# Designer’s Handbook: ‘Cooling the commons’ design patterns

## Table of Contents

1. Shade
2. Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
3. Community Governance
4. Caring for Trees
5. Managing On-Site Water
6. Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
7. Signage
8. Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
9. Site Planning for Coolth
10. Outdoor Play Areas
11. Patchwork for Accessible Coolth
12. Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
13. Additional Patterns

## Shade

Type: Remedial
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Site Planning for Coolth
- Caring for Trees
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Succession Tree Planting

### About this pattern

Quality shade is an important civic resource and is critical to human thermal comfort (Bloch, 2019). Shade is often, however, unevenly distributed across the city, with tree canopy roughly proportional to household wealth (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018). Shade structures are needed to provide immediate cool / protection from the sun in environments (such as linkages, nodes or even building interiors), where trees are absent or immature.

While shade needs to be considered as an integral part of the planning phase, it is identified here as a remedial pattern as there are many existing hot environments, particularly away from coastal settlements, where the addition of shade could vastly improve comfort, accessibility and use.

### About this pattern

Shade can be fixed or dynamic, natural or artificial, hot or cool, permanent, temporary or worn. There are also many different qualities of shade: type, density, distance from ground and colour matter. Jacobs et al. (2018) at University of Technology Sydney for instance monitored climate adapted bus shelters and found a significant decrease in radiated heat from the ceiling of these structures, largely thanks to the insulated roof panels. Bick (2018), found blue shade sails provided the most effective shade in a study looking at the reduction of light intensity under different coloured shade sails. Shade from sails, however, was not found to be as effective as shade provided by awnings or natural tree canopy.

### About this pattern

Trees provide the coolest and most amenable shade, so preserving mature trees wherever possible is a critical first step. Trees provide critical cooling infrastructure in cities and removing them, even if they are replaced, represents a loss potentially of decades of shade, amenity and habitat. In Stuttgart, tree preservation orders protect city trees that have reached a certain circumference from removal.

In areas of urban growth, however, shade needs to be factored back into environments from which trees have already been removed and ‘meanwhile shade’ will be required.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Strong community support for accessible shade.
- Various cooling and liveability city plans (e.g. Penrith City Council, 2015; Parramatta Ways Walking Strategy, 2017) and academic research (Mellick Lopes et al 2016; Mellick Lopes et al 2019) signal shade as a key consideration to enhance community cooling and urban walkability.
- Increasing urban heat due to climate change and rising incidents of skin cancer in Australia are conditions informing the need for shade. An ameliorating factor might be the increase of non-European migrants whose skin types are more suited to the Australian sun. Trees can be slow growing; therefore, other shade measures need to be sought.
- Cancer Council Shade Guidelines and promotion of climate defensive clothing including hats.
- Guide to Conducting a Shade Audit.
- Sun Smart policy has good traction in educational institutions.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints:

- Limitations on planting new trees, shade structures and green façades for climbing vines include: available space in the street scape; the types of soil troughs required for planting; potential conflict with underground or overground utilities, and wheelchair access.
- Different trees provide different quality shade.
- Not all shade is equal – the shade provided by a city building in an otherwise treeless environment, or by other people at a crowded, uncovered bus stop, will not cool! The material covering the ground and surrounds will influence the quality of the shade.
- Some colours are hotter than others. There is a need for community education around the thermal and reflective properties of colour.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: depending on where shade is installed it might enhance access for public users, building users, animals seeking refuge from direct sun.
- Use: pedestrians, cyclists, building users, park users, animals.
- Benefit: all; the lifespans of some materials and finishes might also be improved with the protection of shade.
- Care: performed by local government for public spaces; building owner for private spaces; could be a community of commoners for living shade or temporary structures.
- Responsibility: all users; community might be tasked with keeping an eye out for problems with shade structures and informing local government or building owners.
- Ownership: local government or building owners.

An important commoning concern is the ways in which shade can obscure visibility. For example, a covered park might inhibit the view of the night sky. Temporary shade to shield the sun during the day and open up to the sky at night could be explored.

## Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Site Planning for Coolth
- Endangered Ecological Forests
- Succession Tree Planting
- Private Garden Trees
- Street Plaza Trees
- Establishing Site Forests
- Managing On-Site Water
- Caring for Trees

### About this pattern

Selecting shade trees need to be considered in accordance with the broadscale context and associated site dynamics related to the detailed qualities of individual trees.

Broadscale context: trees grown in groves, rows and shelterbelts (see the pattern ESTABLISHING SITE FORESTS) have important microflora that connect all trees through fungal hyphae in the soil. Care must therefore be taken of root systems under canopy.

Details of individual tree species include canopy types and tree shapes. Canopy shape determines the most effective shading.

### About this pattern

Suitable Round-topped trees

- Evergreen (native)
- Brush Box; Moreton Bay fig; Bunya pine (Araucaria Bidwillii); Tallowwood (Euc microcorys); Plum pine (Podocarpus elatus).
- Deciduous (exotic)
- Plane tree; English oak.

Suitable Horizontal Canopy Trees

- Evergreen
- River red gum (Euc camaldulensis); Spotted gum (Corymbia maculata); Mugga Ironbark (Euc sideroxylon); Lacebark (Brachychiton discolor).
- Deciduous
- Golden rain tree (Kolreuteria paniculata); Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia); Chinese Tallowwood (Sapium).

### About this pattern

Suitable Pyramidal Tree

- Evergreen
- River She-oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana); NZ Kauri (Agathis Australis);
- Silky oak (Grevillea robusta); Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera)
- Deciduous
- Golden cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa); Golden Lawson cypress (Chamaecyparis Sp); Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara).

Suitable Open Canopy Tree

- Evergreen
- Lemon-scented gum (Corymbia citriodora); Scribbly gum (Euc haemastoma; Narrow-leafed ironbark (Euc crebra); Smooth-barked apple (Angophora costata); Cotton tree Hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus);
- Narrow-leafed paperbark (Melaleuca linariifolia).

### About this pattern

The quality of Shade depends on trees’ attributes including leaf area; high branching density; multiple canopy layers; canopy transmissivity; canopy size and projection; canopy ventilation.

Size Matters: One strategically placed large tree has more impact on an urban heat island than same quantity of smaller trees. The bigger the tree the greater the benefits (see the pattern STREET TREES & PLAZA TREES).

### About this pattern

Siting

Shade trees in public open space can be situated beside paths, around gathering spaces and can shade play equipment, as long as they have deep soil and have minimal intrusion into crown projection.

How much soil does a tree need?

Small trees ( under 7 metres in height) need 36m3 ; medium trees (between 7 –15 metres) need 38m3 ; large trees (above 15 metres) need 39m3. Studies in the US and Canada indicated that most critical soil volumes fit into the 2 cubic feet/ per ft2 of crown projection, although the observation is general and not a hard and fast rule (see Grabosky, Bassuk & Trowbridge, 2002).

Dripline and Structural Root Zone For stability, tree roots must be protected within the dripline of the canopy (the Tree Protection Zone or TPZ) as well in the Structural Root Zone (SRZ) around the base of the tree.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- City of Sydney Urban Forest Strategy: The City has analysed the amount of canopy cover required and set targets to increase the average total canopy cover by 50% by 2030 and by 75% by 2050. This will increase the canopy cover percentages from the current 15.5% coverage to 23% by 2030 and 27% by 2050. Other Local Government Authorities have Urban Forest Strategies.

Constraints:

- Trees selected for shade need the correct growing conditions including preferred soil type, irrigation, fertilizer, monitoring for insect pests and canopy management (see the pattern CARING FOR TREES).

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: General access except for protected TRZs under canopy.
- Use: Shade; carbon capture; wildlife habitat; people’s comfort.
- Benefit: Environmental amelioration.
- Care: Local Government; Body Corporate; arboriculturist; community.
- Responsibility: Local Government is responsible for trees in parks; Roads, Maritime Services are responsible for street trees; AUSGRID is responsible for pruning street trees.
- Ownership: Body Corporate of Building Owners.

## Community Governance

Type: Ideal
Stage: Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Ways of Welcoming
- Post-occupancy Learning

### About this pattern

A key to producing place-based coolth will be a community of commoners who are prepared to initiate action and maintain the social and physical infrastructure that supports this action. Such a group will need a mode of organization and governance that is suited to this task. This could take the form of a registered non-profit organisation/ governing body, set up by elected representatives from within the residential community. In general, this body is voluntary, it enjoys autonomy and it does not have statutory powers over ownership, tenancy and so on.

### About this pattern

This form of community governance will enable the concerns of the residential neighbourhood or community/ housing complex to be addressed. These concerns can include:

1. Management, maintenance and upkeep of common areas and facilities, including other cool commons.
2. Communication about cool places and cool/shaded times for different locations in the local area throughout the year.
3. Individual initiatives such as recycling, composting, community gardens, pedestrian infrastructure, shared playgrounds, upgrading of parks, signage and so on.
4. Orientation and spreading awareness of neighbourhood concerns within the membership, and connecting the neighbourhood to local governance mechanisms.
5. Arranging regular meetings, gatherings, cultural events, fundraising and so on.
6. Connecting with other community organizations concerned with local amenity, for instance Bushcare groups, service associations, churches, mosques or temples.

### About this pattern

More broadly, community governance can be integrated with strategic activities like a social enterprise lab where ideas are pitched for new ways to sustainably enhance commoning and to put new ideas into the public domain, or activities to promote the membership of other community-led groups – The Seniors Hub in Waverton NSW for instance provides a good hybrid model for interests groups, it assists with aging in place run and is by volunteers but supported by the local council (see references and resources).

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Community members who are already active, are usually a place to start with putting community governance in place.
- Community building techniques such as Asset Based Community Development have stood the test of time as a means by which communities can identify success and build on their strengths; these kind of practices can be useful for healthy and productive community governance processes.

Constraints

- Ongoing process of engagement require sustained interest and leadership from within the local community.
- Getting participation from a broad range of diverse residents.
- Handover process and succession patterns have to be clearly identified and set up.

### Commoning Concerns

Community governance as a mechanism for commoning practice

- Access: Free access to all meetings and programmes, but decision-making power may rest with elected representatives
- Use: Community benefit decisions and activities
- Benefit: provide ongoing, adaptive solutions to community living
- Care: Residents’ community
- Ownership: non-profit or public ownership

Community governance organisations needs to involve constant efforts to strengthen practices and inclusiveness. This is because governance is a lived (and not static) phenomena. If governance is not strengthening, it is likely that it will be weakening.

## Caring for Trees

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning, Post-occupancy, Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Keyline Planning for Healthy Trees
- Managing On-Site Water
- Establishing Site Forests
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space

### About this pattern

For the first five years after a project delivery, the development organisation and residents are responsible for existing public trees and new ones, after which local government authorities take over caring for them. Those first five years are vitally important if the trees, planted and existing, are to be healthy and long-lived. During this time, the community and development organisation can establish policies and strategies for site trees, so that local government can continue with the foundational tree management afterwards, including the on-going appointment of a respected arboriculturalist.

Often people are afraid of big trees in public spaces or private gardens because they may drop branches or fall on cars or houses in severe storms. This can be addressed by consistent arboriculture care (for instance visit the Arboriculture Australia website in resources section). Trees can be encouraged to grow in particular shapes to remain amenable to social commoning. There are various stages to caring for trees so that branches do not fall, and trees remain healthy.

### About this pattern

First, trees need deep friable soil, air and water. For trees in open space, start with the Keyline method of preparing planting areas (see the KEYLINE pattern). This will ensure healthy soil and water for good growth. Tree planting in streets and public space need adequate areas and depth of soil (see the pattern SELECTING SHADE TREES FOR PUBLIC OPEN SPACE)

Second, check and manage trees for insect pests Providing the proper cultural care in accordance with climate and needs of a tree species is the best way to prevent insect infestations. Eucalyptus trees, for instance, appreciate supplemental irrigation during prolonged dry spells and experts at the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program suggest watering eucalyptus plants once a month with a drip hose until the top 12 inches of soil become moistened and performing maintenance pruning when pests are waiting out the winter season, in order to avoid attracting insects into freshly cut wood tissue (see Kelsey [n.d.] in the references below).

Third, prune and maintain branch and trunk health to keep structural soundness to withstand storms and strong winds. This can include reducing the weight of the canopy by selectively pruning the ends of the branches.

### About this pattern

Cable and brace where branches need more support or have been damaged. Cabling keeps tree branches from splitting at their junction. This involves attaching various types of cables to stronger branches, the trunk, the ground or other anchors. Cabling can also be used to support unusually long limbs or reinforce weak-wooded species.

Dynamic Cabling (or ‘Cobra’) allows the limbs to sway, putting less stress on trunk and branches. Thus, tree continues to produce reaction wood (special cells) in response to wind or other stresses. Dynamic systems generally use synthetic ropes instead of cables, and they usually wrap rubber around the branches being supported, rather than relying on metal hardware that has been screwed into the tree. Cobra**system is a dynamic tree support system specially designed to be flexible and shock-absorbing with different benefits:

- Gentle to trees, self-adjusting to the diameter growth of tree, requires practically no tools, and incorporates a shock-absorbing unit;
- Avoids defective growth, the ‘karate effect’, abrasion and constriction, wounding;
- Encourages trees to grow reaction wood.

### About this pattern

Cobra system components include cobra rope, anti-friction hose, expansion insert, shock absorbers (Arbor Culture Pty Ltd, n.d.)

Crown thinning and lifting allows more sunlight to pass and air to flow through the canopy. This is done by removing some secondary branches. Crown lifting raises the height of the crown and allows more space underneath for lawns and gardens.

Good Arboriculturalists can undertake these procedures and maintain your trees with annual inspections.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Undergrounding powerlines means trees can grow full mature form. Streets can become signature avenues.
- Assisting local government to lobby for TAFE course on Arboriculture.
- Establishing a caring for trees community group is a positive step.
- Tree care gives opportunities for residents and children to learn to be ‘citizen scientists’ by monitoring specific trees (see Australian Citizen Science Association in the resources section).

Constraints:

- On-going cooperation with local government during and beyond the five-year period.
- Protocols required to prevent storage or emerging structures within canopy drip-line.

### Commoning Concerns

Canopy Trees are one of the most effective ways to cool commons. ‘Cool commons’ are spaces and places offering cooler temperatures than surrounding areas. Such commons are used by, and are accessible to, a community of commoners who, to some degree, care for, take responsibility for, and benefit from this coolness.

- Access: Unrestricted access and involvement; restricted when undergoing care
- Use: Recreation, Biodiversity, wildlife corridors
- Benefit: Environmental benefit, carbon capture, amenity of public space
- Care: Developer; Local Government; Body Corporate; community; arboriculture consultancy.
- Responsibility: Developer; Local Government; Body Corporate; community.
- Ownership: Body Corporate; community.

## Managing On-Site Water

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Site Planning for Coolth
- Caring for Trees
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Keyline Planning for Healthy Trees

### About this pattern

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is a form of water management for on-site storm water and runoff. It involves capturing and storing stormwater, reducing water consumption and impact on local water systems, and improving water quality. This is achieved using grassed or landscaped swales, infiltration trenches and bio-retention systems, gross pollutant traps, wetlands, sediment ponds, rainwater tanks for storm water harvesting and as cooling devices, rain gardens, rooftop greening and urban forests, porous pavements, aquifer recharge and reuse.

Rain gardens and bioswales are vegetated depressions located on gradients. Their main function is the retention and infiltration of stormwater. Acting as a filter for runoff from permeable surfaces, they reduce pollutants which enter storm systems. They are a way to manage bioretention areas by capturing and holding roof and road runoff but will not maintain optimal drainage rates if soils become compacted, it is therefore important to minimize foot traffic in this area, except walking for maintenance. Regular applications of mulch maximize the swale’s ability to capture and break down contaminants. Rain garden plantings should not be fertilized to prevent excess nutrients run-off.

### About this pattern

Structural soils are an engineered soil mix designed to allow three functions: reduce pavement heaving and breakage; improve stormwater infiltration; and improve tree growth. Structural soils can also improve stormwater infiltration if covered with a porous paving material (see Seattle Green Factor (2008 p.4) for more information). Stormwater planters are containers designed to capture and either retain or filtrate stormwater, based on their design. The amount and frequency of water captured depends on storm events, so they should be populated with a variety of plants adapted to both wet and dry conditions. Visually, they can be striking landscape features providing a high functional value.

Properly designed soil conditions are required to achieve stormwater infiltration and increased plant growth. Deep soil is considered to be that which is penetrating to base rock and water table. In planters, soil depth should be a minimum of 600mm for shrubs and ground covers and minimum of one metre for small trees.

For improving water efficiency: rain sensors fitted to irrigation systems can reduce water use; amalgamated planter beds will improve efficiency of irrigation systems and mulch in garden beds reduces water evaporation from soils.

### About this pattern

Permeable Paving

Permeable paving allows sites to infiltrate stormwater in a way similar to natural systems. Permeable pavements also restrict non-point source pollution from entering surface water bodies, which helps keep creeks and streams clean. Permeable pavements also contribute towards healthier plantings because root systems are aerated. Permeable asphalt can be used in some cases to replace traditional asphalt and allow for infiltration of stormwater.

Permeable concrete can be used in place of impervious concrete in many non-driving situations. Its use in parking lots can help reduce the amount of stormwater runoff and non-point source pollution.

Instead of pavers, the top layer can be either 150mm of Permeable Asphalt or 150mm of Permeable Concrete, layered over 150mm of Open Graded Aggregate, layered over Geotextile on the existing subgrade.

### About this pattern

Irrigation

An integrated irrigation system must suit site the condition and the requirements of the landscape. Efficient irrigation systems include: rainwater storage tanks; appropriate species selection; soil depth and soil quality to help minimise watering requirements and use of recycled water. TANKLESS Underground Rainwater Storage is one means to collect quality surface rainwater.

### About this pattern

Using Storm Water for Wetlands and Water Features

On-site storm water management can ideally finish in wetlands and water features.

- Wetlands contribute important wildlife habitats and pleasant recreation areas.
- Water features can add interest to paved public spaces. Their wide range of design styles and possible functional attributes can make them useful elements for cooling and aesthetics. Water features can also be engineered to clean & aerate water as well as recycle it.

Sustainable Sydney 2030 targets include 10% of the City’s water to come from recycled sources and a 50% reduction in the pollution being discharged into waterways. Within landscaped areas, Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) provides the means to achieve these targets.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Local & State Government legislative requirements regarding on-site water management, such as Local Environment Plans requiring on-site roof water storage for irrigation, and State Environment Plans requiring site by site water pollution controls for river catchments.

Constraints:

- Any water feature should use roof runoff or on-site stormwater for at least 50% of its annual flow.
- Urban water features will require child safety considerations.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Controlled in private developments; general access in public space.
- Use: Water storage, irrigation, amenity, wildlife habitat.
- Benefit: Reduced water pollution, flooding, cooling public space.
- Care: Individual property owners, Local Government, community.
- Responsibility: Individual property owners, Local Government, Body Corporate.
- Ownership: Individual property owners, Body Corporate of estate.

## Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Site Planning for Coolth
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Managing On-Site Water

### About this pattern

It is possible to manipulate the shape of a site to create sheltered cool pockets and areas for respite or pathways.

Cool slopes are commons that provide coolth for people walking or running through a community or seeking respite around the community. They would typically have the greatest benefit either side of midday. Open space that slopes to creeks or lakes is ideal for the insertion of cool features such as cool banks, shade trees, grass mounds and paths.

To create these cool commons, site planning should map the pre-development landform and slopes to take advantage of existing contours; sun (e.g. southern sides), wind and rainfall patterns; soil types and drainage.

This requires a fine grain analysis of site contours, so that the existing site gets regraded to create these pockets of coolth where practical. The resultant mounding can be used to contain services such as underground rainwater storage tanks.

Successful application of this pattern will yield complete shade for when the pocket is most commonly used.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Local Environment Plans developed by local government require areas of open space for common recreational use.
- Integrating cool slopes, mounds or pockets within the ground modelling can add to the amenity. Innovative approaches can be explored in community workshops to enable civic participation in the design of cool slopes.

Constraints:

- Open space has to allow for multiple recreation uses. Open space planning often allocates flat land, so playing fields become the dominant use. This precludes ground remodelling in an open space context.
- Mounding will have to be created with consideration of ecological and hydrological impacts.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: High consideration of accessibility for all abilities should be considered when applying cool slopes, and wherever possible the principles of Universal Design applied.
- Use: Passive recreation, integration into play spaces, urban design features, active transport pathways.
- Benefit: Increased amenity in public open space and improved walkability due to increased shade and cooler spaces.
- Care: Minimal care would be required by the community as the landowners would likely maintain this common as part of the broader open space maintenance.
- Responsibility: The landowner would have ultimate responsibility, but the community would be required to use the common in a responsible manner.
- Ownership: Local government, development agency.

Staging of construction activities at strategic locations may be required to sustain access to cool commons through the development process and beyond.

## Signage

Type: Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Heat Preparedness Plan
- Street Parties & Fêtes
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Memorial Walkway
- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- The Night-time Commons
- Establishing Site Forests
- Caring for Trees
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Outdoor Cooking
- Bushcare Groups

### About this pattern

Signage of all kinds, physical and digital provides an important orienting and way finding role in public life, thus supporting ways of commoning. Signage can be a temporary measure to provide an induction into the careful and appropriate use of a place, or to tell stories in order to enrich the experience of a place. Signs can also work in the other way as forms of punitive resistance to commoning, such as declaring private zones in an otherwise open /continuous environment, amplifying risks and dangers, or rendering place-based social practices illegal, such as congregating, fishing, walking, picnicking, climbing, camping and bird feeding.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- City of Sydney regulations make mixed provisions that can support commoning for a short-term period. “While commercial bill posters are illegal, signage posted by community members to advertise garage sales, find missing pets or to promote local fetes are not in breach of these laws.” However, there is a one-week limit.

Constraints

- State Environmental Planning Policy regulates signage and provides time-limited consents.
- Risk management protocols favour signs that amplify risks and deter use.
- Signage can be visually unappealing and can seem to stand in for poor design.
- Signage can be easy to ignore.
- Physical signage can disrupt airflow and be a hazard in high wind.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Those who can see and understand the sign.
- Use: Resident community, visitors.
- Benefit: Resident community, visitors, potentially animals and habitats, distributions of material resources .
- Care: Depending on the nature of the sign, care could fall to Local Government Authority, resident community or both.
- Responsibility: All users, Local Government Authority.
- Ownership: Depending on the nature of the sign, owners could be Local Government Authority, resident community or both.

A commoning concern is digital accessibility to support online signage through digital maps, apps and wayfinding tools.

The language and tone of voice with which a sign speaks can have an impact on accessibility. Signage is a limited measure that needs to be supported by social evidence – for example people using a space quietly will be more influential than a sign saying ‘quiet zone’; equally a ‘no swimming’ sign will be overridden by people swimming in a water fountain. This raises a question regarding signs: not what agency does the sign have, but rather when does a sign have agency?

## Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space

Type: Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Community Governance
- Multi-Use Community Centre
- Street Parties & Fêtes
- The Night-time Commons
- Community Library
- Post-occupancy Learning
- Signage

### About this pattern

Temporary or ‘meanwhile’ use of outdoor public unused space or private space earmarked for future development, can provide opportunities for site activation which reduces urban heat island effect, through greening activities or through providing public access to private cool spaces. Examples include pop-up uses such as shops or markets that use cool materials or urban gardens. Existing car parks or vacant lots can provide a platform for improved local cooling, with interventions reducing the amount of impermeable low albedo hardscape.

### About this pattern

Citizens as urban co-producers

Precedents for occupying urban spaces with temporary projects include the Paris-based Atelier d’Architecture Autogeree. Their “ECOboxes” (pictured) are installed in different neighbourhoods as temporary platforms for participatory gardening and a mix of other social and cultural activities. Activities include workshops, talks, screenings, preparing and sharing meals. Another example is R-Urban, which is a network of closed local ecologies where participants only consume what is produced. Temporary urban gardening can encourage local capacity building and encourage new forms of collaborative governance. For example, in Brisbane, a community negotiated the right to develop a yam plantation (pictured) on unused land for a three-year period, agreeing to cover all costs including relevant insurances. The whole community was involved in the preparation, cultivation and harvesting of the crop which was then distributed among the community and to charity groups. When the land was needed by the governing institution, a new plantation was created temporarily elsewhere (Armstrong, 2016, p. 72).

### About this pattern

The measure of success for this pattern includes reducing the ambient and surface temperature of unused land by increasing the quantum of permeable or shaded surfaces; the longevity of the access negotiated to maximise the temporary use, and the social and community return on investment generated during the term.

This pattern does not include temporary use of buildings as Cooling Refuges (see separate pattern).

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Landowners wanting to maintain asset values during the construction phase of staged precincts through activation and placemaking, with the ability to provide temporary use development applications (or similar) to facilitate meanwhile uses for a term period.
- Community liaison officers and community representatives can actively encourage citizens in their neighbourhood to initiate new activities, and function as brokers for temporary use.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints:

- Temporary use implies collaborative governance arrangements, which may need to be negotiated if not already in place and can take time.
- Protocols for temporary use will need to be worked out by the partners involved, to establish procedures and divisions of responsibility. These protocols, like the spaces themselves, will need to be adaptable and open to renegotiation as circumstances change. A temporary use handbook, provided as part of a “welcome orientation”, would support residents to understand protocols.
- Temporary use equipment and resources will need to be stored and managed. This might involve negotiating arrangements with local businesses, the local library or community centre.
- Political and logistical challenges may emerge, should a community desire to transition from temporary to permanent use.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Unrestricted access. The inclusion of newly arrived residents will need to be facilitated, and the space should maximise opportunity for Universal Design principles.
- Use: The commoning community would negotiate any uses that facilitate the reduction in surface and ambient temperature, while improving public access to sites that are not being utilised or are currently inaccessible.
- Benefit: Community capacity building; convivial sociality directed into potentially positive new social practices.
- Care: Community groups, body corporates, or other governance mechanisms utilised. For this common, the landowner would likely not provide any maintenance.
- Responsibility: Community groups, body corporate, site visitors or contractors engaged by the commoning community.
- Ownership: Developers or local government.

For some members of a community, for example shift workers, noise might be a commoning concern. A protocol of inclusiveness around planning events that may impact on others could address this concern.

## Site Planning for Coolth

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Keyline Planning for Healthy Trees
- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Managing On-Site Water
- Caring for Trees
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space

### About this pattern

Cool Winds

- Site planning for coolth requires mapping prevailing winds; cool winds in summer and cold winds in winter.
- Using tree planting to direct cool winds and block cold winds, can create turbulence on both sides of solid barriers. This contrasts with open canopy and open fencing, where the wind can pass through without turbulence. Groves of trees, rather than rows, effectively channel prevailing winds and achieve greatest density of canopy when species are mixed.
  - Canopy Density is increased when trees are crowded; crown branching changes with crowding, providing shorter primary branches and more than twice the volume of other branches. The branching is flatter and crown volume is bigger.

### About this pattern

Sun/Shade

- Site planning for coolth also requires a sun/shade analysis for 9.00am, 12.00pm, 4.00pm throughout winter & summer.
- Winter sunlight is best achieved with deciduous trees. The quality of shade depends on trees’ attributes including leaf area; high branch density; multiple canopy layers; canopy transmissivity; canopy size and projection and canopy ventilation.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Channelling summer winds to cool open space can reduce temperatures & humidity. Blocking winter winds facilitates warmth;
- Summer shade is increasingly essential, as is winter sun.

Constraints:

- Tree management to achieve healthy growth and arboriculture care to prevent falling branches is essential.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: open access for public open space; wheelchair access under trees in groves is a dilemma, as it will inhibit soil and root health.
- Use: recreation, wildlife corridors, shelter, carbon capture, O2/CO2.
- Benefit: human comfort, environmental contribution.
- Care: essential arboriculture, irrigation, fertilization.
- Responsibility: Local Government, Corporate Body of Building owners, communities.
- Ownership: Corporate Body of Building owners.

## Outdoor Play Areas

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Memorial Walkway
- The Night-time Commons
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Sensory Devices for Parks
- Mobile Play Van

### About this pattern

Outdoor play areas provide resources and space for children and adults to play, rest and socialise. Playgrounds should provide less structured, natural materials and resources to stimulate the imagination and encourage creative play. Objects that can be moved and creatively adapted generate more engagement and creativity amongst users. Accessible playgrounds and those that include sensory features, such as plants that smell or feel interesting, ensure access for users of different ages and abilities. Playgrounds should provide several different areas for children and adults to group as well as to run and move.

Outdoor play areas should be well shaded for access on warm days and allow for sunlight in winter. Unshaded artificial surfaces can get excessively hot during summer and should be avoided. In addition, adequate infrastructures of care should be made available – for instance water drinking fountains, seating to rest and accessible toilets. Outdoor play areas should be centrally located and there should be enough of them in a given area for locals to access easily on foot.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Planning for ongoing maintenance and management costs, including maintaining play structures as well as seasonal garden management. In New South Wales the government led initiative Everyone Can Play (https://everyonecanplay.nsw.gov.au/) provides guidelines for playground accessibility.
- For adaptable shade cover allowing summer coolth and winter sunlight, deciduous trees and screens should be considered where appropriate.
- Designing for accessibility ensures that all community members can make use of a playground space, including children and adults, people with mobility restrictions, visual impairments and so on.
- Designing for passive (e.g. sitting) and active (e.g. running, climbing, bike riding) recreational activities makes playgrounds useful for a broader range of users and in a range of heat conditions.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints

- All playgrounds must meet Australian Standards (https://www.kidsafensw.org/playground-safety/playground-standards/)
- Play areas that do not provide shade will have limited use on sunny days; similarly, dense shade will limit use in cool seasons.

### Commoning Concerns

- Ownership: Local Government; the community of users.
- Access: For all people if designed for maximum accessibility.
- Use: Active and passive play by children and adults.
- Benefit: Gives children access to ‘natural’ outdoor space to play; encourages creative play and collaboration among all age groups.
- Care: Local Government generally has formal authority; local communities, however, play an important role in ongoing careful use and can also be responsible for or engaged in periodic maintenance (if they feel a sense of ownership).

One commoning concern is providing shaded seating for carers, who may often be grandparents; another is encouraging a sense of ownership among locals and other users.

## Patchwork for Accessible Coolth

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Site Planning for Coolth
- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Gathering Outdoors
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Accessible Clean Water for Recreation
- Multi-Use Community Centre

### About this pattern

‘Cool commons’ are spaces and places that offer cooler temperatures than surrounding areas. This pattern is concerned with how patchworks of places/spaces can provide more accessibility.

Patchwork for accessible coolth is a pattern of scattered spaces, forms or services accessible to pedestrians; it is low-rise and integrated within neighbourhoods, enabling a spectrum of fine differentiation. This pattern suggests an alternative to continuous blocks of development, or enclosed shopping centres.

### About this pattern

Examples of built form and space types that could be patchworked include:

- Patchwork green in a city
- Patchwork of social corners
- Cooling refuges
- Aged care
- Pocket parks
- Water play
- Shops

The accessibility of these places/spaces relates to the way people move through them comfortably and how they know where they are going. Patchwork analyses look at the fine grain, working closely with the diverse ways people use urban space. Three ways of considering patchworks (permeability & legibility; movement and responsive environments) are offered here.

### About this pattern

Accessibility equals permeability & legibility

Permeability is both physical and visual in the way it allows people to pass through; it entails both private and public interfaces and provides variety in the choice of movement. Legibility exists where the places/spaces have understandable forms such as edges, nodes, paths, districts and landmarks (see Lynch 1960).

Movement through patchwork involves a kind of serial vision, whereby elements of an environment – buildings, trees, nature, water – can be interwoven in such a way that causes anticipation to occur (see Cullen 1961). We experience places in sequence, as the existing view and the emerging view simultaneously. Examples of these spaces are:

- Enclaves, enclosure;
- Focal points, precincts; hereness and thereness;
- Silhouette, incident;
- Undulation, fluctuation;
- Recession, anticipation, mystery.

### About this pattern

Responsive Environments provide users with a democratic setting, enriched by the degree of choice available (see Bentley et al 1985). Criteria for evaluating responsive places include:

- Permeability: where people can go;
- Variety: the range of uses a place can have;
- Legibility: how people understand the place;
- Robustness: how people can use a place for different purposes;
- Visual appropriateness: the visual codes;
- Richness or the choice of sensory experiences;
- Personalization: people put their own stamp on places.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Planning codes that prevent amalgamated sites, control density, maintain diversity of use.
- Open space guidelines which designate the sizes of infill parks based on standard recreational uses.
- Strategies that favour urban walkability, like Parramatta Ways or reimagine city roads as pedestrian linkages.

Constraints

- Patterns of planning that favour densification and centralisation of services.

### Commoning Concerns

Various elements in these patchworks code the commons that are used by, and are accessible to, a community of commoners who, to some degree, care for, take responsibility for, and benefit from this coolness.

- Access: Unrestricted.
- Use: Community identity.
- Benefit: Sense of place.
- Care: State and Local Government, private owners.
- Ownership: Private/public ownership.

## Shaded Pedestrian Linkage

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

### About this pattern

Pedestrian areas should be designed and created to maximise the use of outdoor space and encourage active transport (walking, running, cycling) around the local area. A network of active transport links to local amenities including parks, shops and public transport should be designed for safe shared use (i.e. concurrent walking and cycling). The fastest and most accessible walking and cycling routes should be signposted so that they are easy to find and navigate. There also needs to be a method for people to report observed problems. Trees that provide dense shade should be planted along pedestrian links so that it is comfortable for people of diverse abilities to travel locally on foot or by other means. Temporary shade structures should be used to provide shade while trees grow. Accessible “infrastructures of care” including shelter, seating, access to municipal drinking water and universal toilets are essential to support pedestrians.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Ensure that new developments do not break up transport links. Consider how public streets and transport links will be maintained over time, including maintaining shared footpaths, signage and shade cover.
- Clean signage indicating best and safest routes to key locations will encourage use and provide contact details and an invitation to people to care for the shared amenity by reporting problems.

Constraints:

- Limited amenities to support comfortable and safe mobility such as shade, drinking water and places to rest will limit use of public streets. Personal safety concerns may limit use.

### Commoning Concerns

Public street as commons

- Access: Access for all, including people, personal mobility vehicles (bicycles, strollers), animals (particularly dogs).
- Use: For transiting the local neighbourhood, including between houses and to nodes such as transport and local shops.
- Benefit: Encourage active transport and discourage car use in the local area; provide open space and shade for users.
- Care: Local government will have formal responsibility; engaged local communities will use transit spaces carefully and take part in reporting issues and ongoing maintenance as required.
- Ownership: Local government, except in the case of private roads.

### Commoning Concerns

Commoning concerns include the ways that users interact and negotiate use of shared transport zones (for instance in shared cycling and walking zones, pedestrian crossings and other places where active transport and car users intersect). Traffic calming devices and clearly signposted crossings make local streets safer and ensure that cars give way to pedestrians.

The provision of shade can inhibit visibility, leading to perceptions that a place may be unsafe. Encouraging collective walking will address personal safety concerns, particularly at night.

## Additional Patterns

## Pedestrian Linkages – Cycle Club

Type: Ideal
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Web Of Public Transportation – Destination Shuttle
- Community Governance
- Signage

### About this pattern

Bicycles are a low impact means of transportation, particularly for trips under 5km distance. They are an important, cost-effective means of reducing traffic density and promoting healthy exercise. Community-based cycling groups should be formed to promote cycling as a means of transport. For instance, Bike Marrickville is a volunteer-run group of residents promoting cycling and improving the local environment. Local groups can be affiliated with Bicycle New South Wales, the peak body organisation for the promotion of cycling and cycling safety.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- The development of safe cycling infrastructures, marked lanes, separated pathways, adequate signage, laws that protect cyclists and their access to roadways. Digital platforms have made safe route planning far easier in Sydney. (http://www.sydneycycleways.net/map/)

Constraints

- Cycling infrastructure and signage remains limited in Western Sydney in particular. Some areas are totally unsafe for cycling. The cultural climate and practices of motorists can make cycling unsafe.
- Lack of storage and shower facilities can limit the ability to use cycling as an alternative form of commute transport.
- Cycling may not be advisable during heat emergencies and also at times when bushfires bring smoke into cities.

### Commoning Concerns

Cycle Club as social commons/transit

- Access: Open to cyclists/commuters.
- Use: Transportation and recreation, conviviality.
- Benefit: Exercise, safety, reduced fossil fuel emissions, reduced congestion.
- Care: Community based organisations.
- Ownership: Community residents.

Promoting access to cycling means challenging existing patterns of development, transportation and infrastructure as well as cultural norms around transportation and comfort at work. Cycling culture can be gender and class exclusionary—its accessibility to women, low-income or disabled populations would also require sustained advocacy and facilitation from cycling advocates/organisations.

## Pedestrian Linkages – Walking School Bus

Type: Ideal
Stage: Post-occupancy, Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Street Plaza Trees
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Accessible Clean Water for Recreation
- Misting Devices for Cooling Outdoor Space
- Community Governance
- Signage

### About this pattern

The walking school bus concept originated in Japan, but was popularised initially in Australia. Programs now exist throughout the world that organise groups of students travelling together on foot to school or other destinations, under the supervision of staff and volunteers. The walking school bus is seen by policy makers and local authorities as a way to promote safe exercise and conviviality, and to reduce traffic choke points associated with the school commute.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- There are many online resources that can be used to develop walking school bus programs.
- The efficacy of these programs can be greatly improved by the development of policy guidelines that attend to both the safety and walkability of local environments.
- Brightly coloured jackets for the children are a good idea.

Constraints

- Walking school buses may not be advisable in areas where traffic patterns and the built environment preclude safe pedestrian pathways.
- Programs may not be advisable during heat emergencies or other adverse weather events.

### Commoning Concerns

Walking school bus as social commons

- Ownership: Participants (state and federal government).
- Access: Open to participating families that have organised a walking school bus program.
- Use: Safe and convivial walking transportation to and from school or other destinations.
- Benefit: Transportation, exercise, safe and convivial transport to and from school and reduced traffic congestion around school sites.
- Care: Distributed among parents and volunteers participating the walking school bus program.
- Responsibility: There are significant concerns around the question of responsibility: how to keep children safe during these activities and who bears this responsibility (in New South Wales this lies with participating parents and caregivers).

## Private Garden Trees

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning, Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Site Planning for Coolth
- Caring for Trees
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space

### About this pattern

Trees that people love, create special places. Private trees have personal meanings to the people who planted them. They are often planted for their colour, flowers, & shape (see the pattern SELECTING SHADE TREES). Trees need care such as watering, pruning and checking for insect attacks (see the pattern CARING FOR TREES).

Often people are afraid of big trees in private gardens because they may drop branches or fall on houses in severe storms. But trees are living beings so selecting the tree(s) for a garden will depend on how much space and deep soil is available. Site planning for private garden trees also requires mapping the prevailing winds so that garden trees and shrubs can channel cool breezes and screen winter winds. Also, where garden tree(s) are placed will depend on their purpose; that is, whether it is to shade the house and garden, provide privacy or to be a personal garden feature. It is a good idea to therefore map garden areas that are shaded in summer & are sunny in winter (see the pattern SITE PLANNING FOR COOLTH).

### About this pattern

Using trees to make special places

Garden trees can create special spaces for children; the spreading fig for instance can make an outdoor room and is easy to climb. Pairs of columnar trees like small poplars can make a gateway to separate one garden space from another. A weeping garden tree, such as white cedar or Golden Robinia can also create a shady nook for reading on a comfortable garden seat.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Private trees personalise individual houses and are driven by people’s needs and aesthetic taste. Cooling shade and winter sun improve comfort within private homes.

Constraints:

- Some Local Government Authorities have Tree Preservation Orders which require permission to fell garden trees.
- Current Urban Growth Release developments do not have enough garden area or soil to support shade trees.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: private and shared where trees overhang fencing or cross demarcated private/public zones
- Use: Shade, aesthetics, children’s play, wildlife habitats & corridors, food production.
- Benefit: Emotional well-being, climate amelioration, carbon capture, benefits for bird life, outdoor coolth that allows people to reduce their indoor use of air conditioning.
- Care, Responsibility and Ownership: Private owners.

## Ways of Welcoming

Type: Ideal
Stage: Post-occupancy, Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Outdoor Cooking
- Heat Preparedness Plan
- Community Governance

### About this pattern

Ways of welcoming are important for the convivial orientation of newcomers to the culture of a place. Cultural orientation might include community-led governance structures and protocols, commoning practices within the neighbourhood, and specific coolth promoting practices that are already in place.

This could take the form of a pack with a range of material elements like maps, contact lists, invitations, keys, gifts. It could also take the form of a protocol for a trial ‘live-in’ period, short visits, or stays for visitors and prospective buyers. Learning from ‘screening’ protocols such as those enacted in Poundbury to ascertain value alignment (but without the elitism [Beamish, 2017]), this process enables prospective residents to experience and contribute to the community of commoners who meet regularly to discuss ways of organising events, processes and systems.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- The ‘trial live in’ can be streamlined into the handover process when potential buyers are looking to assess the benefits of living in the area. No external policy framework needed to implement this.

Constraints

- Streamlining involves a lengthier hand-over process with greater resource allocation. The Welcome Pack needs to be iteratively updated.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: All residents, potential residents.
- Use: Community engagement is sustained and introduced as integral component of the settlement.
- Benefit: Handover processes are clearer, with goals and objectives for cooling set out at the outset.
- Care: Residents’ community, liaison officer.
- Responsibility: Partnership between developer and community.
- Ownership: A share house and community-centre could be owned and maintained by the developer.

## Accessible Clean Water for Recreation

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Shade
- Signage
- Bird Baths and other cooling infrastructure for animals
- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth

### About this pattern

Accessible Water is a pattern that promotes the integration of water for play, drinking and cooling into the public domain, to enhance space cooling effects through evapotranspiration and personal cooling through contact with water. In low humidity, peak ambient temperatures can be reduced by three to eight degrees Celsius (Guide to Urban Cooling Strategies).

It might be in the form of splash pools or small rills and misting. It is an important infrastructure of care, enabling people to move comfortably out and about on hot days or nights and a way to enhance the quality of outdoor play spaces, particularly during summer. It requires thought about how people move through the city and where and when they seek to gather, as well as the nature of the space where the water is made available, so as not to create any harm to people. For example, water play spaces should meet the NSW Everyone Can Play guideline.

### About this pattern

Accessible Water is an addition to swimming pools and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) features that are important for retaining water in the environment. Measure of success for these public spaces include maintaining full accessibility and operational up-time, and also maximising attendance.

In addition to WSUD features, making the most of access to existing natural assets is another important means by which neighbourhoods can benefit from coolth. In particular, still water bodies such as lakes, ponds and pools provide opportunities for people to relax and cool down by padding or swimming. Ideally public water bodies will be most easily accessible from the shallow end.

Still water provides opportunities for the community to relax around the water edge, for instance, stairs can provide seating for water places that have a slope. Seating also allows for natural surveillance, which aids safety.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Strong community support for accessible water across different delivery modes.
- Cooling and liveability city plans (e.g. Penrith City Council, 2015; Parramatta Ways Walking Strategy, 2017) and academic research (Mellick Lopes et al 2016; Mellick Lopes et al 2019) signal accessible water as a key consideration to enhance community cooling, participation in the commons, and urban walkability.
- Availability of a natural water area such as a lake, pond or river that can be retrofitted for public use.
- Artificial features such as ponds can be adapted for access if they have shallow access points and slip resistant surfaces. Pond surrounds can often be easily adapted for safe use.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints:

- Drought conditions may limit water for play. Usability and toxicity of still water needs to be assessed and meet safety guidelines.
- Material and finishes selection must consider slip and trip hazards.
- Risks of ultraviolet radiation and sunburns if shade is not available will need to be actively managed by those responsible for the common.
- Opening hours of most parks and water play areas currently limit evening use.
- The community may have varying degrees of comfort with delineating human, animal or shared use of the common.
- Still water quality must be suitable for public access. Some water bodies become more polluted following rain. This should be signposted to ensure safe access and use.

### Commoning Concerns

Accessible water is a key infrastructure of care to support commoning.

- Access: Designing for equitable access is an important consideration and should apply Universal Design Principles wherever possible. Decisions will need to be made around the shared access with animals.
- Use: When the common is typically enabled by the land or asset owner for improved amenity, its use would not need to be negotiated by the community. In some instances, in the case of still water reserves for instance, swimming, paddling, resting and socialising with friends and family might be negotiated with communities involved.
- Benefit: All residents, visitors, birds and animals benefit. Space can be provided for wildlife; a place for the community to paddle, swim and cool down.

### Commoning Concerns

- Care: Shared between asset owner (i.e. maintenance, repair) and commoning community (monitoring and some day to day care and maintenance related to still water resources). Local Bushcare groups can play a vital role in some bushland water bodies.
- Responsibility: While the asset owner would have a legal responsibility, the commoning community would be required accept the risks associated with the use of the potentially dangerous common.
- Ownership: Local government; National Parks and Wildlife Service. The systems which ensure the safe operation of the infrastructure, along with the asset itself is typically owned by a local council.

A commoning concern will be tolerance for shared use, human and animal.

## Sensory Devices for Parks

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning, Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Outdoor Play Areas
- Street Plaza Trees
- Accessible Clean Water for Recreation
- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space

### About this pattern

Communities are complex and they experience the physical world in diverse ways. There are differences between the elderly, youth, children and different cultural groups in terms of the ways they use and enjoy public open spaces. Some parks in Japan have included sensory devices for both visually and physically impaired visitors that enables them to enjoy the coolth provided by still water (see the pattern ACCESSIBLE WATER).

The Garden of Senses in Copenhagen is the largest public sensory garden in Denmark. It was designed by Landscape Architect Helle Nebelong who specialises in gardens and playgrounds for children with a disability. Here: “Plants are chosen for their distinct shapes and there are herbs for their smell or even their taste” while “the dense but low planting also shields the garden from the more noisy and boisterous park beyond to make the space feel somehow calm and protective” (Nebelong, n.d.). Her desire is for the people who use her garden to touch, smell and listen if they cannot see, to touch, smell and see, if they cannot hear and/or to touch, smell, listen and look at anything within their reach if they cannot walk.

Meanwhile, budding gardener programs give children the opportunity to explore the plant world and discover the miracles of gardens.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Innovative mobile structures can be assembled by community groups such as the projects undertaken by R-URBAN, Paris

Constraints:

- Larger structures such as ramps and lakes need to be governed and cared for by Local Government.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Unrestricted (although there may sometimes be opening and closing times)
- Use: Recreation, education.
- Benefit: Community well-being, inclusive communities.
- Care, Responsibility and Ownership: Body Corporate; Local Government.

## Outdoor Cooking

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning, Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- The Night-time Commons
- Gathering Outdoors

### About this pattern

Cooking facilities built into parks allow for wide access and use. Outdoor cooking reduces heat and moisture inside buildings during periods of heat. Cooking spaces benefit from the inclusion of overhead shelter to protect cookers from direct sunlight but need to be well ventilated.

Outdoor cooking facilities attract gatherings of families and friends, encouraging shared cooling outdoors. They can be an important part of both day and night-time use of parks that are central to local festivities, sports events and social events such as children’s birthday parties (Özgüner 2011).

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Grant applications to funded community health and sports programs can include budgets for developing outdoor cooking areas.
- Appropriate tree shading and seating (see the pattern GATHERING OUTDOORS ) for eating areas will encourage use.

Constraints

- Facilities need to cater to diverse cultural cooking practices (Özgüner, 2011).
- To attract night-time usage, facilities need to be appropriately lit.
- Stoves and barbecues can be dangerous to the unskilled, such as children. Cooking facilities need to be user-friendly, and inclusive for people of different cultures and people with disabilities, as well as being well-maintained and kept clean.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Access for all in the community.
- Use: Public events, festivities, concerts, sports, outdoor party.
- Benefit: Reduced indoor heat from cooking during hot and warm months of the year; conducive to active and healthy communities.
- Care: Local Government Authority; private landowner; land trust; community of commoners.
- Responsibility: Local Government Authority; private landowner; land trust; community of commoners
- Ownership: Local Government Authority; private landowner; community land trust

Generally outdoor cooking facilities are provided on a first come, first served basis. During peak park use, scheduling access to cooking facilities may be required to ensure a clear and fair process. Users can be enabled and encouraged to keep cooking facilities well-maintained and cleaned after each use through appropriate signage and the provision of cleaning equipment. Gathering to cook outdoors on hot nights can become a social ritual. Cooking smells can elicit complaint.

## Street Plaza Trees

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Managing On-Site Water
- Private Garden Trees
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Caring for Trees

### About this pattern

Protecting, maintaining and growing street trees requires a long-term commitment. With care, trees should be long-lived, healthy and provide increasing shade to enable cool streets. The attention to good growing conditions and on-going tree management that maintains shade-giving canopies suggests that installing and caring for street trees should be done in unison with urban water management. (See the patterns MANAGING ON-SITE WATER & CARING FOR TREES).

### About this pattern

Growing conditions – soils

The designated area for street trees is restricted requiring site and technical planning for adequate soil volume. Soil depth is important, but more essential is the soil area for roots to spread and access oxygen. Because of competing users in streets – pedestrians, services, vehicles – the maximum area for lateral root growth can be achieved through porous paving and grass from property boundaries to kerbs.

In paved plazas, the use of Structural Soil Systems (SSS) composed of a two-part system of cellular modules for strength and structural support (load bearing) and filler soil can enable tree growth. In this way, structural stability is provided, plus interconnected voids for root penetration, air and water movement.

Growing conditions – water

Water-sensitive urban design can ensure that water reaches the roots of the trees; this includes redirecting kerb water through spaced inlets into the tree pits.

### About this pattern

Tree Selection

- Ten criteria are relevant to street trees in urban environments:
- Drought & Heat tolerance are increasingly important in UHI. Isolated trees can experience high heat and radiation loads in urban areas, increasing tree water stress; plant trees in groups to mitigate this.
- Wind tolerance is relevant as urban trees have to withstand turbulence.
- Tree longevity is reduced in urban environments.
- Pollution tolerance: the effects of pollutants on trees can cause the tree to weaken and die. Most pollutants to trees are airborne, including oxidants, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide; sunlight reacts with oxidants to form tree pollutants such as ozone.
- Pathogen and pest susceptibility and manageability

### About this pattern

Tree selection (contd.)

- Potential as allergens to humans and animals: of the 50,000 different kinds of trees, less than 100 have been shown to cause allergies; most allergies are specific to one type of tree or to the male cultivar of certain trees.
- Shade cast (see the pattern SELECTING SHADE TREES)
- Maintenance required; this is generally higher in a younger tree in order to attain the form needed to suit site constraints.
- Tree litter: all trees will shed litter, leaves, bark, flowers or fruit at some time during a given growing season. Plane trees drop hard fruit which can be a pedestrian hazard.

### About this pattern

Size Matters

One strategically located large-stature tree more impact on conserving energy and mitigating the urban heat island effect than a corresponding quantity of smaller trees. Larger trees do more to:

- Reduce stormwater run-off.
- Improve local air, soil and water quality.
- Reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Provide wildlife habitat.
- Enhance the attractiveness of an area.
- Promote human health and well-being.

The bigger the tree, the larger the benefits and, ultimately, the better the community’s quality of life.

### About this pattern

Siting

Shade trees in public open space can be situated beside paths, around gathering spaces and can provide shading for play equipment. The canopy shape determines most effective shading (see the pattern SELECTING SHADE TREES).

Street Tree Considerations

- A shade rating greater than moderate to heavy;
- Requires high maintenance; requires formative pruning; has low litter drop;
- The minimum height clearance required under canopy is 4.6 metres on roads and 2.5 metres on footpaths.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Landcom (2008) has Street Tree Design Guidelines for Landcom Projects.
- Establishing an “Urban Forest Stewardship” group (www.treefolk.org/ufs) where residents care for trees through local civic groups and social networks.
- City of Sydney & City of Melbourne both have guidelines and technical guides for street trees. City of Sydney Urban Forest Strategy sets targets to increase average total canopy cover by 50% by 2030 and 75% by 2050, meaning that canopy cover percentages should increase from the current 15.5% coverage to 23% in 2030 and 27% in 2050.
- Local Government is responsible for trees in parks; Roads, Maritime Services are responsible for street trees; AUSGRID is responsible for pruning street trees.

Constraints:

- Financial costs of urban tree management
- Environmental hazards and accident hazards due to branch drops and fallen trees

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Unrestricted.
- Use: Shade, beautification, gateways.
- Benefit: Biodiversity protection provides important habitat and corridors for birds and animals; heat mitigation through transpiration, shade and passive cooling; energy efficiency by reducing the need for air conditioning in offices and homes; improved air quality; water absorption captures stormwater, reduces peak flows and improves water quality; noise pollution reduction.
- Care: First 5 years Landcom and community, after 5 years Local Government.
- Responsibility: First 5 years Landcom and community, after 5 years Local Government.
- Ownership: First 5 years Landcom and community, after 5 years Local Government.

## Bird Baths and other cooling infrastructure for animals

Type: Remedial
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Heat Preparedness Plan
- Shade
- Accessible Clean Water for Recreation
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Private Garden Trees
- Caring for Trees

### About this pattern

Heat stress can have a devastating impact on the animals cohabiting with us in our cities. This pattern identifies (and provides a basis for protocols for) infrastructures of care for cooling animals. These may be deliberately designed permanent structures, such as Fiona Foley’s Lotus Line water sculpture at Redfern Park that invites multiple species; architectural features of built environments that incidentally gather water and/or provide shade; or more temporary solutions, such as bowls of water put out for animals to drink. The provision of habitat is another aspect of caring for animals in hot cities.

The need for infrastructures of care for cohabiting animals in the urban common spaces is driven in part by human practices, such as water diversion for irrigation.

Birds such as Ibises, which have migrated to cities because their wetland habitats are disappearing, are perceived as urban interlopers – alien and homeless. Cockatoos and Corellas have followed in their tracks. Providing cooling infrastructures of care thus challenges negative perceptions of animal-human urban cohabitation.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Creative thinking and engagement with communities to find solutions to questions such as: What are people willing to share? Not bubblers says Sydney Water – therefore a need to move away from the bowl-like design of drinking water fountains.
- Delineating human only, animal only or shared use by design is an important condition of this pattern.

Constraints

- Competing interests around ‘water efficiency’.
- Policies limiting the access of animals to parks and other commons.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: While there are distinctive policies limiting the access of companion animals to parks, public transport and other commons, the point would be for such infrastructures of care to be as freely accessible as possible.
- Use: Thirsty, hot, tired animals; temporary and intermittent use.
- Benefit: Animals, human carers, community of carers.
- Care: Local Government Authority with community monitoring the conditions of permanent structures. Temporary infrastructures could be housed with other commoning resources and cared for by the community.
- Responsibility: Local Government Authority and community of commoners monitoring heat conditions and responding appropriately.
- Ownership: Permanent water features owned by Local Government Authority; private buildings and private gardens owned by residents; commoning resources owned by community.

Commoning concerns include knowing how to safely help and manage heat stressed animals; the impacts of large congregations of animals; cleaning infrastructures of care; collecting animal poo; smells; bee stings, bites and other injuries. Private residents may remove water to limit animal access or thriving mosquito populations.

## Mobile Play Van

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Shade
- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Community Governance
- Signage

### About this pattern

Mobile play vans are free services offered by local councils. They are targeted at children ages six and under (the preschool population). They offer a regular schedule of safe and creative play and socialisation space, and a chance for families with pre-school aged children to meet and socialise, most often in local parks. These services will be important when parks or other amenities are not yet completed or have not yet matured. They are of great value in communities where residents with young children have limited capacity to travel to community centres or other facilities.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Council support is important.
- High-quality shade is essential if playgrounds are to be accessible during summer, while allowing for sunlight is important for comfortable winter access. Adaptable shade cover, for instance, deciduous trees and screens should be considered where appropriate.
- Designing for accessibility ensures that all community members can make use of a Play Van, including children with mobility restrictions, visual impairments and so on.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints

- Mobile play vans require safe open space that is situated away from traffic but is also accessible for staff and participants.
- Current mobile play van programs do not run in conditions of extreme heat. They have also been suspended by some councils because of Covid-19, pointing to children’s health and public health risks in general that have to be taken into consideration.
- The success of these programs depends upon council’s willingness to fund outreach programs and to shoulder associated liabilities. These sorts of interventions become less important as community and community amenities mature.

### Commoning Concerns

Play vans as public commons

- Ownership: Local Government; the community of users should also be encouraged to have a sense of ownership.
- Access: Children under age six and their family.
- Use: Active and passive play by children; socialisation opportunity for caregivers of young children.
- Benefit: Gives children access to space to play; inclusion of movable and adaptable resources encourages creative play; play outdoors has health benefits and lessens the use of air conditioning for indoor play.
- Care: Local Government generally has formal authority; local communities, however, play an important role in ongoing careful use.

Programs like this should also make accommodations for the comfort of care-providers during play activities. If the goal is community belonging and cohesion, a chance for meaningful interaction among care providers of young children is of equal importance. Programs could be improved through incorporation of volunteer help, and with that comes the need to ensure child-safety through background checks.

## Gathering Outdoors

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Planning, Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Memorial Walkway
- The Night-time Commons
- Outdoor Cooking
- Mobile Play Van

### About this pattern

Every neighbourhood should include outdoor gathering spaces that residents can use for relaxing and socialising with others. These spaces can be co-located with outdoor play areas. Gathering spaces should be delineated from the broader environment through the use of structures such as seating, tables or shade structures that provide a sense of enclosure.

Gathering areas should provide opportunities for large and small gatherings. Ideally, they will include a combination of both permanent seating and temporary seating that can be moved around to suit different needs. Food preparation areas including barbecues for outside cooking encourage use across the day and into the evening and they can be especially valuable on hot days. Outdoor gathering areas should be well-shaded for access on warm days and allow for sunlight in winter. In addition, adequate infrastructures of care should be made available such as water drinking fountains, appropriate seating for different demographics and people with disabilities, and accessible toilets.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Usable open space that can be retrofitted (hence this is suited as a remedial pattern) with seating and shade structures, ensures gathering spaces that are usable across the day.
- Trees and other shade structures that provide shade in summer and allow sunlight to penetrate in winter can maximise the use of gathering spaces across the seasons.
- Consideration for maintenance of permanent structures and gardens and care for temporary or moveable objects can bring greater involvement and sense of ownership among local communities.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints

- Unshaded areas will not be usable in hot weather. Shade density is important in hot periods, therefore careful consideration must be given to trees and other structures that provide sufficient shade.
- While daytime use benefits from providing a sense of enclosure and shade, dense foliage at night can be perceived as unsafe territory and act as a deterrent if there are not more open outdoor gathering spaces available in the evenings.

### Commoning Concerns

- Ownership: Local Government; the community of users.
- Access: All people; birds.
- Use: Resting and socialising with friends and family
- Benefit: Socialising with friends and family outdoors; provision of cooking areas such as barbecues provides the opportunity for outdoor cooking away from the home on hot days.
- Care: Local Government; engaged local communities.

A commoning concern related to gathering outdoors will be the management of temporary fittings. This could be addressed by coming to arrangements with civic-minded local shops or cafes to store resources for temporary use.

## Subcultural Boundaries

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth
- Urban & Rural Fingers

### About this pattern

The vast spread of urbanisation results in alienated people and communities instead of a mosaic of recognisable suburbs that include many subcultures.

Mosaics of subcultures need to be identified by boundaries, which are like ecotones that allow for social mingling with other subcultures as well as intensifying the subculture within the boundary. Such ecotonal areas can be shared playing fields, football and cricket ovals, public buildings such as libraries, large parks and water bodies. Where the boundaries are open space, they contribute to cooling of surrounding residential areas.

A pattern for a great variety of subcultures in a city is not a pattern to form ghettos; rather it is a pattern of opportunity, allowing a city to contain a multitude of different ways of life with comfortable intensity. A rich mix of subcultures will not be possible if each subculture is being inhibited by pressure from its neighbours.

The subcultures are ideally defined by shared land, which is not residential land, and which should be afforded as generous an area as possible.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Subcultural Boundaries as public commons.
- Natural boundaries can be areas like local bushland, creeks, streams and rural fingers.
- Artificial boundaries can include ring roads, industrial ribbons, infrastructure, although they lack the potential to be ecotonal.

Constraints:

- State & Local Government planning that does not encourage fine grain zoning.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Varies; ideally unrestricted.
- Use: Recreation, environmental planning, infrastructure.
- Benefit: Social tolerance; mitigating heat islands.
- Care: Community groups, Local Government, private owners, landcare.
- Responsibility: Community groups, Local Government, private owners.
- Ownership: Community groups, Local Government, private owners.

## Keyline Planning for Healthy Trees

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Endangered Ecological Forests
- Site Planning for Coolth
- Managing On-Site Water
- Caring for Trees

### About this pattern

Keyline Planning manages the existing landscape through enhancing soil quality, carbon capture and water holding capacity. Water naturally flows downhill running off ridges and concentrating in valleys. The basic site analysis for a keyline design includes identifying the ʻmain ridgeʼ (the watershed divide), ʻprimary ridgesʼ (convex slopes radiating off of the main ridge) and ʻprimary valleysʼ (concave basins receiving runoff between primary ridges). The ʻkeypointʼ is where the slope changes from convex to concave in shape and exists in valleys. It marks the highest point in the landscape to hold water.

The contour passing through the keypoint is known as the ʻKeylineʼ. Subsoil ploughing along the keyline decompacts degraded soils, improving water infiltration, and distributing water more evenly. Subsoil plough regime helps restore a soil’s structure and water holding capacity. The keyline subsoil rips create mini drainage channels diverting water gently downhill and back out onto the ridges.

This system uses the natural patterns of the landscape to catch and store water for use in cooling strategies.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Keyline Planning enables the rapid development of biologically active, fertile soil within a systematically planned landscape. During an average three-year conversion phase, four to six inches of new topsoil are typically formed each year. This new topsoil stores large quantities of water in the landscape.
- Run-off water, stored in small dams, can later be released for rapid, gravity-powered flood-irrigation.
- Roads, forests, buildings and fencing that follow primary water layout and fit together within the lay of the land.
- Keyline Planning enables a permanent landscape where infrastructure components help to passively ensure the maintenance and renewal of the topsoil within it.

Constraints:

- Existing trees constrain where land modelling and contour ploughing can take place.
- Endangered Ecological Communities will constrain layout.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: People are unrestrained; restriction for vehicles.
- Use: Open space recreation, channelling cool breezes.
- Benefit: Improve & maintain soil quality, water management and carbon storage.
- Care: Local Government and community of commoners.
- Responsibility: Body Corporate, Local Government and community of commoners.
- Ownership: Body Corporate, Local Government and building owners.

## Bushcare Groups

Type: Ideal
Stage: Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Endangered Ecological Forests
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Caring for Trees
- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Managing On-Site Water
- Private Garden Trees
- Community Governance

### About this pattern

Bushcare groups have nearly forty years of history in Sydney and greater New South Wales. They use volunteer effort to engage in in a variety of activities that benefit the local environment including tree planting, bush regeneration, water quality monitoring, monitoring of wildlife populations and community education. They provide a means to guard against invasive species that can threaten biodiversity in the Bushland habitat. Bush care in this way resembles other volunteer-based organisations elsewhere in the world such as those in the US that preserve riparian environments (river keepers). In the US, the efforts of volunteer-based organisations have played a key role in conservation monitoring and their oversight has made national legislation like the Clean Water act so effective.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- In Bushcare’s long history, organisations such as the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators have developed a number of accessible resources that help local chapters to identify invasive species, and to monitor and maintain local habitats more effectively.

Constraints

- Some invasive species may be so well established that their eradication/management may prove to be impossible or their elimination may have unintended consequences.

### Commoning Concerns

Bush Care as social and biophysical commons

- Access: Open membership
- Use: Ecological monitoring, ecological restoration, conviviality
- Benefit: Human and non-human communities
- Care: Voluntary organisation
- Ownership: Voluntary organisation

Bushcare has evolved as an inclusive practice of caring for country. As a consequence, it extends the terms of commoning and common-community to human and non-human species. The patterns of colonial settler society having wittingly and unwittingly introduced many species. While some have had devastating consequences for the local environment, others have become parts of varied human and non-human livelihoods; for example, the role of wild-invasive goats in rural livelihoods and in the management of other invasive plant species through their grazing habits. The management of plant and animals nowadays as part of country is an ongoing process of negotiation.

## Post-occupancy Learning

Type: Remedial
Stage: Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Succession Tree Planting
- Signage
- Multi-Use Community Centre
- Ways of Welcoming
- Community Governance
- Community Library

### About this pattern

Post-occupancy studies are protocols for evaluating the technical performance of (called post-occupancy analysis) and/or social satisfaction with (called post-occupancy evaluation) single or multi-residential buildings after residents have moved in. This pattern seeks to extend current post-occupancy studies to emphasise the importance of learning from the experiences and practices of a community of residents. Such ongoing learning is critically important if the aim is to create liveable and sustainable places, as it could validate goals, help identify and address emerging issues and opportunities, and feed back into planning processes as a form of ‘continuous improvement’ and lifecycle planning.

### About this pattern

Post-occupancy learning requires community engagement and outputs that can form a durable record of a living place to inform learning over time. This approach foregrounds and validates community expertise in the lived context, which is under-represented in the literature about liveability. Community stakeholders may initiate engagement around a particular common concern, on a one-off or regular basis. Concerns might be explored via regular resident walking meetings, workshops or social ‘living labs’. Mechanisms to ‘carry over’ learning to improve the planning and development process needs to be created, with precedents existing in the form of collaborative governance arrangements (see Report).

### About this pattern

Post-occupancy learning could facilitate enhanced openness and trust and enable community-led innovation in planning and development processes. It could also prime communities to explore the transition to new practices, for example energy sharing, or new forms of water or waste management. Citizen science projects recording local weather and aspects of environmental change are a form of post-occupancy learning. Retaining collected data in a local library (in addition to handing it over to the investigating body [e.g. Australian Museum or Bureau of Meteorology]) would enable future generations of residents to access this data and facilitate intergenerational place-based learning. Adopt a tree programs, where residents ‘adopt’ a young local tree planted by council and take responsibility for monitoring its health as it grows, is another example. In this case, succession planning is important, including mechanisms for intergenerational communication.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Commitments to stakeholder engagement (e.g. Landcom’s ‘Join-in Charter’).
- Engagement Evaluation and Stakeholder Risk Framework.
- Resident surveys (e.g. Healthy and Inclusive Places Survey) currently captures ‘satisfaction’ but not learning.
- Leveraging interest in citizen science for fine grain environmental monitoring.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints:

- Scope limitations due to time constraints.
- Limitation of access to and facility with digital tools.
- Existing approaches to community engagement oriented to: project delivery; forward planning/ ‘visioning’; short-term and front-end engagement events. Conversely, post-occupancy learning is about lived experience.
- Access to tools to measure and capture information, experiences and practices will need to be managed.
- Legitimate pathways to loop post-occupancy learning back into project planning, will need to be developed.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Residents and relevant stakeholders. The inclusion of newly arrived residents will need to be facilitated.
- Use: Residents, future-residents, community liaison officer and other development agency stakeholders.
- Benefit: Community and development agency processes; potentially external partners.
- Care: Community-led studies might require agreements to monitor on an ongoing basis; knowledge commons could be housed in community library.
- Responsibility: Development agency liaison, community of residents, library workers.
- Ownership: Knowledge commons produced by engagement processes – who owns this, who has access and where is it housed, will need to be decided.

Context information and site history – who has access and where is this housed?

### Commoning Concerns

Examples:

- a study monitoring bird and insect life in the residential development
- a study capturing and recording surface heat measures
- a workshop to capture commoning concerns (could be a social living lab)

What and how experiences and practices are captured, and where and how outputs are stored, are key commoning concerns.

Some members of the community may find the process ‘nosy’. This would need to be sensitively addressed.

A key commoning concern will be accessibility to tools to measure and capture information, experiences and practices.

## Web Of Public Transportation – Destination Shuttle

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Shade
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Misting Devices for Cooling Outdoor Space
- Pedestrian Linkages – Cycle Club
- Car Share
- Community Governance

### About this pattern

Shuttle buses offer free or low-cost transportation between main destinations (for instance between transit hubs and university or corporate campuses or to specific venues such as museums, shopping centres or swimming pools). They complement and address shortfalls in other forms of mass transit such as trains or buses that cover greater distances along specific routes.

Shuttle bus services of this sort can be provided directly by the municipality. The Santa Barbara electric shuttle bus, for instance, runs from the edge of the city district to the downtown areas and to numerous destinations along the waterfront. The electric bus service is an important component of the Innovative Clean Transit Standards being adopted by the California Air Resources Board (Sustainable Bus n.d.). In Parramatta, The Shuttle is a free transport solution run by Transport for NSW through the Transdev mobility company, running seven days a week, that connects tourists, residents and commuters to commercial, retail and recreational landmarks. Alternatively, shuttle buses can be wholly or partially subsidized by the benefiting institution (for instance shuttles that cater to university students and staff).

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Rapid transit by shuttle bus is enabled by bus lanes. The use of a shuttle bus is enabled by infrastructure that ties it into other transit infrastructure such as rail, light rail or ferries, in particular designated stop points that incorporate shade and/or shelter.
- Municipal policies for clean air and reduced congestion can encourage the formulation of shuttle bus services and local business that benefits from reduced congestion and better customer footfall might also be enrolled as sponsors.
- Websites or mobile phone applications are a good way to enhance the use and awareness of a shuttle bus service.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints

- Buses require significant outlays of capital to purchase and maintain. This can make a free service hard to sustain, especially when hitting other targets, such as net zero emissions, necessitates upgrades. The Santa Barbara electric shuttle was free, but nowadays riders pay 50 cents per ride, or buy a day pass for one dollar (Santa Barbara Car Free n.d.); the service is cheap but not entirely free, signifying tension in the enactment of a commons.
- Given the expense providers may also operate only during the hours that benefit a sponsoring organisation (such as Universities) and they may not cater to the needs of a whole population.

### Commoning Concerns

Destination shuttle as social commons/transit.

- Access: Open to commuters (particularly those bound for particular destination)
- Use: Commuters using the service.
- Benefit: Reduced fossil fuel emissions, reduced congestion, socially inclusive transport.
- Care: Municipality, University, Body Corporate, other.
- Ownership: Various (municipality, university or another sponsoring organisation).

Destination shuttles work effectively in connection with other forms of mass transportation. They solve the last kilometre problem in getting to and from major destination such as universities, shopping centres and conference centres, and benefit a larger public by reducing congestion. A major concern is that they tend to be site specific forms of transit that do not directly benefit the public at large. This can lead to ongoing negotiations over who maintains/pay for these services and how much the public can be expected to support a transit form that only benefits a subset of the population.

## Urban & Rural Fingers

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Establishing Site Forests
- Endangered Ecological Forests
- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth
- Subcultural Boundaries

### About this pattern

Innovative cropping and consolidating measures to mitigate the impacts of loss of agricultural land and its associated natural systems on account of sprawling urbanisation, that results in the heating of urban space. This is exacerbated by the growing impact of motor transportation and related infrastructure on global warming. The appropriate pattern relates to topography, soils and hydrology where urban development is located on higher land and where agricultural land is located on the lower slopes and floodplains beside creeks and rivers.

### About this pattern

To achieve urban & rural fingers, there are several issues to address.

Equity Issues necessitate innovative planning that allows owners to realise their land’s development value without changing the rural use. This can be achieved through transfer of development rights (TDR).

New Farming Practice: Maintaining rural and peri-urban fingers requires making productive land attractive to new farmers. The market growth of water products, ecosystem services, and niche marketing of gourmet products are emerging opportunities for rural economics inspired by new poly-cropping techniques.

### About this pattern

New Forms of Rural Living: European planners offer alternative models for ‘Rural Living’ that allow for continued productive farming to be associated with new clustered residential areas. This involves innovative land tenure and inventive forms of governance that are drawn from organizational strategies associated with cooperatives.

New Urban Agriculture: New urban agriculture associated with hybrid urban formulas that conflate architecture, landscape, infrastructure and high-tech farming, can instigate innovative forms of agriculture at the urban rural nexus.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Urban & Rural Fingers instigated and sustained as a private/public-owned commons;
- To maintain existing rural land, establish the means for transfer of development rights;
- Develop the urban/rural interface as new housing clusters.

Constraints:

- Current NSW Government planning;
- Extent of alienated land that instigates a need for resumption/buyback policy.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: restricted by private ownership.
- Use: residential, farming, environmental services.
- Benefit: community life, maintain peri-urban productive land.
- Care: owners & community.
- Responsibility: owners, State government.
- Ownership: farmers, homeowners.

## Misting Devices for Cooling Outdoor Space

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Planning and Designing Devices for A Cool Park
- Gathering Outdoors
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- Pedestrian Linkages – Walking School Bus

### About this pattern

Misting devices can be highly effective in cooling outdoor spaces. Dry misting has been used extensively in public open space in Keyaki, Japan and now in Toronto, Canada. Misting installations can also provide attractive, interesting features into public spaces including renovations of public parks, helping to increase their use. In some instances, municipal authorities can commission misting devices and misting fans as permanent or temporary art installations, which help to generate higher footfall for local restaurants and retail businesses (Roe, n.d.)

Although seemingly a misnomer, ‘dry mist’ is formed when water is pushed through a fine aperture at high pressure; the mist is so fine it evaporates, feeling dry, and lowers the temperature by up to 30°F. Misting fans are energy and water efficient, readily available and easily installed. Depending on the types and placement of plants, misting systems can double as watering systems, keeping plants lush and green.

### About this pattern

Misting Pumps

The most expensive part of the system is the high-pressure pump because fine water droplets required for quick evaporation cannot be achieved by low water pressure. Solar panels can supply the energy needed.

When installed and used properly, mist cooling systems can reduce temperatures by as much as 30°F depending on the efficiency of the misting system, relative humidity, and outdoor temperature. Evaporative cooling is remarkably energy and water efficient.

Misting devices cannot use stored on-site water. The misting nozzle requires mains water in order to ensure there is no particulate matter to block it. There are also public health considerations if stored tank or run-off water is used for misting.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Misting devices are relatively inexpensive and can be deployed temporarily in public spaces, allowing seasonal use and reassignment to other spaces.

Constraints:

- Governance is required when used in public open space. There are some health implications.
- May not be effective in areas of high humidity.

### Commoning Concerns

Misting devices facilitate the coolth for ‘cool commons’; those spaces that offer cooler temperatures than surrounding areas and that are used by, and are accessible to, a community of commoners who, to some degree, care for, take responsibility for, and benefit from this coolness.

- Access: Unrestricted and restricted.
- Use: Outdoor recreation in reduced temperatures.
- Benefit: Cool outdoor space.
- Care: Local Government, Body Corporate, community.
- Responsibility: Local Government and Body Corporate.
- Ownership: Community groups, Body Corporate, sometimes Local Authorities.

## The Night-time Commons

Type: Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Street Parties & Fêtes
- Outdoor Cooking
- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- Signage

### About this pattern

Parks and other public spaces can be important cool commons in the evenings, when the heat of the day starts to dissipate from the public domain and when it becomes cooler outside than in the home. Well-known examples of night-time commons include night markets, festivals and outdoor film screenings, all of which tend to be concentrated in urban centres. As our summers get longer and hotter, the principle of the night-time commons needs to be adopted more widely in an overall strategy of rethinking how we use our local environments.

This pattern explores night-time commoning as a cooling strategy. An important infrastructure that can be activated as night-time commons are public parks and swimming pools. These environments are already cool commons, but they tend to close in the evenings, precisely at the time when they could best serve the community by providing a venue for socialising, swimming, dining or other community gatherings on a hot night.

### About this pattern

Place-appropriate and engaging lighting is an important element in an overall cultural shift toward night-time commoning. It is an attractor for alternative park uses, to create ambience and promote safe wayfinding and play. An example is the Gates of Light art installation at Macarthur Heights, a park designed for stargazing. In addition to lighting, the activation of night-time commons are most successful when they provide signage, other communications and activation events to legitimise use and raise awareness amongst the local community of the opportunities to use these spaces at night. This is important as unlike in Australia’s regional neighbours, night-time commoning is unusual in Australia. This is where examples such as night markets, dance and exercise, or community cookouts, can provide inspiration for activating parks at night.

### About this pattern

Kevin Lynch’s urban design principles cited in Dufner et al.’s (nd) night lighting study, focus on how people move through and experience the city.

Measures of success for night-time commons are minimised incidents relating to safety, minimised disruption to neighbours and maximised attendance.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Increasing urban heat and the dangers of UV radiation (the Cancer Council for example recommends staying out of the sun between 11am and 3pm) create a need to explore the use of outdoor public spaces at cooler times of the day.
- Night lighting, as well as provision of public drinking water and public amenities, are important supportive infrastructures.

Constraints

- A challenge for night-time commoning might be that features of the day park, such as permanent shelter and shade fixtures, could create safety and visibility issues, and inhibit some night-time uses, such as star gazing.
- The impact of noise on surrounding residential neighbourhoods may also need to be addressed.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: The space used for this common is accessible in the same way that it would be during the daytime and by the same people.
- Use: Technical management could be entrusted by local government to a community of commoners if the use is different to the typical daytime use.
- Benefit: The night-time commons provides cool spots in open space to those people who have free time during the evenings.
- Care: The site is maintained per the standard daytime program, however, the commoning community and any contractors (i.e. cinema, food trucks etc.) must manage additional wear and tear to the common.
- Responsibility: The common is governed by the asset or landowner and the commoning community would need to regulate their own behaviour and safety.
- Ownership: The ownership does not change from the daytime structure.

### Commoning Concerns

A commoning concern related to the socially-activated night time space could be managing noise for surrounding residents not using the park (for example shift workers). If use involves cooking, this could also mean issues with smells. This might be ameliorated by designing dedicated events for quieter usage or determining times for noisier events like dancing, markets or films by a community scheduling tool or poll. Night-time commons need to be designed co-operatively with the communities who will use them in order to address these commoning concerns.

## Memorial Walkway

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Shade
- Shaded Pedestrian Linkage
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space
- Succession Tree Planting

### About this pattern

A designated walkway between two activity spaces that is marked by shady trees planted close enough to provide a cool corridor around a paved or unpaved footpath. The trees and walkway are meant to communicate across generations the importance of memory, and care for an event or people or something.

Along the walkway there are benches for rest and reflection. There could be commemorative plaques in the paving. Shrubs or flowers that are of particular significance to who or whatever is being commemorated can be planted between the trees.

### About this pattern

Memorial walkways that commemorate those killed in war are common around Australia. But shaded walkways could be built as part of a community building exercise to commemorate other events, people or species.

Planning note: As trees will take some years to grow to a size that provides shade, community involvement needs to be backed up with care by a continuous authority such as a council.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Walkway location to be identified at planning stage.
- Identify a route connecting activity spaces that are frequently used.
- A walkway capable of being used by walkers, tricycles, wheelchairs and low traffic bikers.
- New residents are invited to participate in deciding what the Memorial Walk will commemorate, as part of a community building exercise.
- An annual event that remembers what the walkway is for and invites other new community members to join in the commemoration.
- Trees are selected for shade and longevity.
- Planting of trees to be a community event coordinated by a local association or Municipality.

Constraints

- Maintaining care of the trees during the establishment stage.
- Maintaining a connection to a community of rememberers.

### Commoning Concerns

Planning and establishing a Memorial Walk is a commoning intervention that has the potential to call forth a community of commoners (people who initiate and care for a commons). Generating interest in ‘leaving a mark’ and communicating across generations will take time and commitment by a community development agent working with new residents.

- Access: All residents, visitors, birds, animals.
- Use: All residents, visitors, birds, animals.
- Care: Of trees performed by Local Government Authority (LGA), of commemorative plaques performed by commoning community in partnership with LGA.
- Benefit: Atmosphere, coolth, shade, rest spaces, community connections.
- Responsibility: Commoning community who have identified what will be commemorated.
- Ownership: Publicly owned open space; trees ‘owned’ by LGA.

## Establishing Site Forests

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Endangered Ecological Forests
- Caring for Trees
- Managing On-Site Water
- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Keyline Planning for Healthy Trees
- Succession Tree Planting

### About this pattern

Establishing site forests is a critical practice to engage communities in planting and caring for trees, and to enable coolth for future generations.

Locating Contour Strip Forest

Broadscale site forests are best located after a Keyline analysis has located the Keyline. In primary valleys, cultivation of strips/bands for tree planting takes place below the Keyline contour. On primary ridges, cultivated strips/bands lie parallel and above the Keyline. Trees can also border roads above irrigation channels. Trees should be planted in Riparian corridors and planted surrounding water bodies.

### About this pattern

Preparation and planting

A specialised Keyline plough should cultivate strips/bands 4 centimetres below root depth, to aerate soil along contours. Trees should be planted as tube stock to ensure successful and rapid growth. Biodegradable tree guards and stakes are needed to facilitate moisture condensation and protection against grazing.

Establishing Forests through Ecological Succession

Successional ecologies can be applied to forest management regimes in urban environments: rather than humans being the primary maintenance mechanism, we can start to use passive maintenance through environmental manipulation and an understanding of succession; for example, short-lived, fast-growing Acacia spp. species have been interplanted with various eucalyptus species, to encourage a faster growth rate and more upright form.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Existing trees may be part of remnant indigenous forests that can be integrated with new forests.
- Existing trees may be components of cultural heritage landscapes, which should be kept & interpreted.
- Successional planting can also be undertaken by communities.

Constraints:

- Rehabilitation of existing forests.
- Arboriculture assessments of existing trees.
- Conformity to Commonwealth EPBC Act (1999) & NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016)
- Space to establish forests in urban areas is constrained by hard infrastructure and conventions of planting single trees in road-flanking rows.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: open access;
- Use: shade and shelter; wildlife habitat; ecological edge effect;
- Benefit: climate amelioration; soil and water rehabilitation;
- Care: Bushcare; Local Government; State Department of Environment;
- Responsibility: community of commoners; body corporate;
- Ownership: Body Corporate/ building owners.

## Heat Preparedness Plan

Type: Ideal
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Community Governance
- Multi-Use Community Centre
- Community Library
- Signage

### About this pattern

A heat preparedness plan is part of a commons-infrastructure that enables community response to heat emergencies and helps to keep vulnerable people safe at these times.

The Heat Preparedness Welcome Pack should include a heat emergency preparedness guide that explains the available infrastructure showing how to respond to heat events in this community. The pack should identify cooling infrastructures and resources, and the chain of command for activating a heat emergency and protocols for checking in with neighbours. The ultimate aim of such a pack would be the creation of a community-based governing body of stake holders that maintain this commons-infrastructure.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Occupational Health and Safety guideline can be consulted to ensure that heat emergency preparedness conforms with existing protocols and requirements.
- NSW State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service also have resources to be consulted, as well as strategies for mobilising peer to peer networks for emergency preparedness.
- ABC news and websites and other social media outlets will also play essential role in mobilising a response.

Constraints

- In new communities, levels of trust may be low. Linguistic or cultural barriers may limit the effectiveness of the heat preparedness guide or the implementation of strategy.

### Commoning Concerns

Welcome pack as knowledge commons.

- Access: Open to all residents of community.
- Use: Orients new residents to available resources and protocols for dealing with a heat emergency.
- Benefit: Community residents benefit through knowledge of available resources and practices of mutual aid in face of a heat emergency.
- Care: The initial duty of care lies with community liaison officer and then with community themselves.
- Ownership: Landcom/community.

## Car Share

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Pedestrian Linkages – Cycle Club
- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth
- Community Governance
- Community Library
- Web Of Public Transportation – Destination Shuttle
- Ways of Welcoming

### About this pattern

Car shares are ways of sharing access to automobiles for a variety of uses. They can be organised informally or among community members, but the contemporary car shares make use of web-based platform technology to grant access to vehicles that are either privately owned or owned by a ride-share service such as Go-get. The City of Sydney, like cities elsewhere, has allocated a portion of available street parking to car share programs in order to ensure equitable access. Car share programs can work to reduce car congestion, carbon emissions, and demand for parking spaces by offering an alternative to private automobile ownership.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Municipal approaches to management of parking resources can help facilitate use of ride sharing programs.
- Platform based technologies provide a way of coordinating ride shares, as well as assurance and regulatory oversight.
- Car sharing schemes work well in the city of Sydney where parking space is a limited resource, where there are several transportation alternatives and where school, work, shopping and other amenities are nearby.

Constraints

- Ride sharing can be cost prohibitive. Like other platform-based enterprises, the model can be wealth extractive and counter-productive to a commons.
- Long distances between home, work, school and shopping may discourage use of ride sharing services.

### Commoning Concerns

Carshare as social commons/transit

- Access: Open to licenced drivers enrolled in ride sharing programs.
- Use: Local transport; use in longer distance transit on trips where cargo also needs to be carried.
- Benefit: Reduced fossil fuel emissions, reduced congestion.
- Care: Ride share coordinating body.
- Ownership: Various forms of ownership of different infrastructures/devices are involves (public or private ownership of cars, platform technologies, and parking space).

Car sharing provides a way of replacing private ownership of automobiles with shared use. While city dwellers benefit from an improved atmospheric commons, and reduced demand upon public infrastructure, questions remain around both the taxation and regulation of platform-based enterprises.

## Street Parties & Fêtes

Type: Ideal, Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Temporary or ‘Meanwhile’ Use of Outdoor Public Space
- Community Governance
- Accessible Clean Water for Recreation
- Misting Devices for Cooling Outdoor Space
- Outdoor Play Areas
- Signage

### About this pattern

Annual fêtes or fairs can be fund-raising activities for any community that help to foster stronger community identity and pride in achievements.

Street parties and fêtes are ways to get to know neighbours and build strong communities. They can be important ways to celebrate together. Most Councils support neighbourhood gatherings as they foster community spirit and good neighbour relations. A successful street party could be as small and intimate as a few chairs in a front yard, up to a BBQ in the local park, or a party in a local street.

### About this pattern

Temporary Structures

If a tent, marquee or stall is erected, it requires local government approval either as a public building under the Health Act or as a temporary building under Building Regulations. Local government may waive this requirement for low risk structures. As a general rule if the public are within or on the facility it should have local government approval.

Temporary structures such as merchandise stalls, seating, food stalls and so on must be erected and secured in accordance with the manufacturers specifications to ensure they are structurally sound and can withstand likely wind in the locality.

### About this pattern

Sustainability Considerations

Some Councils have sustainability strategies and rules whereby events need to reduce the use of plastic packaging and plastic cutlery and crockery for the service of food, and to encourage recycling by stall operators and patrons. The City of Sydney has a no balloons policy in all of its parks and open spaces. Balloons are not be permitted for any events.

### About this pattern

General Considerations

- For residents/neighbours only; should be self-organised;
- No licence normally necessary if music is incidental and no alcohol is sold;
- Closure of residential roads only; apply for road closure at least 6 weeks before the event.
- Public liability insurance optional but advisable/sensible; organisers must accept responsibility for possible claims if public liability insurance is not in place.
- If not formal risk assessment is in place, protocols for managing health or other emergencies are planned in advance.
- Considerations for night parties include ensuring appropriate visibility and notifying neighbours.

Event Clear Up; provide suitable waste receptacles and make arrangements for litter picking and waste removal after the event.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- Local Governments support street parties in principle because they enhance social cohesion and contribute to a greater sense of trust and safety, and better health and well-being in the community.

### Pattern Conditions

Constraints:

- Mobile Food Facilities (MFF): For safety purposes, operators of MFFs are required to secure a health permit prior to operating. MFFs are usually restricted to Pushcart/Ice Cream Cart distributing pre-packaged non-potentially hazardous foods only; no food preparation is permitted; For a Hot Dog Cart limited food preparation is permissible but no complex food preparation; For a Food Truck full service and food preparation is allowed within the enclosed vehicle. No food preparation is allowed outside the food truck (except for an outdoor barbeque).
- Risk assessments should consider: Slipping, tripping or falling hazards (e.g. loose carpets, unsecured cables); any vehicles driving onto site; electrical safety (e.g. use of any portable electrical appliances); poor lighting, heating or ventilation; storing and serving food (e.g. chilled items being left out of the fridge for too long); and any other hazards you may find.

### Pattern Conditions

- A fire risk assessment is a legal requirement – the person responsible for the event must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks.
- Noise Control at Small Outdoor Events: Inform all affected people of the following
  1. The event (offer free tickets or invite people along);
  2. Start and finish times;
  3. The Complaint Hotline number if they want to make a complaint.

### Commoning Concerns

Common spaces can be used for temporary events, particularly if they offer cooler temperatures than surrounding areas and if they are used by, and are accessible to, a community of commoners who, to some degree, care for, take responsibility for, and benefit from this coolness.

- Access: Varies; outdoor markets have access for all; parties and fund-raisers by invitation.
- Use: Recreation, fund-raising.
- Benefit: Community engagement, strengthening the use of common space.
- Care: Event organisers and community.
- Responsibility: Event organisers and community.
- Ownership: Body Corporate, community.

A commoning concern will be negotiating road use: ensuring adequate notice of road closure and legible signage to alert drivers. Another is ensuring dogs are leashed to ensure safety.

## Community Library

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Post-occupancy Learning
- Community Governance
- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth

### About this pattern

Community libraries can integrate multiple uses and forms of knowledge at various scales and provide readily accessible interior and exterior cool spaces. Community libraries provide free access to books, audiovisual, and other materials to local residents who must be members; some extend into lending household and other items as well such as tools, toys, and cooking implements.

Libraries usually provide free internet access, although this may be time-limited, and many provide charging ports for electronic devices. Libraries can combine or balance indoor and outdoor spaces and include bookable meeting and discussion rooms. Most libraries are used for learning and other events such as classes or reading groups, whether organised and run by library staff or other non-profit organisations. Many libraries include cafes.

Libraries can provide free community cooling refuges during times of extreme heat, provide early childhood and local health services, and house a knowledge commons of and for the community.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Community buildings such as libraries can serve an important function as cool refuges in times of extreme heat (Bradford et. al. 2015).

Constraints

- Libraries require funds for construction and there is an imputed or actual cost of site allocation (if purpose built).
- The maintenance and management of libraries cost and effort; this requires trained and qualified professional staff.

### Commoning Concerns

Community libraries are a public commons.

- Access: Access is free and open to anyone. Joining the library bestows rights such as borrowing and internet access.
- Use: Libraries can be used for education, recreation, and life management through internet access to online government services. They also provide spaces for spontaneous interaction and, where the infrastructure is conducive, spaces for interaction, meetings and learning activities outside.
- Benefit: Libraries provide immense benefit including learning, social interaction, life management, community engagement and cool spaces.
- Care: As public assets, libraries are cared for by paid staff who are government employees, although users are also asked to respect the space and the rights of other users.
- Ownership: Community libraries are usually in public ownership and most often owned by Local government. State and Federal levels of government also provide large institutional libraries.

## Endangered Ecological Forests

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Establishing Site Forests
- Caring for Trees
- Managing On-Site Water

### About this pattern

Many development sites have remnant indigenous vegetation. It is important to understand whether this vegetation is part of an Endangered Ecological Community. In the Sydney region there are twelve designated endangered ecological forests listed under the Commonwealth Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), of which six are critically endangered. NSW Government also has a new Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act). In the BC Act, threatened ecological communities are defined by the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee. The BC Act lists over 100 threatened ecological communities. All except four are primarily made up of plant species.

A threatened ecological community is listed as either a “Vulnerable Ecological Community”, “Endangered Ecological Community (EEC)” or “Critically Endangered Ecological Community (CEEC)”. Maps of the Communities are available at http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl

### About this pattern

Site Planning Stages

Existing forests and woodlands on a site need to be mapped and tree species identified. If it is a remnant stand of one of the EEC/CEEC, then protective ribbons need to encircle it. The extent of the particular EEC/CEEC can be verified through the NSW Dept of Environment. An arboriculture assessment of tree health is then required.

Excavation, Hydrology, Drainage

The hydrology of the area adjoining the trees, particularly upslope, will need to be mapped. It is important that no earth works or changes to site drainage occur within the vicinity of the trees. Mature Eucalypts & Angophoras are particularly susceptible to altered drainage.

### About this pattern

Endangered Ecological Forests in the Sydney Region

- Blue Gum High Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (CEEC)
- Castlereagh Scribbly Gum and Agnes Banks Woodlands of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (CEEC)
- Coastal Upland Swamps in the Sydney Basin Bioregion (EEC)
- Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (CEEC)
- Cumberland Plain Shale Woodlands and Shale-Gravel Transition Forest (CEEC)
- Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region (EEC)
- Elderslie Banksia Scrub Forest of Sydney Region (EEC)

### About this pattern

Endangered Ecological Forests in the Sydney Region

- Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia (EEC)
- Pittwater & Wagstaffe Spotted Gum Forest (EEC)
- Shale Sandstone Transition Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (CEEC)
- Southern Highlands Shale Forest and Woodland in the Sydney Basin Bioregion (EEC)
- Turpentine-Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (CEEC)
- Upland Basalt Eucalypt Forests of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (EEC)
- Western Sydney Dry Rainforest and Moist Woodland on Shale (EEC)

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

- All roads, infrastructure, buildings and playing fields that are intended to protect Endangered Ecological Communities
- Bushcare groups and other community activities that promote and facilitate ecological learning

Constraints:

- Local Government Local Environmental Plans and State Environmental Planning Policies will have mapped the extent of the EEC/CEEC and will have specific requirements for the protection of these trees.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: limited pedestrian access and restricted vehicle access;
- Use: environmental resource, wildlife habitat, education;
- Benefit: ameliorating climate extremes, environmental heritage;
- Care: State Department of Environment, Local Government, community;
- Responsibility: State Department of Environment, Local Government;
- Ownership: Body Corporate of Building Owners.

## Planning and Designing Devices for A Cool Park

Type: Remedial
Stage: Delivery
Related Patterns:

- Cool Slopes: A pattern of contours
- Keyline Planning for Healthy Trees
- Accessible Clean Water for Recreation
- Misting Devices for Cooling Outdoor Space

### About this pattern

To control heat and humidity in a large park we need to map the paths of cooling breezes as well as the areas where there are no breezes, and then map the topography and porosity of the soil to determine where water is most likely to collect (usually in the lowest lying areas).

This process will locate the most and least pleasant microclimates. We can then discern where to locate devices to provide shade and clean air, dehumidifiers to reduce moisture, fountains to lower ambient temperatures and even ultrasonic speaker systems to drive away mosquitos. These will make up a pattern of devices for the benefit and comfort of the users of the park. They will reinforce areas that are already made comfortable by reducing the heat and humidity through means such as specific plants and trees chosen for their ability to shade according to their canopy, or water fountains and atomisers to cool the air.

### About this pattern

According to the number of devices in a given area, the spaces are more or less enjoyable, more or less comfortable. Such climatic devices can be versions of park furniture such as benches, fountains, or sculptures. Their role will be either as dehumidifiers, or as devices that cool surfaces from underground pipes or that decrease the intensity of light or create shade. In planning for the park, buildings can be located in the most uncomfortable areas whereas recreational and leisure activities can be situated in the most comfortable microclimates; that is, where heat and the relative humidity level will be at a minimum. The lowest lying parts of the park are likely to collect rainwater, and so generate higher air humidity. This is where the dehumidifying devices should be placed. Keeping in mind the relationship of the park to its topography and the water that is collected, keyline sub-ploughing can be used to slow down rainwater and enable it to infiltrate as closely as possible the places where it falls into the superficial layers of soil.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Community workshops can also be involved in making and maintaining some simple devices.

Constraints

- Parks with such innovative device patterns will require maintenance by local government.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Unrestricted
- Use: reduction of temperature & humidity
- Benefit: provides cool spots in open space, incentivises time to be spent out of doors thus reducing electricity use
- Responsibility: Local Government responsible for assets.
- Care: Local Government, Body Corporate contractors, community
- Ownership: Local Government ownership of cooling devices

## Multi-Use Community Centre

Type: Ideal
Stage: Planning
Related Patterns:

- Post-occupancy Learning
- Community Governance
- Patchwork for Accessible Coolth

### About this pattern

Multi-use community centres are spaces that are open to residents for a variety of uses that can range from informal through to formal and structured. These activities are usually free or provided on a non-profit basis. The centre should be intimate but flexible enough to suggest and enable a range of uses such as celebrations, meetings, and classes.

Multi-use community centres should include a kitchen and toilets, be accessible to people with diverse abilities, and be safe and inclusive spaces. Flatt access routes and shaded areas for seating outside provide inclusivity and coolth.

They can also include a range of indoor and outdoor spaces; teenagers and young adults are often overlooked in planning, so they may need more consideration as specific target users. Repurposed sales offices could be used as multi-use community centres.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Public funds to support the management and/or the construction of facilities.
- Community support, fundraising and co-production related to construction and/or the management of facilities.

Constraints

- Current development patterns and processes do not readily generate sites or funds for the construction or management of multi-use community centres
- Current sales and occupancy processes do not generate a ready pool of potential community-based site managers

### Commoning Concerns

Multi-use community centres are a hybrid commons that mix ownership and management of assets between institutions in different sectors and which can combine non-profit principles with the principles of enterprise.

### Commoning Concerns

- Access: Free for residents and should be easy and universally inclusive; events, activities, and classes may have a fee
- Use: As per their name, multi-use community centres enable a range of activities and provide spaces and opportunities for spontaneous interaction.
- Benefit: Multi-use community centres provide a social focal point that enhances the identity of the community and possibly provide cool interior and exterior spaces.
- Care: When a non-profit organisation is the occupant, they are usually responsible for care and maintenance. Casual users (e.g., for a birthday party or meeting) are usually required to clean up after their event.
- Responsibility: Often a local non-profit community organisation will own or lease the centre, and/or be responsible for site maintenance and management. Governance of facilities and policy decisions can involve community members outside of the NPO sitting as board members in addition to public officials.
- Ownership: Private non-profit or public ownership.

## Succession Tree Planting

Type: Ideal
Stage: Post-occupancy
Related Patterns:

- Establishing Site Forests
- Caring for Trees
- Selecting Shade Trees for Public Open Space

### About this pattern

As trees grow to maturity, they change the microclimate around them. Deciduous trees for instance will form a shady canopy during summer and also provide shelter from hot winds, and then let the sun through in winter (ABC 2009). Trees take time to mature into a size that can afford shade and coolth, however, and they need to be protected to mature. Furthermore, mature trees can die back or die altogether, thus other trees need to be on their way towards maturity to take their place. It is therefore imperative that senescent trees, that is, trees of advanced old age or trees in decline, that are more susceptible to disease, insect infestation and decay, are responsibly managed in urban streets and parks and that succession tree planting is planned for (City of Ryde 2016, pp. 24-26). This particularly requires the development of expertise relating to:

- Monitoring tree senescence patterns.
- Staggering plantings over time.
- Communicating clearly to park users the plans for staggered plantings, and the transformative processes currently taking place.

### Pattern Conditions

Enablers

- Some Local Government Authorities are coming to realise that unplanned work to remove and replace individual trees on an ad-hoc basis is overly expensive and that a better solution is to develop a Tree Master Plan for parks and precincts, together with a tree inventory and community consultation programme (with calls for volunteering).

Constraints

- Long term plans are difficult to envision, and changes can happen too slowly to be discerned sufficiently to inspire respect. Original plans might be lost over time if there are not activities that ensure intergenerational communication.
- Trees may not grow as planned for. Extreme weather events can disrupt long-term landscape designs.

### Commoning Concerns

Tree planting as an activity among commoners who create, sustain and are sustained by the commons

- Access: All public; birdlife.
- Use: Better planning for tree replacement;
- Benefit: Maintaining coolth in microclimates; amenity of public space;
- Care: Local Government Authority; contracted arboriculturists; community volunteers.**
- Ownership: Local Government Authority.

Usually experts design and maintain landscapes. Users of the cooling services of park landscapes can be invited into the process of planning and assisting the realisation of landscape designs over time. Planting for succession can create intergenerational sense of ownership over a commons.

Note: We can also improve passive maintenance of vegetation through environmental manipulation and an understanding of ecological succession. In this way, non-human users are also enrolled into a commoning ecosystem.