Empirical analysis of green spaces to inform Development plans: A guide for practitioners
Green spaces are vital to any urban settlement. It serves various social, cultural, economic and ecological needs. Green space planning is integral to preparation of development plans and local area plans. However, the analysis of green spaces has largely been based on heuristics and thumb rules.
There is very little in terms empirical analysis that is accessible to planners and practitioners of urban planning. Fortunately, planners now have better access to spatial, network, ecological and demographic data, but lack understanding of methods to spatially analyze multi-layered data beyond map-making.
There is a need to explore appropriate methods to analyze existing and proposed green spaces in terms of the stated social, ecological and economic objectives of the plan-making process.
