The Geography and Equity of Crowdsourced Public Participation for Active Transportation Planning

Abstract

Transportation planners increasingly use new forms of online public participation alongside traditional in-person approaches, including crowdsourcing tools capable of encouraging geographically specific input. Digital involvement may be particularly valuable in exploring methods to plan at a megaregional scale. Research is beginning to address digital inequalities, recognizing that broadband and smartphone access may restrict opportunities for disadvantaged groups. However, the geography and equity of participation remain pragmatic issues for practice and research. This paper reviews the geography and equity of the participation methods in Austin, Texas for active transportation (bicycling and pedestrian) through three approaches to co-produce informed plans: in-person meetings, public participation geographic information system (PPGIS), and an emerging smartphone platform that logs trips and encourages input on route quality. In addition to spatial analysis with standard deviational ellipses, we include qualitative case analysis to contextualize the geographic and equity implications of different participation approaches. Results show that both online techniques resulted in a larger geography for participation than in-person meetings, with the regional PPGIS covering the most area. However, review of the income levels in each area shows that use of the smartphone-based crowdsourcing platform was aligned with lowest-income areas. This study shows that online participation methods are not homogeneous regarding geography or equity. In some contexts, smartphone applications can help reach lower-income communities, even when compared with in-person meetings. Crowdsourcing tools can be valuable approaches to increase geography and equity of public participation in transportation planning.

Bike-Sharing Station Usage and the Surrounding Built Environments in Major Texas Cities

“…To date, few studies have investigated bike-share system ridership in recreation-heavy systems. As such, these operators have needed to rely on qualitative measures and public engagement to help build-out their system (Griffin and Jiao 2018, 2019). Our research intends to fill this gap and focuses on the relationship between built environments and bike-share station usage in cities with small-scale systems and low bicycling-commute-share levels.…”

Active Transportation for Underrepresented Populations in the United States: A Systematic Review of Literature

“…This study is intended to help transportation planners and policy makers understand socio-demographic differences and other factors in using active transportation to address equitable transportation. Transportation planners should also engage with online tools as options for public participation ( 86 ). Other studies can focus on identifying the barriers underrepresented populations experience when attempting to use active transportation.…”

Urban Design and Planning Participation in the Digital Age: Lessons from an Experimental Online Platform

“…They highlight that 'although crowdsourcing has a lot of potential to efficiently increase participation and could potentially lead to more effective outputs, neither of the two outcomes is guaranteed'. Specifically on the issue of geography and equity, Griffin and Jiao [40] report that 'In some contexts, smartphone applications can help reach lower-income communities, even when compared with in-person meetings' whereas Mihelj et al [41] found that 'Rather than helping increase the diversity of audiences, online access seems to reproduce, if not enlarge, existing inequalities' .…”