Connectivity of public open space: its meaning for different functions

ABSTRACT

Melbourne, Australia’s fastest growing city, developed more rapidly to its south and east than to the north and west. This presents planning challenges where differences in the meaning of connectivity have emerged. To the north and west, there are demands to subdivide undeveloped land for housing, but there are also demands for connected public open space (POS). This paper defines connectivity in relation to its function and measured unimpeded connected POS for travel by foot, wheelchair, skateboard, scooter, rollerblades or bicycle. Distances ranged from 0.5 to 20 km. Connectivity was measured as distance travelled without retracing the course in the same direction.

Acknowledgments

Dr E Moore, linguist, is thanked both for her assistance in structuring this paper and for her many helpful suggestions on its content. The contributions of Mr J Morton, Dr K Smith and Mr S Thorpe in developing the paper and improving understanding of the topic are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.