Finding the forgotten spaces: Using a social-ecological framework to map informal green space in Melbourne, Australia

Informal green spaces (IGS) are the overlooked and unplanned green spaces in our cities. They have been shown provide a potentially important social and ecological green space asset through contributing to ecological habitat and connectivity, as well as green space accessibility for urban residents. Despite their potential value to urban social-ecological systems, IGS are often overlooked and forgotten in urban planning policy. However, before we can think about how best to govern these spaces, we must first know where they are. This paper proposes a method to spatially locate IGS in a practical and resource sensitive way. We outline a method that uses an overlay analysis of open government data to map IGS at a high resolution and at a landscape scale based on key social-ecological characteristics. The method was applied to a case study in the City of Darebin, Melbourne, Australia, and evaluated through an onsite validation process. Results indicate that the method accurately predicted the location of IGS within the urban environment with an accuracy of 83%. This mapping method has several useful applications both within the Melbourne and Australian contexts, as well as potential application globally. These include enabling future research into how IGS contribute to urban social-ecological systems, as well as enabling land use decision makers seeking to better understand the abundance and nature of IGS sites they manage and how they may govern these spaces in a more informed way.