Open space methodology for a NSW Government precinct
Project: Homebush Transport Oriented Development Precinct, Public Domain Strategy
Client: NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI)
Produced at: Tyrrell Studio (2024)
My role: I prepared the full report under the direction and review of the principal landscape architect. I built the analytical drawings from GIS data, shapefiles and CAD in Adobe Illustrator, grounded in site visits and the precinct's background documents and other consultants' work and assembled the full document. Perspective visualisations were commissioned separately.
What the project was
This was a public domain strategy for a new high density precinct around Homebush in Sydney, Australia. The precinct needed to show it would provide enough usable public open space for a large new population, measured against a set benchmark, with the numbers open to challenge through public exhibition and government review.
Most of the work that mattered was not drawing parks. It was defining what counted as open space, applying that definition consistently across a real and complicated site, and producing totals that would hold up.
The method
The strategy uses a 15% minimum open space standard, in line with Government Architect NSW (GANSW) guidance. For a space to count toward that 15%, it had to meet criteria for quantity (size, shape, distribution), quality (site selection, amenity, accessibility, safety) and connectivity. Areas that were planted but not usable as recreational space were left out of the count.
Each space was then sorted into one of six types (Metropolitan, Regional, District, Local, Small, Linear), each with its own criteria and catchment distances.
District parks, for example, needed to be within 1.6km of all residences, and local parks within 400m. Every space was measured, classified and added into an area schedule that reconciled existing and new provision to a precinct total of 217,816 m², checked back against the benchmark.
[VISUAL, Open Space Hierarchy (p22): the six types mapped across the precinct. Caption: "Each open space sorted into a defined hierarchy."]
[VISUAL, Area Schedule (p48): the reconciliation table. Caption: "Existing and new open space measured, classified and reconciled to a total against the 15% standard."]
The data behind it
The work sat on top of government and environmental datasets: cadastral boundaries, the Powells Creek water system, rail and road infrastructure, tree canopy and the existing open space hierarchy. The job was to bring these together into one clear, usable set of plans without losing the detail that made them accurate.
Open space decisions were also tested against flood risk. Flood depth mapping, taken from a separate Flood Impact and Risk Assessment prepared by another consultant, helped decide where open space could reduce flooding and double as blue-green infrastructure.
[VISUAL, Flooding Overlay (p51): open space shown over flood depth bands. Caption: "Open space tested against mapped flood risk."]
Outcome
The strategy was published by the NSW Government and placed on public exhibition. The open space provision was defined against a clear standard, classified consistently and backed by a total that could be checked line by line.
How this relates to climate software
The structure here is close to how carbon and environmental accounting tools work: a standard sets what qualifies, criteria decide what is included or excluded and everything is measured and reconciled to a total that has to stand up to review. The data was open space rather than carbon, but the problem was the same.