Disparity in Spatial Access to Public Daycare and Kindergarten across GIS-Constructed Regions in Seoul, South Korea

Hyunjoong Kim and Fahui Wang
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Hyunjoong Kim: Department of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Fahui Wang: Department of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: In developed countries with decreasing fertility rates, the provision of public daycare and kindergarten (PDK) is considered to be an important policy for boosting national birth rates. Since PDK is free, its spatial accessibility becomes the most critical factor for parents in choosing the service. The study uses the popular two-step floating catchment area model (2SFCA) to analyze the spatial accessibility of PDKs at a 100 m × 100 m cell level in Seoul, South Korea. A GIS-automated regionalization method, Mixed-Level Regionalization (MLR), is employed to divide the study area into homogenous regions based on a concentrated disadvantage index (CDI). The analysis then proceeds to examine the disparity of PDK accessibility across these constructed regions. The result empowers parents to be informed of the access of PDKs in their current neighborhoods or to look for neighborhoods with adequate access. Several policy measures are proposed for improving overall accessibility of PDKs and more so for underserved populations.

Keywords: spatial accessibility; public daycare and kindergarten (PDK); two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method; mixed-level regionalization (MLR); concentrated disadvantage index (CDI); Seoul (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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