Equity in Park Planning: Activate ATL

Parks and recreation is the heart and soul of health and wellbeing for all that live, work and play in the City of Atlanta. In 2020, at the Pandemic onset, the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) developed Activate ATL: Recreation and Parks for All 10-Year Comprehensive Master Plan, aimed at addressing historical inequities, growth, disparities in open space and amenities, and maintenance. The Plan integrates the values of access, equity, progress, ambition, and nature around three main goals are to: Invest in assets, Connect internal/external resources, and Grow the overall system, with a special focus on advancing equity.

Activate ATL culminated into the Equity Data Tool (EDT). The EDT established a baseline of data DPR can track, impacting capital improvements, funding, building citywide partnerships, and enhancing cross-departmental collaboration. Available to the public, it is used by other agencies and partners for their analysis of equity.

Activate ATL was one catalysts to several measures that increased funding to the overall system. This session focuses on the key theme of parks and recreation system equity using data-driven models for visualizing and communicating inequities and disparities, but also touches on other topics related to the intersectionality of issues through collaboration and partnership.

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