Accessibility Changes With School Closure Using Cartograms

• In Event: Urban Learning and Teaching

Abstract

This study investigates accessibility changes and socio-geographic inequality in accordance with the school consolidation policy by the Chicago Public Schools in 2013. Based on the definition of accessibility that is the spatial relation between clients and service providers taking account of distance and time, the study estimates the accessibility gap between before and after closing schools. The accessibility gap is represented in density maps by combining the population aged 5 through 14 by race and ethnicity, proportion of families with children under 18 years old below the poverty level, and logged median housing value and crime incidence for the past 12 months. The overall results suggest that school closing has the potential to cause socio-geographic inequality in access to education.

Author

• Jin Lee, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign