Prioritizing Park Projects

The City of Portland Parks and Recreation Department set new accessibility goals for 2020 to have a park or natural area within a ½ mile of every resident. When demographics are considered, we can make informed decisions regarding which of these projects to prioritize.

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Process

Census data for Multnomah county was downloaded, joined, and isolated to the city of Portland. A simple Python script was used to apply rankings to each tract based on this data.

A linear distance-based workflow was used to determine tracts in which 33% of residents were more than ½ mile walking distance from a park. This data was combined with the demographic rankings to determine high-priority areas. Those containing existing or planned park projects were isolated and assigned a priority value based on demographic rankings.

Purpose

Research has shown that low-income and racially diverse areas within cities tend to have less access to green spaces. By leveraging US Census data with GIS workflows, we can bring green spaces to where they are needed most.