Accessibility of Park Green Space in Wuhan, China: Implications for Spatial Equity in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Shujin Zhang, Peiheng Yu, Yiyun Chen, Ying Jing and Fanxin Zeng
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Shujin Zhang: School of Resource and Environmental Science, Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China
Peiheng Yu: Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Yiyun Chen: School of Resource and Environmental Science, Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China
Ying Jing: Ningbo Institute of Technology, School of Economics, Zhejiang University, 1 Qianhu South Road, Ningbo 315000, China
Fanxin Zeng: Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have seen the precious value of park green space for health. In the post-COVID-19 Era, it is essential to understand the different needs and expectations of different communities for the use of park green space. A myriad of previous studies focused on the whole city’s demand for park green space, while few studies examined spatial equity from a supply-demand perspective. This paper aims to investigate the differences in park green space accessibility among people of different ages at a community scale. Specifically, to better evaluate the accessibility of park green space and account for the travel choice, we compared the effects of the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method containing different distance decay functions (i.e., the improved 2SFCA methods) by considering the traffic network and the scale of park green space. In addition, we compared the improved 2SFCA methods with the traditional 2SFCA. This study investigated the spatial equity of park green space accessibility in 1184 communities with a total population of 6,468,612 in the central urban districts of Wuhan. The results showed that the high accessible communities were concentrated in the urban center along the Yangtze River. The improved 2SFCA methods outperformed the traditional 2SFCA, and presented smoother gradient information. It was revealed that over half of communities’ park green space accessibility levels did not match their population density. Inequality of accessibility to park green space was found in people of different ages, especially for the youth (Gini coefficient was as high as 0.83). The difference in the accessibility of urban park green space among different age structures implies the need to integrate community green space planning into urban planning in the post-COVID-19 Era.

Keywords: accessibility; two-step floating catchment area method; park green space; spatial equity; post-COVID-19 Era (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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