A Community-Oriented Accessibility Index of Public Health Service Facilities: A Case Study of Wuchang District, Wuhan, China

Abstract

Public health service facilities are the fundamental component of urban medical and health services, and they are critical for realizing urban residents’ enjoyment of equitable and convenient medical services in sustainable smart cities. Spatial accessibility is an important indicator for evaluating the rationality of the layout of medical facilities from the perspective of sustainability. This study introduces a community-oriented accessibility (CA) index of public health service facilities, which considers a weighted average time model and the 15 min living circle standard for constraint, and even the service capacity of medical facilities. This study uses the proposed index to investigate the spatial accessibility of public health service facilities in the study area of Wuchang, Wuhan, China. Compared with the E2SFCA model, the proposed CA model joins the construction concept of an urban living circle, which is consistent with the domestic urban construction goals. The main findings include the following: (1) The community-oriented accessibility index of public health service facilities in the study area showed a gradual decline in the middle to sides under the walking mode and a high index in the north and low index in the south under the vehicle travel mode. (2) The calculated CA accessibility results are quite different between the walking and vehicular modes, and they are mainly affected by the allocation of the number of facilities and the distribution of the population. (3) Compared to the previous method, the calculated CA index results are more reflective of the actual situation and could be useful in guiding the spatial layout of the facilities more finely. This research explores the sustainable utilization of land resources in the planning of medical facilities and promotes the healthy and sustainable development of cities. In future studies, the population’s actual traffic conditions, weather, and holidays will be considered to further research on the accessibility of different groups and the specific impact of these factors on accessibility so as to promote people-friendly accessibility for sustainable smart cities.