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integrate community services and promote schools as community-based multi-purpose facilities. This
approach will become increasingly important particularly for metropolitan Councils as infill development
and densities increase and land availability for new sport and recreation facilities becomes more difficult
to acquire.
The practicalities of implementing such a sharing arrangement, including an assessment of the costs,
benefits and the ability for this to be practically achieved, should be explored in subsequent stages of the
WARCCAP project. Further investigation is particularly important given the expected increases to
maintenance costs of open space in a drier changing climate.
8.4.
Climate Change Impacts and Implications for Open Space and Recreation
Key climate change impacts on open space and recreation include:
x
Episodic damage and longer deterioration to infrastructure and open space/recreation assets,
including loss of beaches/dunes, loss of asset functionality, and increased maintenance costs.
x
Loss of space through inundation and/or flooding, e.g. playing fields that increasingly serve as water
retention areas for flood mitigation.
x
Greater multiple use of open space to accommodate flood management, water retention, hazard
management, e.g. levies, coastal management activities.
x
Increased community use of open space and recreation facilities, as a result of population growth and
limited options for new open space supplies. This includes potentially greater utilisation of open
space and recreational facilities as a result of milder winters.
x
Changed sports activity regimes (night activities, postponements, reduced seasons) and
requirements to increase suitability of infrastructure (e.g lights, air conditioning, playing surfaces).
x
Health impacts (heatwaves, loss of opportunity to participate in activities, increased injuries).
x
Changes in biodiversity assets, including tree and other vegetation loss (associated with subsurface
drying, introduction of disease, increased heat and light intensity), invasive plants and animals,
x
Modifications to infrastructure to support changes in use of open space e.g. lighting, pathways, and
shaded areas.
The impact of loss/damage to beaches cannot be underestimated. The metropolitan coastline contains
beaches and recreational facilities of local, regional and metropolitan significance. Loss or damage to
these assets due to sea level rise may have a significant impact upon recreation, as well as infrastructure,
buildings and coastal ecosystems.
It is anticipated that adaptation options will range from minor changes to current management practices
(e.g. occupational health and safety policy addressing heatwave risks) through to major, transformational
changes (e.g. the acquisition of coastal land to allow active beach recreation areas to retreat inland as
erodible coasts recede in response to sea level rise).
The impact that climate change will have on the way people use open space in the Study Area is not well
understood. It would be beneficial to explore in closer detail through a behaviour analysis how the use
of open space and recreational facilities may change as a result of a generally warmer and dryer climate.
