Impact of public transportation on urban green space distribution and access in New York City

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Martha Madrid, Natural Sciences, Marymount Manhattan College, New York, NY and Matthew, J. Lundquist, Department of Natural Sciences, Marymount Manhattan College, New York, NY

Background/Question/Methods
Cities are expanding across the globe and more natural areas are being converted to urban land. However, experiencing nature is still very important for the health and well being of urbanites. Large urban green spaces, particularly parks, can provide an experience of nature in cities. Access to these green spaces through public transportation is important but may not be evenly distributed throughout cities. In this project, our goal was to assess the relationship between public transportation and accessibility to large green spaces in New York City. We hypothesized that large green spaces would be more abundant in neighborhoods with more subway stations, which may also be areas of high commuter and tourist traffic as compared to more residential neighborhoods with fewer subway stations. Open geographical and demographic data obtained from official New York State government databases were mapped and analyzed using QGIS. Maps were used to compare the distribution of parks and public transit in the 12 community districts in Manhattan. Variables included total area of parks, total number of subway stations, proportion of area composed of parks, and proportion of stops within 100 meters of a park.
Results/Conclusions
Our analysis revealed an uneven distribution of both subway stations and green space across Manhattan. There was an average of 12 stations per community district, but the number of stations ranged between 30 stations in Community District 5, which includes Midtown, and 3 stations in District 6, the Lower East Side. The mean proportion of park area to total area by district was 0.14, with the highest proportion at 0.35 in District 12 and the lowest at 0.027 in District 5. However, we did not find a significant correlation between number of subway stations and proportion of green space within neighborhoods. This lack of correlation suggests that subway station distribution may not prioritize convenient access to parks but may prioritize other factors like access to businesses or tourist destinations. Indeed, we found a greater percentage of green space in residential neighborhoods in northern Manhattan, decreasing along a north to south gradient. These residential areas may not be as attractive to tourists. Green spaces are important for the health of urban environments and the people that live in them, and access to them through public transportation must be improved for more sustainable cities.