School and Community Infrastructure Networks: What Might These Look Like?

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter asks, ‘How might school and community infrastructure networks be conceived, and what might they look like?’ Through an exploratory review of the literature, the relationships between school and community infrastructures are investigated and connections and boundaries between different forms of infrastructure for community use are discussed. A network theory approach is adopted to explore emerging insights into how school facilities and other community assets (buildings and landscaped areas) might better support whole-of-community development, education, and wellbeing. Historically, the opposing design objectives of connection and security have challenged the development of schools as locations for community use, often resulting in facilities that are inadequately planned or resolved in their design to meet the needs of multiple user-groups. Might the reappraisal of school planning and design enable new and improved connections with other community infrastructures? Might planning and designing community facilities with school users in mind improve their utility? Drawing together various discourses in the literature, a network model is proposed to represent relationships between school and community infrastructures. This is intended to encourage planning authorities to explore potentially better integrated, more effective, and financially more efficient models of infrastructure provision for community use—especially in fast growing areas on the edges of Australia’s largest cities where demand for community services and infrastructure is high, but resources are stretched.