Bristol Parkhive

Bristol Parkhive is a Bristol Green Capital Project - this app has been produced in celebration of Bristol’s achievement of the accolade of ‘European Green Capital City 2015’ - the first UK city to do so.

The Bristol Parkhive app will continue to be updated by Bristol Parks Forum, & the team who have created it welcome your feedback and updates to any of the information that is included. New photographs of Bristol’s Parks and Green Spaces can be uploaded via http://bristolparkhive.tumblr.com, and updates to the information included can be emailed to updates@bristolparkhive.com. Please help us to continue to celebrate the wide range of parks and green spaces that we have in the city through and beyond this European Green Capital Year.

The Bristol Parkhive app aims to encourage residents and visitors to the city to explore and enjoy Bristol’s well-known, and also it’s lesser known parks and green spaces. It also aims to celebrate the work of the thousands of volunteers who are members of ‘Friends of’ and ‘Action Groups’ working with Bristol City Council and other partners to improve and maintain parks and green spaces in the city for the en-joyment of everyone. Links to community parks group websites are available for the spaces where the-se exist; for those which do not currently have individual groups, Bristol Parks Forum aims to represent the interests of all of Bristol’s Parks and Green Spaces. If you would like to join, or start a ‘Friends of’ or ‘Action Group’ for your local Park or Green Space - please get in touch through www.bristolparksforum.org.uk

- Parkhive showcases Bristol’s beautiful and varied parks and green spaces - highlighting unique features, identifying locations and providing information about facilities, access and travel to them.

- Parkhive offers residents and visitors to the city access to information to encourage users to explore new areas of the city, to discover and enjoy Bristol’s extensive range of Parks and Green Spaces in all areas of the city.

- Parkhive uses GPS to identify the parks and green spaces nearest to the user and enables searches by specific characteristic e.g ‘my nearest park/green space’ with ‘marked walking and running routes’ or a ‘children’s play area.’ It also provides information about travel to the site, facilities available to visitors and details of a wide range of characteristics including:

- BBQ, Cafe, Cycling Trails, Disabled Facilities, Formal Gardens, Historic Features, Nature Reserve or Wildlife, Parking, Picnic Benches, Children's Play Areas, Running Trails, Sports Facilities, Toilets, Public Transport, Views, Walking Trails, and Water Features.

- Parkhive allows users to locate parks and green spaces in all of the city’s neighbourhoods, and find out about events happening in parks and green spaces near them throughout the year.

- Parkhive provides information about out how to become a friend of your nearest park and provides links to the local parks groups website for further local information. Where a local Friends groups does not exist for a particular park or green space, Bristol’s Parks Forum - the umbrella organisation which provides a ‘voice’ for community and volunteer-led parks and ‘Friends of’ groups across Bristol - seeks to represent these also. If you would like to start a Friends group for your local park or green space, please get in touch via www.bristolparksforum.org.uk

- Parkhive also offers users the opportunity to contribute to the Bristol Parkhive photo archive; a crowd-sourced digital photo archive of all the city’s Parks and Green Spaces, and the opportunity to share information about parks and green spaces you discover via social media.

The Bristol Parkhive app has been produced through collaboration between Bristol Parks Forum and the University of the West of England’s Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education. The app has been co-created by UWE students, Bristol Parks Forum volunteers and Calvium.