Which statement best describes the purpose of service catchments for planning?

• A. To measure service quality.
• B. To forecast demand and assess equity of access.
• C. To determine building heights.
• D. To allocate park space.

Answer: (B)

Service catchments map the geographic area whose residents are likely to use a given service. This helps planners forecast demand by linking the size and characteristics of the population within the catchment to the service’s capacity, and it highlights who has ready access and who may be underserved. In practice, planners consider travel time, distance, and transport modes to estimate how many people can realistically reach the service and where gaps in access exist. Because the focus is on access and capacity rather than how well the service performs, catchments are a tool for forecasting demand and assessing equity. Other planning tasks, like setting building heights or allocating park space, rely on different criteria such as density, land use, safety, aesthetics, and space availability.