Scottish Natural Heritage Scotland’s Greenspace Map in Action Case study 2: Climate change adaptation opportunities mapping in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Scotland’s Greenspace Map (SGM) is a Summary Geographical Information System (GIS) based map which provides comprehensive Climate Ready Clyde is a forum for public sector, private information on the location, extent and type sector and community facing organisations to identify and discuss the challenges that Glasgow and the Clyde Valley i of greenspace across urban Scotland. faces as a result of climate change. One key action of the It was compiled from 32 individual local authority forum is the development of a Climate Change Adaptation greenspace datasets. The datasets were produced Strategy for the region. This requires a clear and using greenspace mapping characterisationii which comprehensive spatial analysis of the areas where involved using GIS maps and aerial photography to adaptation is a priority and the opportunities for action. categorise greenspaces into 23 different open space As part of the initiative, the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green types, based on the typology set out in Planning Network Partnership has begun to map out priorities and iii Advice Note 65. The Map was published in opportunities for climate change adaptation across the September 2011 and is thought to be the first region. One aspect of the climate change adaptation work of its kind in the world. is a GIS-based analysis of climate impacts and community This series of case studies provides examples of how and infrastructure vulnerability to climate change and the data from Scotland’s Greenspace Map has been used identification of opportunities for creating or enhancing to inform the development of policy, practice and green infrastructure to increase local resilience. research at a range for scales, including local The initial stage of this work involves mapping climate change authority, regional and national. impacts and communities which are particularly vulnerable and identifying where green network opportunities exist. This work is an extension of previous green network opportunities mapping analyses at a regional and local authority level. These analyses have relied heavily on data from SGM. SGM provides the key dataset for quantity, typology and distribution of greenspace. This is combined with datasets relating to public access, greenspace quality, development priorities, deprivation levels, flood risk, temperature mapping etc. allowing key locations for action to be identified. Figure 1: The area covered by the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Case study 2: Climate change adaptation opportunities mapping in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Page 1 Developing the approach Green network opportunities mapping Method and analysis at a regional and local authority level The development of the methodology began by seeking to The Glasgow and Clyde Valley (GCV) Green Network address the following questions: Partnership initially developed a GIS based approach to - What Green Network resource currently exists and identify strategic regional opportunities for delivery of the where are the opportunities to improve it? Green Network in the GCV Strategic Development Plan area. The analysis used SGM as part of a range of Green Network, - Where are the priority areas to expand the development and social datasets to identify strategic Green Network for: locations where the planning process and the targeting of a. biodiversity habitat networks? resources can deliver multiple Green Network benefits. b. public access to greenspace? The findings from this analysis were published in the Main - Where are the major areas of land-use change Issues Report for the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Strategic (which offer chances to create new greenspaces) Development Plan (2010)iv and the subsequent Strategic and social need (where the Green Network can deliver Development Planv approved in May 2012. maximum social and health benefits)? Although originally conceived to identify strategic A series of datasets were used for opportunities opportunities across the region it was recognised from mapping at the Regional and Local Authority levels. the outset that the resultant data could also be interrogated These datasets were: at a finer resolution for more localised opportunities – not Layer 1: Existing greenspace provision, path least because many of the delivery mechanisms for the network and potential for enhancement Green Network exist at the local authority level. By replacing regionally based datasets with local authority - SGM data specific datasets, outputs which were more relevant and - Greenspace/open space quality audit data useful to the local authority context could be produced. - Core Path Plans The resultant outputs can be used by Councils in two ways: Layer 2: Strategic biodiversity and access priorities 1. To identify local priorities for action (and what that action might be) to deliver maximum and multiple benefit. - Integrated Habitat Network priorities modelling 2. To inform the development of Local Development Plan - Network for People priorities modelling Green Network policies, Open Space Strategies and (Both of these network models use the SGM as the key supporting technical documentation including, if required, dataset for greenspace typology, scale and distribution.) supplementary planning guidance. Layer 3: Strategic development opportunities, To illustrate how this regional approach was used at the land-use change opportunities and areas of social local level we will examine Green Network Opportunities need Mapping for the Inverclyde Council (IC) area published by the Partnership in May 2013.vi This was developed in - Development and Regeneration Priority areas partnership with Inverclyde Council staff. - SIMD dataset In order to rank and prioritise the Green Network opportunities identified by each of the datasets, and to aid the GIS analysis, a system of weighting was applied. This allowed the analysis to prioritise: - those areas undergoing regeneration and redevelopment (where opportunities for green network action may be highest) - those spaces where quality is poorest (and quality improvements will have most effect) - those areas where greenspace improvements will have the greatest impact on network connectivity (for biodiversity and for people) - those areas where greenspace improvements will have the greatest social and health impacts (with the lowest 15% SIMD datazones being weighted high for action) Case study 2: Climate change adaptation opportunities mapping in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Page 2 Inverclyde - Strategic Green Network Opportunities Figure 2: Areas where the greatest opportunity exists to enhance the Green Network Opportunity mapping outputs As an example, the Partnership (at the request of the Council) ran two separate analyses of data for Inverclyde – one focusing on the areas of greatest opportunity for action (using the Development and Regeneration priorities) and the other using the SIMD dataset to identify the potential for delivering social and health benefits (see Figure 2 and 3). The analysis generated two sets of priority areas and a short report on the issues and opportunities for each priority area. Case study 2: Climate change adaptation opportunities mapping in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Page 3 Inverclyde - Strategic Green Network Opportunities with SIMD Figure 3: Areas where the greatest opportunity exists to deliver social and health benefits through Green Network enhancements The report recommends that these outputs should Mapping opportunities for be used to: climate change adaptation action - Develop robust and defensible Green Network policies for the Local Development Plan As a partner in the Climate Ready Clyde initiative, the - Target limited resources and planning gain Green Network Partnership has begun to map out priorities effectively and opportunities for climate change adaptation across the region. This includes mapping of woodland creation - Inform masterplanning and development opportunities across the entire region, as well as a study management to identify very local action which will reduce the impacts - Develop Green Network Strategies for opportunity of climate change on specific communities. As with much areas identified through analysis of the Partnership’s work, this is being piloted initially in - Inform strategies which support the Local one Local Authority area before being rolled out across Development Plan e.g. Open Space, Biodiversity the region. and Access Strategies - Set Single Outcome Agreement targets and measures Case study 2: Climate change adaptation opportunities mapping in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Page 4 Developing the approach Method and analysis Layer 2: Vulnerabilities - SIMD datasetsix The Green Network Partnership, working with colleagues in Glasgow City Council, is using SGM to look for opportunities - Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics Area Profile data x where enhancing the Green Network (either by creating new (population) green infrastructure or through changes to management) can - Infrastructure e.g. roads, hospitals, train stations etc contribute to climate change adaptation. The study is using GIS to create a tool which analyses data on climate change Where impacted areas have been identified, SGM and impacts and vulnerabilities to identify areas where the Green associated Green Network datasets are being used to Network may play a part in providing adaptive capacity. develop recommendations