Spatial analysis and Immersive Open Spaces

About This Project

Cumberland City Council commissioned Mosaic Insights to undertake a review of open space provision, of allocation, access and facilities which included all open space areas and two golf courses.

Cumberland is a new local government area that is the result of the 2016 amalgamations in NSW. There are some legacy decisions in place but the new Council has delivered core integrated strategies that will impact on the open space management into the future. The new strategies include open space and recreation, biodiversity, culture, economic development.

The open space and recreation strategy identifies the current open space and facilities provision across the LGA and measured these against a set of standard benchmarks and provided a set of recommendations for improving open space. Council engaged Mosaic Insights to review these benchmarks and identify where and when to invest to provide for the population of the future.

Mosaic has used the current strategies and ambitions of Council to establish an evidence base for investment in open space. We started with the current state of Cumberland from the social, environmental and land use perspective and Cumberland’s place in the greater Sydney metropolitan area. Using spatial analytical tools like ArcGIS, we looked at the gaps in open space from an access perspective and prioritised areas of the LGA based on social and environmental need. We understood the areas ion greatest social and environmental need and the population currently impacted by a lack of access. We then overlaid a series of interventions that would address these access gaps. Interventions included program and policy based positions as well as physical an capital works.

We were able to prioritise interventions based on their modelled impact on communities – socially and ecologically from a land use and financial perspective. The final report provided a plan for investment in open space.