Why It Matters
Open Green Space Access and Coverage
Summary
We have calculated the amount space within your Postal Sector that is covered by Open Green Space. By Open Green Space we’re referring to public places Londoners visit when time is on their side such as parks or commons, civic squares, playing fields preserved woodland, golf courses, playgounds and allotments.
Interpretation
We have measured several things to determine how much of your postcode is covered by Open Green Space:
| Dataset | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Open Green Space Coverage | This shows the percentage of postcodes within the ward which overlap with an area defined as Open Green Space. |
| Z-Score: Open Green Space Coverage | This shows you how many standard deviations above or below the mean the Open Green Space coverage value is for this postcode. |
| Distance to Nearest Open Green Space | This shows you the distance from the centre of your postcode to the nearest Open Green Space of any type |
| Z-Score: Distance to Nearest Open Space | This shows you how many standard deviations above or below the mean the Distance to Nearest Open Green Space values is for this postcode. |
| Open Green Space Accessibility Rating | This is a custom rating which indicates how well served your postcode is by Open Green Space. Postcodes which have Open Green Space within their boundaries have ‘Very Good Access’; Postcodes which have Open Green Space within 400m of their boundaries have ‘Good Access’; Postcodes which have Open Green Space between 400m and 800m of their boundaries have ‘Average Access’; Postcodes with no Open Green Space within 800m of their boundaries have ‘Poor/No Walk-able Access’. |
Definition
Open Green Spaces are outdoor spaces dominated by grassland, forest, garden or shrubbery which are open to the public in some form. Public Parks or Gardens, Religious grounds, Playing Fields, Play Spaces, Cemeteries, Area’s of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and Forests are generally open and freely accessible to the general public (although some may be closed at night time). Meanwhile Tennis courts, Golf Courses, Bowling Greens, and Other Sports Facilities generally ask for a one-off fee or a membership subscription and may sometimes have additional rules around dress code and conduct. Allotments or Community Growing Spaces are also open to the public in a more limited way. Sometimes community allotments are locked for all accept local residents, sometimes they are open to the general public, and other individual allotments are rented from the council by private individuals or groups who live locally.
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
As of the end of 2017 roughly 20% of London was 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.