Measuring the accessibility and equity of public parks: a case study using GIS

Geographic information systems (GIS) can provide leisure service agencies with numerous opportunities to enhance the planning and management of their facilities. This paper demonstrates one such application, to the measurement of levels of accessibility and distributional equity offered by a system of public parks. The methods proposed are relatively simple; nevertheless, they do offer substantial improvements upon those previously utilized by leisure service providers. They facilitate identification of poorly served areas and populations, and suggest where new facilities might best be sited so as to maximize access and equity. These methods are illustrated by a case study of the park system in Bryan, Texas. Many other applications of GIS to leisure service provision are available, several of which are briefly discussed. Together, they could enable agencies to function more effectively and, ultimately, to provide better levels of service to the public.

[1]  B. Jones,et al.  The Distribution of Urban Public Services , 1974 .

[2]  Citizen and administrator perspectives of equity in the delivery of park services , 1986 .

[3]  D. M. Smith,et al.  The dictionary of human geography. Second edition. , 1986 .

[4]  Maureen E. Penfold.  Social Justice and the City , 1974 .

[5]  The Distribution of Benefits in an Urban Environment , 1977 .

[6]  R. Morrill.  Efficiency and Equity of Optimum Location Models , 1974 .

[7]  J. Crompton,et al.  Implementing a preferred equity model for the delivery of leisure services in the US context , 1988 .

[8]  David Cingranelli.  Race, Politics and Elites: Testing Alternative Models of Municipal Service Distribution , 1981 .

[9]  The Distribution of an Urban Public Service , 1989 .

[10]  E. Talen.  THE SOCIAL EQUITY OF URBAN SERVICE DISTRIBUTION: AN EXPLORATION OF PARK ACCESS IN PUEBLO, COLORADO, AND MACON, GEORGIA , 1997 .

[11]  Emily Talen,et al.  Visualizing Fairness: Equity Maps for Planners , 1998 .

[12]  W. Lucy.  Equity and Planning For Local Services , 1981 .

[13]  R. Morrill,et al.  Efficiency and Equity Aspects of Optimum Location , 1977 .

[14]  James D. Mertes,et al.  Park, Recreation, Open Space and Greenway Guidelines , 1996 .

[15]  Jeffrey Allen,et al.  Geographic Information Systems (GIS): a tool for marketing, managing, and planning municipal park systems. , 1993 .

[16]  Paul Neuhaus,et al.  United States Bureau of the Census , 1998 .

[17]  David H. Koehler,et al.  Inequality in the Delivery of Urban Services: A Reconsideration of the Chicago Parks , 1987, The Journal of Politics.

[18]  Kenneth R. Mladenka.  The Urban Bureaucracy and the Chicago Political Machine: Who Gets What and the Limits to Political Control , 1980, American Political Science Review.

[19]  John G. Symons,et al.  SOME COMMENTS ON EQUITY AND EFFICIENCY IN PUBLIC FACILITY LOCATION MODELS , 1971 .

[20]  G. Knapp,et al.  Advancing the use of geographic information systems for park and recreation management. , 1999 .

[21]  Robert L. Lineberry,et al.  Equality and Urban Policy: The Distribution of Municipal Public Services , 1977 .

[22]  R. L. Hodgart.  Optimizing Access to Public Services: A Review of Problems, Models and Methods of Locating Central Facilities , 1978 .

[23]  L. Anselin,et al.  Assessing Spatial Equity: An Evaluation of Measures of Accessibility to Public Playgrounds , 1998 .

[24]  G. Antunes,et al.  The Distribution of an Urban Public Service , 1977 .