Park Access for Underserved Populations in Los Angeles

GreenInfo Network created a series of maps for the City Project to illustrate the location of parks and open space in relation to the neighborhood demographic attributes of poverty levels, percentage of youth, race/ethnicity, and access to a car. Each of these attributes was mapped individually to highlight any potential injustices based on a single factor. The 2000 Census tracts in the county were categorized to be above, at, or below the county average in each of the four variables. The tracts that were above the county average in all four categories were flagged as extremely disadvantaged (shown in red). Tracts with all four variables below the county average were marked as advantaged (shown in yellow). All remaining tracts were identified as being in range of the county average (shown in cream). The extremely disadvantaged and advantaged tracts were mapped alongside existing parks and open space.

In addition to the spatial analysis, park acres per thousand residents were calculated for cities and political districts. The acres-per-thousand-residents measure is a standard method of assessing a region’s park infrastructure. Results revealed a wide range of park acreage per thousand residents with some of the healthiest cities having well over 400 acres per thousand residents, while some impoverished communities had less than one acre per thousand residents. As a whole, Los Angeles County is park poor with 101 of the 131 analyzed communities falling below the national average of 6–10 acres of parks per thousand residents.

Courtesy of GreenInfo Network, copyright 2006.