Parks and Park Funding in Los Angeles: An Equity-Mapping Analysis

Abstract

An equity-mapping analysis of access to park space enjoyed by children and youth in Los Angeles (LA), and by residents according to their race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status finds that low-income and concentrated poverty areas as well as neighborhoods dominated by Latinos, African Americans, and Asian-Pacific Islanders, have dramatically lower levels of access to park resources than White-dominated areas of the city. Further, a mapping of park-bond funding allocations by location reveals that funding patterns often exacerbate rather than ameliorate existing inequalities in park and open-space resource distributions. Given the lack of large parcels for park acquisition, these results indicate that creative strategies for providing open space—such as utilizing vacant lots, alleys, underutilized school sites, public or utility-owned property, unnecessarily wide streets, and abandoned riverbeds—will be required in the city's older neighborhoods to redress existing inequities in access to parks.