Measuring fragmentation of open space in urbanised Flanders: an evaluation of four methods

The open space in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium, can hardly be seen as really open. From the Middle Ages onward this area has been known for its spread out development pattern, which has even strengthened in recent decades. Especially the residential ribbon development and the omnipresent infrastructure are widely recognised. These developments have led to an intense fragmentation of open space. In this paper we present two new methods to analyse and quantify this fragmentation of open space from a spatial planning perspective, and compare them with two existing methods. This comparat... Mehr ...