Assessing spatial equity in urban park accessibility: an improve two-step catchment area method from the perspective of 15-mintue city concept

Abstract

Ensuring equitable access to urban parks is crucial for promoting the sustainable development of cities. In the post-COVID era, the concept of the 15-minute city has gained significant attention, emphasizing human-scale urban design and fine-grained governance. This study introduces an improved two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to accurately assess park accessibility and spatial equity in Guangzhou, considering the 15-minute city perspective. Firstly, a more effective framework is proposed to identify multiple park entrances that serve as supply points. Secondly, the population distribution is estimated using building areas and locationbased data through a random forest model. Furthermore, the supply capability index is estimated by considering the area of each park and its attractiveness index, derived from multiple geographic data sources. The results reveal unequal park accessibility in Guangzhou, with low-access areas mainly distributed on the fringe of study area in both walking and cycling scenarios due to the limited park supply or high-density population. With the influences of park entrances and the park attractiveness index, the spatial inequity of park accessibility may be more severe than previously estimated in other studies. This work enhances the understanding of park accessibility and facilitate effective planning for sustainable development and reducing environmental injustice.