MAP: Mapping accessibility for ethically informed urban planning

Abstract

Evaluating accessibility based on multiple notions of justice allows for a multi-perspective analysis of the trade-offs between the benefits and burdens associated with the provision of infrastructure. This presents a challenge due to a lack of metrics which operationalise multiple notions of justice for comparative purposes. It is further complicated by the reliance on General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data to do many kinds of accessibility analyses, which is often not freely available and accessible, especially in data scarce regions. This paper presents the MAP open-source software package that allows for the incorporation of multiple notions of justice in accessibility analysis. Firstly, MAP supports the development of an Urban Network Model based on open-access data. Secondly, using this model it enables the calculation of Neighbourhood Reach Centrality, a cumulative accessibility metric. Finally, it allows for the evaluation of accessibility based on three comparative metrics of spatial justice visualised through maps. For illustrative purposes, data sets from the City of Cape Town in South Africa are provided as a ready-to-use data-product. This software package offers an efficient method for incorporating spatial justice considerations into accessibility analysis offering the potential to be used as a boundary object within interdisciplinary teams of researchers, policy-analysts, transport engineers, and other stakeholders.