Park Planning Areas In order to coordinate local needs with system-wide needs in an efficient and consistent way, PARD has sub-divided the City of Austin into 26 park planning areas. The park planning areas remain the same each year, while census boundaries and council districts change with population shifts, making them useful for tracking and monitoring park improvements and needs. These
planning areas were developed in the 1970s as a means for collecting data over time. Park planning areas are numbered with the lowest numbers closer to the urban core, and the larger numbers at the periphery.
the local parks system – what facilities and amenities are accessible to them and how they relate to one another. Chapter 5 includes a customized set of short and long-term strategies for how to maintain and invest in the local parks system in a balanced and holistic way.
For the purposes of the LRP, the individual park planning areas are grouped into six geographic combined planning areas: North, East, Southeast, Southwest, West, and Central. The intent is for the combined planning areas to approximate the way residents and visitors might make use of
The combined planning area groupings allow PARD to better meet needs and aspirations that are more specialized or larger in scale, like a new nature center or a metro park.
Individual Park Planning Areas
Central
The Combined Planning area captures the majority of Austin’s urban core. Dominated by residents aged 18-65 with small household sizes, it has the highest population & employment densities with healthy growth expected in both.
North
The Combined Planning area has the second highest population & employment densities in the city but is more racially diverse than Central with more youth and larger household sizes.
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east
The Combined Planning area has one of the lowest population densities with the highest proportion of black residents, highest poverty rate and a higher youth population. It also has the highest projected population growth and substantial expected job growth.
Southeast
The Combined Planning area has the highest proportion of Hispanic residents and the second highest poverty rate along with the second highest youth population. Healthy population growth and substantial job growth are expected here.
Southwest
The Combined Planning area has mid-level population and employment densities with minimal population growth but substantial employment growth expected and the highest proportion of white residents.
West
The Combined Planning area has the lowest population and employment densities, with minimal growth expected and has the highest proportion of both senior residents and youth.
54 Our parks, our future.
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