Socioeconomic groups and their green spaces availability in urban areas of China: A distributional justice perspective

Abstract

Relying on a nationwide social survey, this study examined the availability of green spaces to different socioeconomic groups living in urban areas in China. Through the survey, data was collected from 3759 individual urban residents. The socioeconomic statuses of the respondents were measured comprehensively using indicators such as household income, level of education, housing conditions, employment status, and internal migration status. Geocoded addresses of respondents were extracted to calculate three different indicators of green space availability: the coverage ratio of the overall areas of vegetation, the coverage ratio of park areas, and the closest distance to a park. The results show that the provision of green space does not strongly discriminate against people’s socioeconomic levels in China. Instead, certain disadvantaged groups were, at times, provided with more green spaces than comparison groups. Hinterland migrants (i.e., non-local Hukou) tend to live closer to parks than local people. Residents in affordable housing estates and urban villages (who are marginalized groups within cities) have a higher rate of vegetation coverage than other groups. However, higher-income people tend to live closer to parks than lower-income groups, although the differences in vegetation and park coverage for the two groups are insignificant. This study expands the current inquiry on the distributional justices of green space by adding a nationwide exploration in a developing country. The results evaluated green space availability in urban areas across the country, which also can inform decision-makers and planners about which disadvantaged groups should be the focus of efforts to promote equity in green space distribution