Children’s walking to urban services: an analysis of pedestrian access to social infrastructures and its relationship with land use

Abstract

The conceptual framework of child-friendly cities guarantees children’s equal access to public urban services. Despite the widespread application of geographical information systems (GISs) and pedestrian network analysis, studies have yet to analyze children’s comprehensive pedestrian access to urban services in a large-scale city. This study demonstrates GIS-based approaches to measuring children’s pedestrian access to urban services using a pedestrian path layer and the spatial layers of social infrastructure locations in Seoul, South Korea. We show the spatial inequities in children’s access to urban services, which depend on the locational characteristics of social infrastructures and the urban development patterns around children. We analyze how children’s access to social infrastructures is differentiated by land use composition. Our statistical analysis finds that low-rise residential areas, consisting of impermeable street patterns, increase children’s walking distance and restrict children from accessing urban services within their walkable area. In addition, there is potential for key infrastructures such as schools and local community centers to promote pedestrian access to urban services for children. Considering pedestrian access at the street level will help pinpoint vulnerable areas with children who have less access overall and maximize the users served within the service areas of infrastructures.