Mapping Access to Green Space in Toronto

I recently created a special report on 'Mapping Access to Greenspace in the City of Toronto and the Lower Don Valley' that can be downloaded by clicking the cover page below:



I also presented this report to staff from the City of Toronto at a 'Parks, Forestry and Recreation Speakers's Corner event. The video recording can be viewed below:

I also created an interactive map to allow you to explore detailed data, click here or on the map image below to open it in a new window. The legend for the interactive maps is also below.

Finally, the following maps were included in the report - I am not going to explain them in detail here so you will just have to read the report to find out more!

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20 Best Maps of 2014

Happy new year! In this post I have summarized my 20 favourite mapping projects from 2014. This has been an exciting year for me! I was promoted in my role at Golder Associates, working as a GIS Analyst and Cartographer on urban and environmental planning projects; however, I resigned in august and moved to Toronto to begin my Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University. I have continued to produce maps for this blog in my spare time using open data and I was recently hired to create maps for Dr. Richard Florida at the U of T Martin Prosperity Institute. I already have some exciting ideas for 2015, so consider subscribing to this blog to see more cool maps in the future!



 Vancouver Property Values

Metro Vancouver Commuter Challenge Trips




Comparative Study of Bicycle Infrastructure

Population Density in Metro Vancouver and Toronto

Average Home Value in Metro Vancouver

Median Income in Toronto

Visible Minority Population in Metro Vancouver and Toronto

Social Determinants of Health Research for Cowichan Valley

City of Vancouver Integrated Stormwater Management Plan Analysis

Skate Park Planning Community Consultation 

Assessment of Building Permits in Toronto

Assessment of Park Accessibility in Vancouver

Analysis of Dog Licences in Toronto and Most Popular Dog Names

Community Gardening in Vancouver and the Arbutus Corridor

Street Lamp Density in the City of Vancouver

Neighbourhood Design Evaluation of Cabbagetown

Environmental Assessment for Woodfibre LNG Proposal

Environmental Assessment for BURNCO Mine Proposal

Valentines Map

Walkability Map of Vancouver

Want More? Check out my "Thirteen Best Maps of 2013"

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City of Vancouver Greenest City Action Plan Review

This is a class presentation I delivered in the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning program at Ryerson University. This course is called "Planning for Sustainability" and we were instructed to provide a critical review of a municipal sustainability plan. I selected the City of Vancouver Greenest City Action Plan because I think it is an outstanding case study that uses specific goals and measurable indicators. This plan is also highly relevant to the current municipal election featuring Gregor Robertson and the Vision Vancouver Party. Thanks for your feedback!

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Medical Health Officers Support Active Transportation

Yesterday I noticed two separate  Medical Health Officers (MHOs) endorse active transportation infrastructure spending as an effective means to increase population health and reduce rising health costs. I will plan to expand this posting with additional materials, please post any other items you think belong here in the comment box at the bottom of this page, Thanks!

1. The video below is from The Toronto Centre for Active Transportation and features Dr. David Mowat, MHO for the Region of Peel:



2. The letter below was posted by Dr. James Talbot, Cheif MHO for Alberta Health:

Here are some additional items submitted by friends:

3. An interview called Why I love Transit posted by Translink, Metro Vancouver's regional transit agency, featuring Patricia Daly, the Chief MHO from Vancouver Coastal Health. Here is a quote from the interview:

How are health and transportation connected? We know that if we design neighbourhoods that encourage people to walk, ride bicycles and use transit rather than use cars, that people will be more physically active. Daily physical activity is very important for maintaining good health and preventing disease. Also, because many chronic diseases, including respiratory and cardiac diseases, can be caused by or exacerbated by toxins in the air, choosing modes of transportation that are less polluting can also help improve the health of the population.

4. Another letter of support for Calgary bike infrastructure posted by Dr. Richard Musto, the lead MHO for Calgary area, originally posted on the BikeCalgary Website.

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Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit

I am very happy today because a new “evidence-based resource to improve communication between planners, local government, and health [sector professionals]” is now publicly available. This toolkit was produced over the past two years by the Health Build Environment Alliance, a voluntary intersectoral network that provides leadership and action for healthier, more livable communities organized by the Provincial Health Services Authority.  I have excitedly witnessed the development process since I have been a member of the Alliance for the past three-years (first as a health sector representative of the Human Early Learning Partnership and now as a planning representative due to my employment transition to Golder Associates' Sustainable Communities Group). Please click the link below to download the full PDF Toolkit:

Healthy Built Environment Linkages: A Toolkit for Design, Planning and Health

You may also click here download the complete dissemination package, that includes a 2-page research brief, a PowerPoint slideshow template, and a poster for an introductory webinar planned for April 30th, 2014.

According to the webinar poster, this "Toolkit is the first evidence-based and expert-informed resource that links planning principles to health outcomes and identifies the behavioural impacts (e.g., walking and transit use) and environmental impacts (e.g., noise and traffic safety) that contribute to those outcomes." be sure to register today to learn more.

Essentially, the toolkit provides a single, unifying framework focused on five themes of planning principals for creating a healthy built environment. These 21 principals may not be revolutionary to informed urban planners, but the key is this document is designed to build a shared vision and common language that is accessible to both the planning and health sector professionals.



In addition, the really revolutionary content is a comprehensive evidence review that connects each planning principal to specific outcomes and health impacts. Each linkage line is also coded to highlight the strength of the evidence that exists. I see this as a great opportunity for Planners to improve their focus on the health benefits of their work. For example, I cannot wait until someone asks me to highlight the health benefits of a protected bike lane and I can quote the item #2 below:



An single summary page is also included for each theme of planning principals - I hope all planners print these five sheets and keep them close at hand, particularly if they are planning to work in partnership with the health sector:



In closing, I also want to highlight the introductory PowerPoint slides describe the following core objectives:

1. It’s a “conversation-starter”: Provides an organizing framework for presenting information and facilitating discussions between & within sector;
2. Helps users apply health evidence: Provides consistent & clear messages to inform the development of other documents & support decision-making around health & the built environment; and
3. Can identify where more research needed: Provides a roadmap for emerging and innovative evidence.

Please share this resource with your peers and feel free to post comments below if you  have any questions. 

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Public Park Accessibility in the City of Vancouver

I am very happy that Vision Vancouver Councillor Reimer tabled a notice of motion yesterday called "Protecting Vancouver’s Public Green Space" which included the following statement:

"The Greenest City Action Plan adopted by Council in 2011 sets a target that every person in Vancouver lives within a five-minute walk (400 metres) of a park, greenway or other public green space by 2020"

My first thought when reading this was simple: how will this indicator be measured? Specifically, I recalled a recent diagram in the Oakridge rezoning application slides (a project I fully support, just for the record) that shows 400 metre buffers from surrounding parks:



The trouble with this diagram is the 400 metre buffers appear to originate from the park centroids. Alternatively, I beleive 'accessibility' has actually been measured based on a buffer from the outer edge of parks. In other words, if I leave my house and walk 400 metres and arrive at the edge of a park, I would consider it to be accessible. I decided to explore these two interpretations; the following map shows the area within a 400 metre buffer of park 'centroids' in medium green, and the area within a 400m buffer from park 'areas' in lighter green:



In addition, I also clipped each 2011 Census Dissemination Block to the 400 metre buffer from the edge of parks, and calculated the fraction of each block that was within the threshhold. The fraction of the area was then used to calculate a proportion of the population per block that has no park accessibility. For example if a block had 100 people and it was 75% within the buffer zone, 25 people were considered to have no access to a park. As a result of this analysis, I determined that 79,407 people or 13.2% of the population of the City of Vancouver live greater than 400 metres from the edge of a public park. These people are shown using the yellow proportional symbols in the map below:



I also reviewed the Greenest City progress report and noted the indicator the City has selected is significantly simpler.Their indicator is "Percent of city's land base within a five-minute walk to a green space". In other words their target is based on area instead of population. Which is fully valid, but I still wonder how if they are measuring their covered area based on buffers from the park centroids (as shown on the Oarkridge map) or from outer edge of the parks (which would yield a larger total covered area and I am fairly confident this has been done). At the end of the day, I do not mean to criticize the outstanding work the City is doing, I am simply trying to highlight how an oversimplified diagram can lead to ambiguous results.

I am excited to learn more about this motion as it is developed because I have been working on many projects related to this theme at Golder Associates Sustainable Communities Group over the past few months. For example, I have conducted extensive GIS analysis and visualization to support the City of Vancouver's ongoing Integrated Stormwater Management Plan (ISMP)and the John Hendry (Trout Lake) Park Master Plan.

I understand this Notice of Motion is referencing much more area than just parks, and exactly what should be considered 'greenspace' will likely be a topic for a future post. For example, community gardens and greenways are referenced in the Greenest City action plan as features that satisfy the 'greenspace accessibility' target. Alternatively, given my recent focus on stormwater management I would also suggest it may be equally important for the City to implement a 'no net loss of pervious surfaces' target to maximize onsite infiltration of rainwater.

I hope this post shows that GIS tools are not always as objective as they appear and it is important for policy makers to consider how various calculation methods can impact progress towards targets.

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