Methodological/Observational Problems and Areas for Further Research
There were a couple of issues in the process of creating this project. Firstly, the only data I used was shape file data which, though it was effective, can be prone to error when it is converted into raster data. Perhaps this project may have been better suited to ArcGIS than IDRIS simply because ArcGIS is smoother at handling vector/shape file data than IDRISI (which is better with raster data). Secondly, because all of my data was from Vancouver’s Open Data Catalogue, areas from different municipalities that may have affected my results were not included. For example, the University Endowment Land Ecological Reserve in UBC is within five minutes of much of Vancouver was not considered in the data simply because it is not part of Vancouver. Despite these two issues I am pleased with the process and outcome of this project.
This project is a useful tool for Vancouver planners and city officials for finding areas that need to be focussed on to achieve the “Access to Green Space” potion of the Greenest City 2020 sustainability goals. However, there are some points in this project that could be used for further research.
- A project that assesses not just the quantity of green space but also the quality of green space may be useful to find areas in the city that may need improvement. Furthermore, it could be analyzed alongside spatial statistics such as income levels of postal codes and ethnicity minority populations to find any correlations.
- A project that uses a “Network Analysis” could be even more precise than the spatial analysis I performed (Though it would be severely more expensive to obtain network data).
- Perhaps to expand on my project, someone could examine how much more of Vancouver would be within a five-minute walking distance of green space if private green space would be included.
Credits:
Chiesura, Anna. "The Role of Urban Parks for the Sustainable City." Landscape and Urban Planning. 68.1 (2004): 129-138. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204603001865>.
Thompson, Chatharine. "Urban Open Space in the 21st Century." Landscape and Urban Planning. 60.2 (2002): 59-72. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204602000592>.
Roe, Jenny; Aspinall, Peter et al. "More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns."Landscape and Urban Planning. 105.3 (2012): 221-229. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611003665>.
City of Vancouver. Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. Vancouver: 2010. Web. <http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Greenest-city-action-plan.pdf>.
Also, Google Maps and Open Data Catalogue Vancouver