Human Settlements
Page 19
Open Space
Open space plays an important role in meeting people’s passive and active
recreational and sporting needs, and in providing opportunities for relaxation,
community interaction, health and fitness. It also provides a sense of place and
space for children’s play and social development.
In addition to these key benefits, open space also provides for:
•
Conservation and biodiversity corridors
•
Amenity and aesthetic value to the urban environment
•
Stormwater management (such as retention and detention facilities)
•
Transport and access through pedestrian and cycle linkages and networks
•
Tourism through the development of appropriate designations for
recreation designed to attract visitors to the Council area, or through
conservation or ‘eco-tourism’, and
•
Buffers along main roads and/or industrial interfaces
Map 1 (page 73) shows the distribution of open space within the City.
Condition indicator:
Percentage of open space provision
The mandatorily required public open space provision for new residential urban
development in South Australia is 12.5% of the overall land division. There is
debate as to whether this requirement should be reviewed and increased, given
the State’s preference for higher density housing that will result in less
private
open space being available to the community and other purposes.
There currently exists 469 hectares of ‘passive use’ open space (including
wetlands), and 193 hectares of ‘active use’ open space (including golf courses)
available within the Council area (PAE, 2010).
There is future potential to increase open space provision within the Council,
due to the State Government’s closure of 12 local schools as part of a facilities
consolidation program. This would make available approximately 111.29
hectares of developable land, 20 hectares of which may be provided for open
space in due course.
Pressures on the availability of open space are increasingly apparent due to
public open space also being required to incorporate uses such as stormwater
retention and detention facilities. This function of open space has risen as
existing stormwater infrastructure struggles to cope with increased surface
water runoff due to urban areas becoming increasingly impermeable and
therefore generating greater volumes of stormwater.
The increasing trend towards using public open space for stormwater
management is occurring in parallel with increased residential densities
(therefore increasing population demand for recreation and social use on the
community land provided).
