Conservation Trusts as Geographic Agents

Their Impact upon Landscape, Townscape and Land Use

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8964030
AutoresJohn Tunbridge (autor de correspondencia), J E Tunbridge
Año1981
Volumen6
Número1
Páginas103-103
Fecha de publicación1981-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2307/621975
OpenAlexW1964063029
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas6

The rapid growth of conservation trusts, in the conserving climate of the 1970s, is considered with respect to its impact upon the use and appearance of land in both rural and urban contexts. The paper focuses upon the role of three leading conservation trusts. The evolution, policy and land use of the National Trust are considered at length, with particular reference to its contribution to contemporary recreational patterns. The National Trust for Scotland and Heritage Canada are examined with reference principally to their innovative urban involvement. The significance of the trusts is seen to include their multi- plicity of indirect impacts, which result from interaction with and example to other relevant decision-makers. It is concluded that conservation trusts have now become a significant factor in the evolution of the form and function of the human environ- ment, and a greater academic and public awareness is needed of their status and the implications of their policies. Pertinent directions for geographical research are identified. Recent years have witnessed phenomenal growth in national conservation trusts, with respect to their membership, their activities and the area of land which they own or otherwise influence. Public concern for environment and heritage, which this growth reflects, is an inter- national phenomenon; the British trusts (among the oldest and most comprehensive private conservation movements) have now been joined by kindred organizations worldwide, many of which acknowledge inspiration from or interaction with their British counterparts. They include national trusts in the United States and many parts of the Commonwealth, such as the Australian states, Bermuda and Canada. After a decade of global concern for conservation it is timely to survey the geographical significance of these organizations and to identify pertinent research directions. This paper addresses the task with reference to three major examples of widely differing age: the National Trust' (of England, Wales and Northern Ireland-founded 1895), the National Trust for Scotland (1931) and Heritage Canada (1973). Key issues are discussed with respect to the National Trust and further themes are identified with respect to the significantly different approaches of the National Trust for Scotland and Heritage Canada. The content bears the mark of the author's experience2 but can fairly claim to present some international perspective. How far the issues considered are specific to temperate latitudes and advanced societies, rather than of truly global relevance, is a question which would merit further investigation. The primary geographical significance of conservation trusts, from the standpoint of this paper, lies in the visual impact of conservation and, more tangibly, in its associated land-use patterns (given that conservation is normally linked to a viable use beyond a purely 'museum

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