The place-keeping group was delighted to co-host the FREE Rethinking Parks in Partnership conference on 28th January 2016 with Nesta.

It was a chance for practitioners to come and hear about the ideas tested, impact made and lessons for parks funding and sustainability as part of Nesta's recent Rethinking Parks programme.

Mel Burton's presentation discussed our ongoing project - Innovative Models of Contracting: Results of research across Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the UK. I then followed with the exciting launch of our Place-keeping Partnerships handbook, which is permanently available on this website. Lydia Ragoonanan from Nesta outlined the Rethinking Parks and lessons for sustainable funding models. The afternoon was full of workshops for delegates to find out more about partnerships and some of the Nesta-funded pilot projects. Plenary discussions, chaired by Peter Neal, covered recent insights and research to enable an opportunity for deeper learning and questions to occur with the teams directly involved in Rethinking Parks.