"Green spaces are so important in a ward like Moss Side. More support is need to get residents involved but there’s lots of potential."
Moss Side resident
Mapping Moss Side’s green spaces
The Moss Side ward has some of the lowest access to greenspace in Manchester. In 2024 Sow the City delivered a project to map the existing greenspaces and consult with local people to develop a plan to green the neighbourhood. Our approach combined GIS (geographical information systems), almost 100 questionnaires with local people, interviews with stakeholders and a co-design workshop with 20 key stakeholders including MSV Housing, Manchester City Council, The Manchester Metropolitan University The University of Manchester.
Our Nature of Moss Side report is a catalyst for change, providing a detailed map of green spaces and recommendations for implementing and improving green spaces. The project was funded by Wates Family Enterprise Trust who are working accross the country to develop nature based neighbourhoods.
For our work we combined desk research and ecological phase 1 habitat surveys to identify and categorise all the publicly accessible green spaces in Moss Side, from grass verges and street trees to larger parks, we then mapped these spaces using Q-GIS software. We conducted community surveys to gain valuable insights into residents’ perspectives, concerns and combined these results to form 30 recommendations for greening the ward.
