Last night, Geolytix were delighted to win the prestigious DataIQ Award in the Data for the Environment category.
Green Space has never been more important for our physical and mental wellbeing (estimated £34.2bn of value), yet not all of us have equal access. The Fields in Trust organisation created the Green Space Index for this reason. In partnership with the Co-op, they came to us to take it a step further. To deliver support and intervention to green spaces in the communities that need it most.
“In 2020 there are 2.69 million people in Great Britain not living within a ten-minute walk of a park or green space. Over the next five years alone, this figure will increase by 6.46% - that's an extra 174,000 people without access to a park or green space close to home. As our communities expand it is important that we ensure adequate local green space is provided.” (Fields in Trust)
The DatalQ awards celebrate the top performers in data, highlighting the skills, commitments and capabilities of individuals, teams, organisations and solutions. Geolytix are proud to be among the award winning teams.
Sarah Hitchcock, Chief Operating Officer at Geolytix said “ Working with Fields in Trust allows us to use our data and data science expertise for good. We are delighted that we have been recognised in this category as it has been one of our most enjoyable and fulfilling projects of the year. A big thank you to Christopher Storey and Dan Dungate, our data scientists who led the analysis, and to Fields in Trust for choosing us to support them.”
Alison McCann, Policy Manager at Fields in Trust said “Fields in Trust is a charity that champions and protects local parks and green spaces. As part of our Green Spaces for Good strategy we set out to be more evidence-led in our approach. Building on our previous research which called for Parks to be revalued for their contribution and not just seen as a maintenance cost, we wanted to develop a robust data model that gives us guiding principles to prioritise areas to focus our work where we can have the most impact on communities and maximise our fundability. We worked closely with Geolytix to scope out what data could be used to identify areas of strategic need which is based on local green space provision, the inequality of access to parks, physical and mental health, affluence, demographics and household types (no private garden).
The resulting model scorecard has been revolutionary for directing the charity's work and also provides an incredibly rich source of data that is helping to make our engagement work with stakeholders much more compelling and ultimately ensure local parks and green spaces are legally protected for current and future generations.”
