After reading through some of the recent discussions on the site about Decatur’s green space, Scott decided to look beyond all the arguments and try to get a real hold of how well Decatur provides “green space” to its residents.

To do this, he used a planning tool that draws a circle with a half mile diameter over individual locations on a map. This allows the planner to see all residents that are within a 1/4 mile of that point, which as Scott has mentioned before, is the recognized standard of how far the average person is willing to walk before they start to consider other means of transportation. He included “all of our parks, playfields and other recreational green that are either public or provided through a public/private partnership”. He purposely excluded Courthouse Square, the cemetery, Agnes Scott and Columbia Seminary. The results are below.

Scott's (Revised) Green Shed Map

Bottom line? To me, it shows that while you may have personal opinions about individual green locations around the city, to assert that the city is lacking for parks/green space is a bit of a stretch. Looking at the map above, around three-quarters four-fifths of city residents seem to be within walking distance of a park or green space. Couple that with the Greenspace Commission’s recent accomplishments (including 12 acres of acquisition since 2001) and future plans to link our green spaces and you begin to see a very different and much greener picture of Decatur.

Coming tomorrow…a much more light-hearted “shed” from Scott.