This project seeks to address the issue of park access inequity in cities from a lens of structural racism in urban planning and "people-oriented city design"-transit development that services urban community needs over vehicle infrastructure 4. Non-profit Trust for the Public Land (TPL) has an indexed ranking of park access in American cities called "ParkScore". ParkScore uses metrics including total park acreage, investment, amenities, access, and equity-sourced from US Census demographic data- to develop an aggregated park access ranking of America's top 100 cities. In 2022, Washington, DC was designated the most equitable US city in terms of park access with a ParkScore of 84.9, with Mesa, AZ declared the least equitable with a score of 31.9 5. By comparing the most and the least park equitable cities in the United States, this project hopes to showcase park access inequalities as an issue of inequitable urban infrastructure.
The below maps show the geographic proximity of people-oriented city infrastructure- bike lanes, metro lines, and bus stations- to parks and urban green spaces in Mesa, AZ and Washington, DC. Geographic data for DC bus routes, bike lanes, metro routes, and green spaces were sourced from Open Data DC7,8,9,10. Geographic data for Mesa light rail route and bus stop locations were sourced from Valley Metro Open Data11,12, bike lane data from City of Mesa ArcGIS Online13, and park data from City of Mesa Park Finder14. With regards to public transit, DC's urban infrastructure is far more people-oriented than Mesa's, with a rapid rail transit system and a comprehensive network of public bus stations that within proximity of green spaces; particularly in the northwestern quadrant of the city.
Please select the below checkboxes to explore the geographic relationship between transit infrastructure and access to green space.
MESA, AZ
WASHINGTON, DC
* City of Mesa GIS did not have a publicly available geographic shp file for green spaces, so the coordinates and acreage of each park had to be used instead. **Mesa, AZ has a light rail system while Washington, DC has a rapid rail system. Light rail systems typically use small trains powered by overhead electrical wires, and have a lower passenger capacity and speed as compared to heavy rail or rapid transit rail systems.15
Citations
1. Stevens H. 'nature is the great equalizer': A black couple's road trip discovering the National Parks. Chicago Tribune.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-stevens/ct-black-visitors-national-parks-balancing-1120-20161117-column.html.
Published May 16, 2019.
2. Twohig-Bennett C, Jones A. The health benefits of the Great Outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes.
Environmental Research. 2018;166:628-637. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.030
3. Parks and an equitable recovery. Trust for Public Land. https://www.tpl.org/parks-and-an-equitable-recovery-parkscore-report. Published September 13, 2022.
4. People-Oriented Cities: Three Keys to Quality Public Transport. Smart Cities Dive. https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/people-oriented-cities-three-keys-quality-public-transport/256151/.
5. Parkscore Home. Trust for Public Land. https://www.tpl.org/parkscore. Published February 20, 2023.
6. Cities and Neighborhooods. Walk Score. https://www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods/.
7. Metro Bus Stops. Open Data DC. https://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/DCGIS::metro-bus-stops/explore.
8. Bicycle lanes. Open Data DC. https://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/bicycle-lanes/explore.
9. Metro Lines Regional. ArcGIS Hub. https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/ead6291a71874bf8ba332d135036fbda/explore.
10. Parks and recreation areas. Open Data DC. https://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/DCGIS::parks-and-recreation-areas/explore?location=38.902585%25.
11. Busstops. Valley Metro GeoCenter. https://geocenter-valleymetro.opendata.arcgis.com/maps/busstops.
12. Valley Metro Light Rail. Valley Metro GeoCenter. https://geocenter-valleymetro.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ValleyMetro::valley-metro-light-rail/explore.
13. Bikepaths. City of Mesa GIS. https://opengis.mesaaz.gov/datasets/MesaAZ::bikepaths/explore.
14. Mesa Park Finder. City of Mesa GIS. https://gis.mesaaz.gov/parkfinder/.
15.TransitBy Matt Johnson (Editorial Board Alum) April 4 2019. Light rail? heavy rail? subway? rail transit modes fall on a Continuum. Greater Greater Washington. https://ggwash.org/view/71583/light-rail-heavy-rail-subway-rail-transit-modes-fall-on-a-continuum. Published April 4, 2019.