ABSTRACT
Green space is increasingly a global concern, attracting discussion and research across the world. In Europe, the Americas and Asia, as well as Africa there is debate about the provision of urban green space and its impacts.1 At the same time, most of the study of green space in non-Western cities has been done by social scientists and ecologists, much less by historians. We know relatively little about the development of city green spaces over time and the comparative historical trajectories of parks, allotments, sports areas and other types of green space across the world. When, where and why did city parks evolve in and outside Europe? What was the pattern of diffusion of sports areas and other types of green space? And how were Western models modified on the ground in the Middle East and Asia? No less important we need to know much more about the factors behind the historic evolution of urban green space. What was the impact of urbanisation and colonisation? What was the role of the international planning movements? How has globalisation shaped the pattern of urban green spaces?
