Explore Indicators
Number/area of amenities
What is the indicator?
This indicator measures the amount or level of specific types of amenities/amenity present in a defined geographic area (such as within the boundaries of a local government area). By measuring change in amounts/levels over time, it is possible to track whether the amenity available to residents and visitors to the region being examined area changing. If the population of the region being examined is changing over time, it may be important to measure the amount of amenity available per head of population to ensure the extent to which access to amenities is changing is accurately estimated. Many aspects of amenity can be measured. Some common examples include:
- Length of public trails (walking, cycling, horse riding etc)
- Number and/or area of recreational public parks/ovals, sports ovals, other sporting facilities
- Number of public halls or community meeting spaces
- Number of arts/music/performance spaces
- Number and/or area of nature reserves
- Area of ‘greenspace’ available to residents (defined as outdoor areas with nature elements, which can range from nature reserves to public parks and gardens)
- Area of tree canopy cover
- Air quality levels, using common air pollutant measures such as PM2.5 levels
- Water quality, or number of days local recreational waterways could be used for swimming/bathing.
What can this tell us about wellbeing?
The level of amenity available to residents of a region (or to people working or visiting that region) affects wellbeing. In general, decline in amenity has potential to negatively impact wellbeing, while increase in amenity can support wellbeing. A challenge when measuring this indicator is the large number of aspects of amenity that can be measured, and often limited evidence available regarding which aspects of amenity are most important to the wellbeing of residents. Perhaps the strongest body of evidence relates to the positive effect of ‘greenspace’ on wellbeing of residents, and of access to recreational, social and cultural spaces. There is strong evidence that all of these have a positive impact on wellbeing. However, most studies have been undertaken in major urban areas, rather than in rural and regional communities; and there is no consensus regarding how much amenity is ‘enough’ to support healthy wellbeing. Care is needed when using measures of the amount of amenity present in a community, in that there is unlikely to be a linear relationship between wellbeing and the amount of amenity present: for example, while establishing walking paths is important to enable healthy exercise, beyond a certain point, adding more walking paths may not meaningfully increase recreation opportunities and hence wellbeing.
Advantages: Measuring the number, area or level of amenity provides a simple, quantitative measure that can be easily understood and tracked over time. For many amenities it is possible to examine quantity available per head of population to understand how availability of amenities compares to other communities. For example, kilometres of walking trails per 1,000 population, or number of meeting spaces per 1,000 population, can be useful ways to understand the relative availability of amenities.
Disadvantages: This type of indicator does not examine whether amenities are equally accessible to all community members, owhat the quality of the amenities is. It can be difficult to identify whether the amenities available are ‘enough’ to support healthy wellbeing, due to a lack of clear evidence about how much of a given type/aspect of amenity is needed to support high levels of wellbeing.
Advantages and disadvantages of this indicator
Advantages: Measuring the number, area or level of amenity provides a simple, quantitative measure that can be easily understood and tracked over time. For many amenities it is possible to examine quantity available per head of population to understand how availability of amenities compares to other communities. For example, kilometres of walking trails per 1,000 population, or number of meeting spaces per 1,000 population, can be useful ways to understand the relative availability of amenities.
Disadvantages: This type of indicator does not typically provide information on whether amenities are equally accessible to all community members, owhat the quality of the amenities is. It can be difficult to identify whether the amenities available are ‘enough’ to support healthy wellbeing, due to a lack of clear evidence about how much of a given type/aspect of amenity is needed to support high levels of wellbeing.
What measures should I use for this indicator?
This indicator can be examined using a wide range of measures, ranging from satellite imagery that can be used to estimate tree canopy cover, to counts of the number of public halls or meeting spaces available in a local area. It is important to identify what aspects of local amenity are most important to residents, in order to identify which measures are most important to use. The measures described below are just a few examples of the wide range of measures that can be examined. Measures of environmental health that provide insight into amenity, such as air and water quality, are examined in other indicators (see the Environmental health domain).
Measures
Tree canopy cover provides an important measure of amenity. Having higher tree canopy cover is associated with a range of positive benefits for wellbeing, including more shade on hot days, reduced ‘heat island’ effects in built up areas, and mental health benefits associated with greenspace, to name a few.
There is no single answer to the question of how much tree canopy cover is sufficient to support wellbeing. The answer depends on many factors, including the climatic zone of the region being examined. For example, in remote desert areas this measure is unlikely to be relevant or appropriate to the climate zone. However in temperate coastal areas, it may be highly relevant. Tree canopy targets are often included in urban planning documents, and targets appropriate to the local climate should be used. In general, a decline in canopy cover is considered likely to have a negative impact on wellbeing, and an increase a positive impact. However, there are some circumstances in which it is possible an increase in tree canopy could be associated with concern, for example if the trees are invasive species or considered to be causing harm to the local region.
Tree canopy cover is commonly estimated using either satellite or LIDAR data.
Geo AI provide a useful overview of available satellite and LIDAR data in different Australian jurisdictions.
Saimum and Rahman 2025 provide a useful overview of satellite data and its use to estimate tree canopy cover.
Surveys are not generally used to estimate tree canopy cover: it is more common to use satellite or LIDAR data, or ground-based surveys of tree cover. However, surveys of residents and visitors can be used to identify the extent to which they are satisfied with the amount, accessibility and quality of amenities available to them. This is described in other amenity and liveability indicators.
Having spaces where members of the community can easily come together, particularly for low or no cost, supports social connection. Local meeting places are an important part of local amenity. This indicator tracks availability of meeting spaces per head of population.
This is a simple indicator that should be used when it is possible to easily count how many meeting spaces are available. Clear guidelines should be established for what is considered to be a community meeting space. For example, a meeting room for hire at a local motel may not be considered a public meeting space due to the level of fee required to hire it.
For example, the NSW yourcouncil website produces data on the number of public halls per 1,000 population for every local government across NSW. This includes only publicly owned assets, and not privately owned facilities.
An increase in meeting spaces per head of population is a positive sign that there are places where people can easily gather, with these type of activities generally supporting wellbeing. A decline is a signal that it may be getting harder to bring members of the community together for activities and meetings.
In NSW, the NSW yourcouncil website produces data on the number of public halls per 1,000 population for every local government across NSW.
In other areas, it is typically necessary to collect your own data.
Data on accessibility and availability of meeting spaces can be collected in community surveys. However, these will typically ask for subjective views about how accessible and appropriate locals find the meeting places they have available to them; it will not provide an objective count of the number of places available.
These measures track how availability of specific amenities is changing in a specific location, such as a local government area. Many types of amenities can be examined, from nature reserves to areas of ‘greenspace’, street trees, length of walking trails and bike baths, sporting facilities, arts and cultural facilities, number of public toilets, public benches, picnic tables, playgrounds, and many others.
Different amenities provide different benefits for wellbeing. Nature and physical recreation facilities provide benefits in the form of time spent outdoors, physical exercise, and providing spaces for social connection. Public toilets provide an important facility that facilitate being able to spend time in public places, particularly for those who need to use these facilities regularly and may otherwise not be easily able to leave home for long periods of time. Street trees provide shade and reduced temperatures on hot days.
Make sure you measure change in amenities that are important to the local community, and which provide clear benefits for wellbeing.
Many data sources can be drawn on to track change. These can include:
- Administrative records and maps
- Google maps and Google Earth
- Satellite imagery and LIDAR (for green space and street trees)
In community surveys, it is possible to ask residents their views about whether they have sufficient amenities available to them. However, this typically does not provide an objective count of the specific number, area (or in the case of paths and trails, length) of amenities available. Use surveys to assess public views about the quality, accessibility and sufficiency of amenities, rather than to count how many/how much of an amenity is present.