Why It Matters Open Space
Summary
We have calculated the amount of “Public Open Space” (as defined in the London Plan), in your area. By Public Open Space we’re referring to those public open places Londoners visit when time is on their side such as parks or commons, civic squares, playing fields preserved woodland, golf courses, riverside trails and allotments.
Interpretation
We have measured several things to determine how much open space is available in your neighbourhood:
| Dataset | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Standard Deviation (% proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space) | We have also calculated the percentage of your community that is able to make use of and thus deem a Public Open Space as “accessible”, (with all distances measured as the crow flies): 1.Regional Parks such as Richmond Park or Epping Forest become accessible if they are within 5KM of a residence. 2. Metropolitan Parks such as Hyde Park or Greenwich Park are accessible if they are within 3KM of residence. 3.District Parks such as Weavers Fields in Bethnal Green or Canons Park in Harrow are accessible if they are within 1 KM of residence. 4.Smaller parks are only classified as accessible where they are within 400 metres of a residence. |
| Quartile of % of residents with access to Open Space | This shows you which quartile your % of residents with access to Open Space score falls within. |
| % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space | We have calculated the percentage of your neighbourhood that can be classified as Public Open Space. |
| Quartile % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space | This shows you which quartile your % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space score falls within. |
| Mean % of residents with access to Open Space | This shows you the London-wide average (mean) % of residents with access to Open Space. |
| Mean % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space | This shows you the London-wide average (mean) % of each neighbourhood that is Open Space. |
| Standard Deviation (% of residents with access to Open Space) | This tells you how far away the typical/average % of residents with access to Open Space value is from the mean. |
| Standard Deviation (% proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space) | This tells you how far away the typical/average % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space value is from the mean. |
| Z-score (% of residents with access to Open Space) | This shows you how many standard deviations above or below the mean the % of residents with access to Open Space value is. |
| Z-score (% proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space) | This shows you how many standard deviations above or below the mean the % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space value is. |
| Harmonised Walulel Accessible Open Space Score | We have also calculated a composite indicator that lets you know both how much of your neighbourhood can be classed as Open Space and how accessible that open space is. We have rescaled the results to ease interpretation so that a score of above 50 represents the mean. |
| Average Harmonised Walulel Accessible Open Space Score | This is the median Harmonised Walulel Accessible Open Space Score across London. |
| % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents | We have also calculated the percentage of your neighbourhood that can be deemed as Public Open Space that is accessible. i.e. how much of proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space is actually accessible. |
| Quartile % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents | This shows you which quartile your % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents score falls within. |
| Average % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents | The is the London-wide Average (mean) % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents. |
| Standard Deviation (% of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents) | This tells you how far away the typical/average % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents value, is from the mean. |
| Average % of Open Space Available as Parks | This shows you the London-wide average (mean) % of each neighbourhood % of Open Space Available as Parks. |
| Standard Deviation (% of Open Space Available as Parks) | This tells you how far away the typical/average (% of Open Space Available as Parks value is from the mean. |
| Z-score (% of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents) | This shows you how many standard deviations above or below the mean the % of Neighbourhood Public Open Space that is Easily Accessible to Residents value is. |
| Harmonised Walulel Accessible Park Space Score | We have also calculated a composite indicator that lets you know both how much of your neighbourhood can be classed as easily accessible park space. We have rescaled the results to ease interpretation so that a score of above 50 represents the mean. |
| Average Harmonised Walulel Accessible Park Space Score | This is the median Harmonised Walulel Accessible Park Space Score across London. |
| PO Z-score (% of Open Space Available as Parks) | This shows you how many standard deviations above or below the mean the % proportion of neighbourhood that is Open Space value is. |
Definition
By Public Open Space we’re referring to those public open places Londoners visit when time is on their side such as parks or commons, civic squares, playing fields preserved woodland, golf courses, riverside trails and allotments. If a lawyer were to ask however we’d define Public Open Space as space that offers opportunities for games (i.e. tennis, football, cricket etc), recreation or is of amenity value.
It includes land, as well as areas of water such as rivers, canals, lakes and docks. Public Open Space is inclusive of open space, whether publicly or privately owned, and where public access is partially restricted. Private residential gardens and shrub beds and verges are excluded from the definition of Public Open Space.
Richmond Park is London’s largest Royal Park and a nationally and internationally important place for wildlife conservation (Photograph: Peter O’Connor, Wikimedia Commons)
Why the metric matters from a commercial inhabitant’s perspective
The relative amount of Public Open Space accessible within a given area matters for commercial inhabitants, traditionally for two reasons. Firstly, a well maintained and accessible public environment has been shown to improve comparable trading revenues by 20-40% due to it having the power to attract more people into a given area. As Public Open Space is often a destination for urbanites in and of itself, it has been shown to engender consumer buying behaviours commonly associated with the leisure and entertainment sectors.
Secondly, for commercial inhabitants, Public Open Space, unless situated within a designated commercial zone such as is the case with Soho Square or Canada Square in Canary Wharf, is likely to prevent a business without a considerable pull factor for consumers from being able to benefit from the agglomeration benefits that clusters of business located in proximity often enjoy.
Why the metric matters from a residential inhabitant’s perspective
Public Open Spaces must be considered as a fundamental building block of any successful built environment. In neighbourhoods with above average levels of access to Public Open Space, there is a good body of evidence to show that said Public Open Space improves residents’ aptitude physical activities, provides an opportunity for social interaction and serves various other functions that improve the quality of life in cities such as reducing perceived stress levels. Aside from the benefits to overall wellbeing and health, access to Public Open Space has two further effects, namely that it often provides an uplift in the value of houses who benefit from being walkable proximate to the park or from the visual amenity Public Open Space affords those who overlook it.
Secondly, so long as planning policy seeks to protect and promote Public Open Space, it will remain as a protective factor that will commonly frustrate any nearby (re)development that is likely to inhibit the utility of a Public Open Space.
General commentary
Not without exception, as a general rule, the percentage of residents with access to Public Open Space in a given area is normally proportional to the distance an area is from central London. The theory follows that as the price of land decreases as in line with one’s distance from central London, it becomes more politically and economically permissible to dedicate land towards non-productive, but environmentally and socially beneficial uses. The proportion of land a community or city enshrines as Public Open Space is largely the product of historic local political decisions.
As mentioned, in London, planning policy obliges planning authorities to promote and protect Public Open Spaces, as repeated studies have shown that the benefits such spaces the local community and the local environment outweigh the economic and social cost of their upkeep. Whilst the value an individual may place on Public Open Space differs and is largely impossible to truly measure the value uplift to residences proximate to Public Open Space can be taken as evidence of Londoners’ preference to live near, or overlooking Public Open Spaces.
Quite uniquely in comparison to the other aspects of neighbourhoods we measure, Public Open Space is an aspect of the urban living that doesn’t change much over time, that is to say its supply is largely fixed as when London is considered as a whole. Therefore as the supply Public Open Space is not often something that is subject to net increases, when the opportunities to live proximate to, or overlooking it are also largely fixed.
Due to inflexible nature of Public Open Space, sub-cultures often form within their vicinity as is evidence by the numerous outdoor leisure activities, al fresco leisure activities and other social action that takes place near Public Open Spaces. These sub-cultures often then end up being associated with a given Public Open Space and have been shown to impact on people’s perceptions of a Public Open Space and therefore influence the type of people that are drawn to particular Public Open Spaces.
Beyond seeking out the highest possible level of Public Open Space we do not advise making any further conclusions as to what a Public Open Space score alone tells us about a neighbourhood. That being said, Public Open Space scores are useful for benchmarking and comparing areas with each other. They are also a useful indicator for other factors such as healthiness and activeness of a community.
Trivia
Did you know that as at the end of 2017 roughly 20% of London is Public Open Space. Epping Forest is the largest Public Open Space in London, with nearly 6,000 acres of space.
History
In overcrowded Victorian London, Public Open Space, especially parks as provided by the then new municipalities and rich philanthropists were seen as a way of improving health and reducing public discontent. The relatively rare Public Open Spaces of London were added to, mostly in the form of physical recreation and sporting spaces as authorities in the 1930s and 1940s wanted to enhance the physical and moral welfare of the young, in order to make them “fit to fight”.
It was at the turn of the Millennium after several government mandated studies that policy makers began to recognise that well-managed Public Open Spaces improve the attractiveness of urban areas and help promote healthier life styles hence they became something that London’s governmental authorities now seek to protect and promote.