Spatial mapping for improved intra-urban education planning

Abstract

The main objective of the paper is to support the understanding of intra-urban inequalities and challenges, through the development of detailed maps to demonstrate educational and other system-wide inequalities. The methodology utilizes Geographic Information Systems tools, data visualization, and mapping as the major techniques to present the information. The research process involved collecting information on publicly available data, validated by information from census data and provided by public sources, governments and NGOs from different cities. Cities in developed, underdeveloped and developing countries were considered. The paper presents maps and descriptive analysis from five cities: New York City (United States), Medellín (Colombia), Kisumu (Kenya), Mexico city (Mexico), and Taipei city (Taiwan Province of China). The analysis shows that there are major distributional inequalities in the provision of education and relevant infrastructure in most contexts, and there are implications of the lack of education for job accessibility for individuals, and higher standards in economic development societally.