This week has seen not one, not two, but five programmes on BBC Radio about the importance of parks in the urban environment.

Every afternoon this week, historian Tristram Hunt has featured five key parks; looking at the architects, horticulturalists and benefactors whose preoccupation with the quality of life in the city resulted in such gems as Derby Arboretum and Birkenhead Park still being available to the community today.

The 15-minute Parkmasters programmes – available on the BBC's "listen again" feature at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain underline the ISPAL view that Victorian parks have a key role to play in 21st Century Britain.