The role of privately owned sports related green spaces in urban ecological frameworks

An ecological framework seeks to maintain ecological processes in the wider landscape and to conserve ecosystems, habitats, species, genetic diversity, and landscapes of importance. As greater attention is paid to ecological frameworks and in particular to such frameworks within an urban setting, then an understanding of the landscape ecology of sports related open spaces and their position within the wider ecological setting of a city requires attention. In this chapter we focus on golf courses and in particular address questions relating to their historic development and their contemporary role in urban ecosystems. The exploration of these issues will be based on a case study centred on a new golf course development constructed in the 1990s at the Marriott Worsley Park, Salford UK. In this case study the historic development of Salford is outlined and the development of the Marriott Worsley Park is discussed in detail. Contemporary land use data are presented in order to understand the spatial importance of sports and open space within the city. This analysis leads to suggestions for the inclusion of sports space, and in particular golf courses within urban ecological frameworks