THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN EQUITABLE URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly a key element in planning for land use, infrastructure, and environmental protection in cities and regions across the United States. They have provided planners with the tools to visualize and analyze spatial data with greater precision than was possible a generation ago. GIS has, however, not necessarily led to more just outcomes; while GIS can identify spatial inequities, it can also subscribe to them without a conscious effort to consider data selection, community voice and who wins. This narrative review collates research that investigates GIS in equitable urban and regional planning in the United States, with a focus on four domains: methodological framework for urban and regional GIS analysis, environmental justice and cumulative impacts mapping, participatory and community engaged GIS, and application of GIS in transportation and green space equity. GIS provides its greatest equity benefits when it is used with intentional methodology and community-based indicator choice, and when it is scored in a transparent fashion to aggregate impacts. Without these choices, GIS-based techniques run the risk of replicating the gaps in transit service, green space, and environmental quality that they were intended to accurately identify. As a path for further study and practice, a conceptual matrix linking data selection, participatory action, and analytical results with equitable outcomes is proposed.