Toward Active Neighbourhoods: Analysing Pedestrian Collisions and Socio-Economic Status in three Canadian Cities
Author(s): Khakh, Fast, Lee, Nasca, St. Pierre
Slidedeck Presentation Only:
Abstract:
Background/Context: Are we designing our cities for health and equity? At the 2017 Walk21 Conference, Dr. Charles Brown presented new work that highlighted higher pedestrian and cyclist collision rates in neighbourhoods experiencing low socio-economic status (SES) in New Jersey. He further correlated this increased incidence with low quality public infrastructure. We wanted to see if the same held true in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary: is there a spatial relationship between household income and collisions in Canadian cities?
The research is being pursued by the Active Neighbourhoods Canada project, a partnership between organizations in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. We have developed a 'co-design' approach to creating healthy and equitable communities in Canada, convening interested citizens, design professionals and decision-makers. Our project further aims to contribute to effective policy by sharing research, case studies and best practices. Our work is rooted in the knowledge that the design of our built environment affects public health by influencing physical activity levels, and that communities experiencing low SES are often marginalized within the city consultation process, while experiencing disproportionate health impacts from the built environment.
Aims/Objectives: If a relationship exists between household income and higher rates of collisions, it points to a need to prioritize spending towards higher quality infrastructure in lower SES neighbourhoods, and it tells us that time is of the essence: lives are at stake. It also suggests we investigate why lower SES neighbourhoods receive less funding, and how this might relate to engagement practices and governance processes.
Methods/Targets: We began our exploration with a literature review investigating the relationship between collisions and household income, neighbourhood socio-economic status, and related factors influencing collision rates. We then began GIS analysis of the spatial correlation between household incomes, procured from Statistics Canada census tracts, and pedestrian and cyclist collisions, procured from city police records, for the cities of Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. Results/Activities: Our literature review provided evidence linking higher incidences of collisions with household income or socio-economic status. It also revealed that the age of those being struck is a factor - specifically, several studies found that children were more vulnerable to collisions. Our GIS analysis is in progress, and will be completed by the end of 2018. Early results highlight a relationship between collisions and household income, but suggest other factors are also at play.
Discussion/Deliverables: The next step in this research is analyzing additional factors that may be influencing collision rates: how do age, gender, language and ethnicity come into play? Do rates of municipal investments have an influence? And most importantly, how can this knowledge help us engage citizens, respond to their needs, and build healthier cities for all?
A persistent challenge in cross-jurisdictional research is collecting timely and comparable data in each location. Some data were part of the open data inventory, where others needed to be privately negotiated from government. This highlights the need for federal open data standards and data interoperability to support more robust socio-spatial research.
Conclusions: The spatial analysis is currently underway. We look forward to presenting our findings at the CARSP conference.