Hélène Draux is a PhD student from London Metropolitan University undertaking a research project about how people value green spaces in Portsmouth. Farlington Marshes is one of Portsmouth’s finest harbour locations and a local nature reserve and the latest Shoreline Management Plan is currently waiting for more information before deciding if it should be realigned or if the crumbling defences should be upgraded. The ecosystem that makes the marshes such a wildlife haven, particularly for birds, could be at serious risk.

Hélène has designed an online survey that will help the understanding of how people value the Farlington Marshes compared to the other open spaces in Portsmouth and what the citizens of the city would like to see being done for the Farlington Marshes. The online survey is based on Google Maps technology, which makes it easy to visualise the parks in Portsmouth and provide easy-to-understand information regarding flood risk in the area. If you are willing to share your own experiences of your use of parks in Portsmouth and how much they mean to you, please visit www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk to access the survey and some further explanation about the project. Participants will be presented with online maps of Portsmouth and asked to simply click on the map to designate certain responses, such as to indicate which open space is their favourite, where they think Portsmouth is at risk of flooding and which land use (e.g. residential, commercial, infrastructure) they think is most important to protect from flooding in the future.

“Portsmouth has really beautiful parks, but it is difficult to know which of them are the most important to the residents of Portsmouth. My survey is collecting this kind of information in an innovative way with online maps. So, are you more a Southsea Common, Milton Common or Farlington Marshes person?” Hélène.

If you are interested in taking part in the survey, please visit www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk or email h.draux@londonmet.ac.uk if you have any questions or comments.

Photos by Paul Gonella