The Geography and Equity of Crowdsourced Public Participation for Active Transportation Planning

Transportation planners increasingly use new forms of online public participation alongside traditional in-person approaches, including crowdsourcing tools capable of encouraging geographically specific input. Digital involvement may be particularly valuable in exploring methods to plan at a megaregional scale. Research is beginning to address digital inequalities, recognizing that broadband and smartphone access may restrict opportunities for disadvantaged groups. However, the geography and equity of participation remain pragmatic issues for practice and research. This paper reviews the geography and equity of the participation methods in Austin, Texas for active transportation (bicycling and pedestrian) through three approaches to co-produce informed plans: in-person meetings, public participation geographic information system (PPGIS), and an emerging smartphone platform that logs trips and encourages input on route quality. In addition to spatial analysis with standard deviational ellipses, we include qualitative case analysis to contextualize the geographic and equity implications of different participation approaches. Results show that both online techniques resulted in a larger geography for participation than in-person meetings, with the regional PPGIS covering the most area. However, review of the income levels in each area shows that use of the smartphone-based crowdsourcing platform was aligned with lowest-income areas. This study shows that online participation methods are not homogeneous regarding geography or equity. In some contexts, smartphone applications can help reach lower-income communities, even when compared with in-person meetings. Crowdsourcing tools can be valuable approaches to increase geography and equity of public participation in transportation planning.