2 of the article (published supplementary
 data). Times and conditions of interviews are provided in Appendix 4, and
 socio-demographic data of interviewees in Appendix 5. Raw transcript data
 is not provided due to potential identification risk through combining
 these data. NVivo codes and references are provided in Appendix 7. Other
 research contributing to this dataset: Meetings with project staff and a
 biodiversity expert, plus online research into volunteer gardening group
 activity. Also, a custom-designed landscape appraisal of each site (see
 Appendix 6). A summary of data sources is provided in table form in
 Appendix 8 of the published manuscript, with the constituent scores used
 to undertake the QCA using the 'SetMethods' package in R in
 Appendices 9.1 and 9.2. R script and outputs are shown in Appendix 10. The
 Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) calculations were based on the Biodiversity
 Metric 2.0, with modifications for ornamental habitats such as perennial
 plantings, ornamental shrubs or mixed shrub and perennial plantings, which
 were given no condition score in the formal Metric 2.0, but were given a
 condition score based on their wildlife value in our assessments (based on
 proportion of pollinator friendly plants, those that provided resources
 for birds and if native or near native). ### Files and variables *
 Combined__summarised_scoring_data_for_achive_21.10.25.xlsx
 **Description:** Anonymised qualitative and quantitative data used to
 inform scoring for Qualitative Comparative Analysis ##### Variables |
 **IND** | **Level and inclusivity of independent volunteer stewardship at
 each site after urban green space enhancement works completed** | |
 :------ |
 :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | BUD | Is the maintenance budget sufficient to maintain biodiversity gain and positive perception of works at each site into the future? | | BIO | Biodiversity change from pre- to post- enhancement works | | POS | Level of positive perception of site enhancement works | | NCAP | Neighbourhood capacity (prior to enhancement works) | | LQ | Landscape quality (prior to enhancement works) | | REL | Relations between residents and local government bodies (e.g. council, contractors, police) | | SOP | Change in 'sense of place' from pre- to pos- enhancement works | | FIN | Financial cost of enhancement works at each site, relative to industry standard | Vol = Volunteer UoE = University of Exeter Ha = hectares Missing values shown as blank cells ## Code/software Microsoft Excel. Can also be saved as a .csv file to open in / be imported into other software. ## Access information Data was derived from the following sources: * MHCLG [Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government], 2019. *English indices of deprivation 2019.* Available at: [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019) (accessed 23/08/22). * ONS [Office for National Statistics], 2022. Local Area Report for areas in England and Wales. Available at: [https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?search=cornwall](https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?search=cornwall) (accessed 23/08/22). * MS4N [Making Space for Nature] Team, 2021. Making Space for Nature in Cornish Towns: Project Strategy. Cornwall Council, Truro, UK. Available at [www.cornwall.gov.uk/spacefornature](http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/spacefornature) (accessed 27/6/24). * Crosher, I., Gold, S., Heaver, M., Heydon, M., Moore, L., Panks, S., Scott, S., Stone, D. & White, N., 2019. The Biodiversity Metric 2.0: Auditing and accounting for biodiversity value: technical supplement (Beta version, July 2019). Natural England. [10.13140/RG.2.2.29888.69123](https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.29888.69123 "https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.29888.69123"). Associated tools for calculations available at: [https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5850908674228224](https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublications.naturalengland.org.uk%2Fpublication%2F5850908674228224&data=05%7C02%7Cfk300%40exeter.ac.uk%7C6a673c46769a43c2e0d408de0fe38363%7C912a5d77fb984eeeaf321334d8f04a53%7C0%7C0%7C638965666990091437%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2FAulWD%2BQIIMJC3glwZNUaKKzfa7wHj6cHOleaTKA2Yk%3D&reserved=0 "Original URL: https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5850908674228224. Click or tap if you trust this link.") (accessed 20.10.25). ## Note Please see the Supplementary Information (Appendices) attached to the published article for more details and context. These appendices are referred to in column headings (row 2) in this dataset. | Appendix 2.1    Excerpt from the Local Government mail-drop questionnaire | | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Appendix 2.2     Excerpt from the University of Exeter (UoE) maildrop questionnaire | | Appendix 3.1     Interview schedule for site users  | | Appendix 3.2     Interview schedule for volunteer stewards / gardeners | | Appendix 3.3     Participant information sheet and consent form  | | Appendix 4        Fieldwork summary | | Appendix 5        Socio-demographics of interview participants | | Appendix 6        Landscape appraisal template | | Appendix 7        NVivo thematic coding sheet | | Appendix 8        Data sources | | Appendix 9.1    Constituent scores for the outcome ‘likelihood of ongoing effective stewardship’ | | Appendix 9.2    Outcome and condition scores as imported into R package ‘SetMethods’ | | Appendix 10      R script and outputs for the QCA using the 'SetMethods' package |