Access to Everyday Life

Access to Everyday Life explores how transportation systems, infrastructure, and policy decisions impact people’s ability to participate in daily activities. Using data visualization and spatial analysis, our team analyzed data provided by a Harvard dataset that identified accessibility features and problems within neighborhoods in Seattle, WA, along with an external dataset to provide us the geospatial shapes for each neighborhood. Our project highlights where barriers exist and where targeted improvements can expand opportunity and equity across communities.

Why This Matters

Understanding accessibility burden helps city planners and policymakers identify neighborhoods where mobility barriers disproportionately affect residents, informing more equitable infrastructure and transportation decisions.

Accessibility Barriers

This dashboard presents a composite Accessibility Burden Index that aggregates multiple barriers into a single, interpretable score. Higher burden values indicate neighborhoods where transportation constraints, infrastructure deficiencies, and limited access to essential services intersect, highlighting areas that may experience compounded accessibility challenges. Average Severity Level is calculated by taking the average of all severity ratings for accessibility barriers within each neighborhood. Each barrier in the dataset is assigned a severity score based on how much it affects safe or independent movement. By averaging these scores at the neighborhood level, we can understand how serious accessibility issues tend to be in each area, rather than just how many barriers are reported. Higher average severity values indicate neighborhoods where barriers are generally more difficult to navigate.

Accessibility Burden by Neighborhood

This dashboard measures cumulative accessibility burden by combining multiple barriers into a single index. Higher burden values indicate neighborhoods where transportation limitations, infrastructure gaps, and service access challenges overlap. Accessibility Burden measures how difficult it is to move through a neighborhood due to sidewalk accessibility barriers. For each neighborhood, we calculate the average impact of reported barriers by combining barrier severity and duration into a single Barrier Impact Score, then averaging these scores across all barriers in that neighborhood. This approach captures the typical level of mobility friction someone might experience when navigating the area, rather than simply counting the number of reported issues. Higher Accessibility Burden values indicate more severe or disruptive accessibility challenges, while lower values indicate more accessible walking conditions.

Barrier Types Frequency

This visualization illustrates the relative frequency of different accessibility barrier types across neighborhoods. By identifying which obstacles occur most often, this view helps prioritize the barriers that most consistently restrict mobility and equitable access.

Frequency of accessibility barrier types

Temporary vs. Permanent Barriers by Area

This comparison examines the distribution of temporary versus permanent accessibility barriers across different areas. Differentiating between short-term disruptions and long-term structural issues provides insight into where rapid interventions may alleviate accessibility concerns versus where sustained infrastructure investment is required.

Temporary versus permanent accessibility barriers by area

Mobility Friction by Neighborhood

This visualization illustrates mobility friction across neighborhoods, capturing how environmental, infrastructural, and systemic factors increase the effort required to move through space. Higher friction values indicate areas where accessibility challenges compound, making everyday travel more difficult. Average Mobility Friction Score is calculated by first assigning each accessibility barrier a mobility friction value that reflects how much it slows down or disrupts movement. This score is based on the barrier’s severity and whether it is temporary or permanent, with more severe and longer-lasting barriers contributing more friction. To understand mobility challenges at the neighborhood level, these individual friction scores are averaged across all reported barriers within each neighborhood. Higher average mobility friction scores indicate areas where moving through the neighborhood is more consistently difficult or unsafe.

Key Findings

Surface-related issues and physical obstacles are the most frequently reported accessibility barriers, indicating that basic infrastructure conditions are a primary constraint on mobility.
A significant share of high-frequency barriers are permanent, suggesting that many accessibility challenges stem from systemic, long-term infrastructure deficiencies rather than temporary disruptions.
Accessibility barriers are spatially concentrated, clustering in specific neighborhoods and pointing to inequities in infrastructure quality and service access.
The Industrial District exhibits the highest overall accessibility burden, with barrier levels nearly double those of any other neighborhood, highlighting it as a critical priority area for intervention.

Proposed Changes

Our analysis identifies several actionable opportunities to improve accessibility in Seattle’s built environment. Targeted sidewalk surface maintenance should be prioritized in areas with a high concentration of surface-related issues, while permanent sidewalk obstructions can be reduced through clearer enforcement of width standards and regular audits of fixed fixtures. Finally, accessibility data should be systematically used to guide equity-focused infrastructure investments, ensuring that neighborhoods with the highest barrier density receive priority attention.