Open space management
Under management of open space , the holistic approach and optimization is to understand the development, construction and maintenance and dismantling of non-built-up areas. These undeveloped spaces are referred to as open spaces in the sense of architecture and landscape architecture . These include squares, parks, cemeteries as well as green areas close to apartments, sports and playgrounds, leisure facilities and urban forests. The responsibility for the development, design and maintenance of these areas lies among others with municipalities, housing associations and private developers. In order to make these free spaces sustainable, an economic, ecological and social consideration of the entire life cycle is necessary.
The different actors mean that interdisciplinary cooperation is gaining in importance. The tasks of the individual actors are becoming increasingly complex, so that the networking of the actors with one another using digital tools plays an important role. At the same time, the need for services in this area, such as funding management, is increasing. In addition to the client or owner of the property, the actors involved in this context are in particular:
- Project developers who are usually responsible for a project from the feasibility study to project marketing and life cycle analysis - in this case an outdoor facility.
- Landscape architects , who are usually concerned with the planning of open spaces from the first draft to execution through to construction management and possibly also documentation.
- Companies in the horticulture and landscaping that are involved for the execution and partly maintain the clearances during the proposal preparation to construction to maintenance and care in the cycle.
- Experts who, among other things, carry out appraisals, security checks, quality checks and also provide advice to recommendations regarding the project development mentioned above.
These very actors are to be coordinated in the context of open space management and networking takes place over the life cycle of the open space, e.g. B. according to the model of Building Information Modeling (BIM), as is already strived for in the construction industry for large construction projects. Since the focus is on the outdoor facilities, other tools such as GIS-based green space management or green space information systems (GRIS) and, under aspects of care and maintenance management, Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) are used.
aims
The goal of open space management is the sustainable use of open space under economic, ecological and social aspects.
Economic sustainability
With regard to the reduction of the costs of an outdoor facility, when considering the entire life cycle, the production costs as well as the care and maintenance costs, repair costs as well as costs for demolition or renewal must be included. Only about 10% of the costs of an open-air system arise from its creation. The main part of the costs arises from care, maintenance and repair. With forward-looking, targeted and site-specific planning and technically correct maintenance, the follow-up costs can be significantly reduced by increasing the investment costs, if necessary.
In addition to reducing maintenance costs, a successful design of open spaces can increase profits for investors. It becomes clear that a targeted improvement in the living environment leads to a direct increase in rent. The aim here is to improve the green infrastructure in line with the Green White Paper .
environmental sustainability
With regard to ecological sustainability, there are different approaches in open space management. Starting with the reduction of land consumption, through resource conservation, for example through targeted land management, to increasing biodiversity through targeted planning.
Currently, around 660,000 m² of surface area is sealed in Germany every day, which corresponds to an area of 100 soccer fields. This consumption is to be more than halved by 2030. Open space management can make a contribution here by recording and reusing inner-city areas that are currently not used. In addition, unused buildings can be dismantled and the land can be converted back into open spaces.
In the case of re-shooting of areas, the land consumption can be reduced and at the same time the consumption of the soil resource avoided by planning the earth mass modeling at an early stage.
With a view to ecological sustainability, the focus is on increasing biodiversity. This can be promoted through the selection of suitable vegetation when planting urban greenery and planning ecological niches and stepping stone biotopes. In this way, there is an ecological network of open spaces in urban areas. Due to the spatial proximity of different vegetation areas to each other, there is migration and the spread of different species over all open spaces.
Social sustainability
Open spaces are lounges for people and contribute to the quality of life in settlement areas. The design often determines the perception of the open space. As exercise areas, they help promote general health. The design also has an influence on the well-being in the open space. The use by different social classes is also determined by the design.
As a rule, open spaces are multifunctional areas that should be accessible to all age groups.
It is essential for sustainable use that these rooms are barrier-free and inclusive.
The various aspects are based on social aspects and are taken into account in the same way by the open space manager.
Range of tasks / challenges
The range of tasks varies depending on the builder or client. Challenges for municipalities, housing associations, executing companies both open space managers can be:
- public participation, for example through e-participation as part of project development,
- increasing the ecological sustainability of inner-city greenery and creating stepping stone biotopes ,
- Design for all, a design of the open spaces adapted for all user groups,
- the creation of green infrastructure ,
- adapting vegetation to climate change,
- the household renovation and thus adequate design of the outdoor facilities,
- the visualization of the planning as virtual or augmented reality (e.g. for citizen participation),
- an information management from construction to maintenance
- increasing the value chain through, for example, rental price increases,
- an evaluation of complaint management, especially in green space offices,
- the mapping of monetary added value in GIS ,
- communication and mediation between those involved in the construction,
- Aspects of data protection and data security,
- the automation of the construction process (e.g. machine control, logistics, etc.).
job profile
The field of activity of free space managers and free space economists is broad. You can work for project developers, general contractors, landscape architecture offices, gardening and landscaping companies as well as for institutions with large property portfolios. These institutions include, for example, municipalities or housing associations. There are also fields of activity in consulting and expert services. It is also conceivable, however, to set up start-ups with new, innovative services on the subject of "outdoor facilities".
Depending on the specialist area, the project conception and, if necessary, public participation, the planning, design and visualization, the execution and automation of the construction process or the life cycle assessment, questions of profitability or the expert system are more in the focus of the activity.
Education
In Germany, the Open Space Management course is offered at the Technical University of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (TH OWL). The degree is Bachelor of Engineering .
literature
- Ralf Semmler: Modern urban open space management - step by step to cost savings with a new database, part 2. In: Stadt + Grün . No. 12/2017. Patzer Verlag, Berlin 2017, pp. 54–55.
- Florian Brack, Reto Hagenbuch: Sustainability in green space management. In: New Landscape . No. 03/2015, Patzer Verlag, Berlin 2015, pp. 38–42.
Web links
- Internet presence (zhaw) Research group on open space management at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ralf Semmler: Modern urban open space management - step by step to cost savings with a new database, part 2 . In: Stadt + Grün . No. 12/2017 . Patzer Verlag, Berlin 2017, p. 54-55 .
- ↑ Florian Brack, Reto Hagenbuch: Sustainability in Green Space Management . In: New Landscape . No. 03/2015 . Patzer Verlag, Berlin 2015, p. 38-42 .
- ↑ Technical University of Ostwestfalen-Lippe - Freiraummanagement (B.Eng.). In: th-owl.de. May 11, 2020, accessed May 11, 2020 .