Land use-based stakeholders mapping for natural heritage preservation – Case study: Hampstead Heath Ponds, London

Abstract

Hampstead Heath as a natural heritage site in the middle of London plays a significant role in the English ancient landscape and retains some essential elements of historical features such as geology, vegetation and animal species, and the early water reservoir and source to fulfil the needs of people since hundreds of years ago. This study examines the spatial distribution of buildings as a tangible aspect of stakeholders’ settling places by applying spatial analysis, constituting proximity analysis and nearest neighbour analysis. The spatial data were collected from some sources such as OpenStreetMap, london.gov.uk, English Heritage, ArcGIS open data, and observation on the site. The results indicate that Hampstead No. 1 Pond was the pond with the densest buildings around, other than unnamed small ponds. The spatial distribution of buildings around the Hampstead Heath ponds was clustered with a Nearest Neighbour Ratio of 0.471575 and z-score of − 27.611095. The observation results of seven ponds supported the evidence of Hampstead No. 1 as the most visited pond and Highgate No. 1 in second place. In contrast, Bird Sanctuary was the most sustainable pond with nihil buildings and the fewest visitors identified. The urban heritage-led framework highlights that each actor plays a role and key impact on the entire system, divided into three sub-systems: economic, urban heritage environment, and socio-political. It is suggested that related stakeholders anticipate potential conflict caused by the commercial pressure from commercial actors such as Property Developers and Business Owners on this heritage site in the future. Involvement of stakeholders, communication, and regulatory systems can be possible actions to suppress this pressure as part of the heritage management system.