New Equity Analysis Tool Addresses Disparities and Provides Insights
Contact: Philip Longenecker, Sarah Littlefield, David Wasserman, AICP
Changing Focus on Equity
Transportation planning practices have historically failed to question whether the benefits and burdens of transportation investments are distributed equitably. By focusing on equity, planners can begin to address the disparities in our communities so that the benefits of investments reach everyone.
Understanding equity from several angles, such as housing access, public health, and environmental impact, is crucial to designing informed and human-centered active transportation solutions. At Alta, our Civic Analytics team constantly looks for ways to find the right data sets, use them constructively, and easily explain the impacts of multimodal movement.
This impulse spurred the development of Alta’s newest tool, an in-house equity analysis tool that helps address various challenges communities face when utilizing data to inform their projects. This tool streamlines the process of gathering and integrating multiple datasets, which accelerates identification of key areas of interest within the analysis and jumpstarts tailored decision making. This allows the team to maximize finite project resources and provide agencies with more nuanced insights into how different equity indices of interest relate and impact one another in their own communities.
Dimensions of Equity
Evaluating equity as it relates to transportation is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach. People’s experiences in a place and the inequities that exist there are often rooted in the social, environmental, and historical context. Because of this, definitions of equity will vary from community to community.
As a starting place, Alta has identified six dimensions of equity in order to support transportation data analysis. The datasets that we use in our equity tool stem from these overarching dimensions, and are all large-scale, publicly-available, and spatially-attributable data.
Alta’s equity tool combines data from the US Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Opportunity Atlas, and American Forests to identify places of high equity priority, which can help inform future investment. We encourage clients to add, drop, and weigh the variables to better reflect the meaning of equity in their community.
Alta uses the tool to identify spatial patterns, start conversations about deeper engagement with underserved communities, and highlight ways that transportation plans and investments can be made to be more inclusive of marginalized populations.
Having an in-house equity tool allows Alta and communities to spend less time sifting through wonky datasets, and more time relating equity information to other project components such as community access and public engagement.
Examples of the Equity Tool in Action
Bear Creek Greenway; Jackson County, Oregon
Improving transportation and recreation options that don’t rely on cars is an effective way to overcome inequities where they exist. The Bear Creek Greenway in Jackson County, Oregon is one example. This valued community resource provides a high-quality low-stress route for biking and walking through the communities of Central Point, Medford, Talent, Phoenix, and Ashland. Not only does it support people walking and biking for recreation, exercise, or commutes, it also provides an important connection to nature for many residents.
As the County evaluates funding opportunities and decision making structures for the Greenway, Alta is using its Equity Tool to provide more insight into who has access to the greenway today and where people with the highest need for transportation options live. Understanding where these communities are most densely located will help shape both engagement strategies for the project and recommendations for how Bear Creek Greenway can better support all residents in Jackson County.
Fairfax County, VA Scenario Testing
Alta is helping the Fairfax County Department of Transportation update and combine the Bicycle Master Plan and the Countywide Trails Plan into a comprehensive ActiveFairfax Transportation Plan. This project seeks to enhance the City’s active transportation networks, which includes understanding equity within Fairfax County’s unique context. A 2017 study supported by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation sums it up well: though the Northern Virginia region is generally known as affluent, there are islands of disadvantage, where historic land use and transportation decisions have cut off neighborhoods from access to opportunities and to healthy living.
Utilizing Alta’s equity tool, the team developed three unique equity model scenarios to capture the real-world conditions stakeholders and community members were experiencing on the ground. Each scenario used different inputs and/or weighting approaches that will allow the County to select the option that best reflects County goals, local conditions, and stakeholder feedback.
Learn more about Alta’s Civic Analytics practice, and reach out to David Wasserman to start a conversation if you think the equity tool could benefit your community. In the meantime, you can follow along for monthly news updates here.
