Abstract
The improper layout of urban public parks leads to the difference between citizens sharing or not sharing this kind of public resource, particularly in the historical districts of mountainous cities in China. The purpose of this study is to explore the spatial equity and quantitative measures of urban public parks’ layouts by building a demand index of socially vulnerable groups sharing public parks based on the accessibility evaluation model. In this paper, Changting—a famous national historical and cultural city—is taken as the empirical object, then the accessibility and social equity of public parks is quantitatively measured with the aid of the field investigation method, the spatial analysis model of geographic information system (GIS) and the SPSS statistical analysis method. The results indicate that it is feasible to measure the spatial equity of urban public parks with the accessibility and demand index of socially vulnerable groups, and it can effectively characterize the rationality and social equity of urban ecological space. It shows that a degree of spatial mismatch exists between the distribution of urban public parks and that of residents, that is to say the spatial distribution of public parks is not equitable in terms of accessibility or residents’ demands. Therefore, the data suggest that the spatial patterns and accessibility levels of parks in Changting County—especially the historical districts—should be further improved and perfected to achieve high levels of accessibility and equity through urban green space system planning. The paper may be used as a scientific reference for the planning and construction of ecological urban spaces. It can also provide useful decision-making guidance for urban planners in investigating, analyzing, and adjusting the distribution of public service facilities to achieve equitable outcomes, while promoting the harmonious and sustainable development of mountainous cities.
Highlights
The term “equity” is originally derived from social science and represents one of the core contents of the “urban sustainable development” concept [1]
The study results showed that Nanmen Street Community exhibited a pretty high demand index but a common accessibility level
The method of park level to determine service radius usually adopted to examine the rationality of the spatial distribution pattern in China, that realizing a complete coverage of park service scope through planning
Summary
The term “equity” is originally derived from social science and represents one of the core contents of the “urban sustainable development” concept [1]. Social equity refers to the distribution of public services, especially “popular services” such as parks, schools and so on, which should be allocated among different space units and different economic, racial and political groups in an equitable manner with special considerations made for the needs of special groups [1,2,3]. Spatial equity involves providing equal access to basic public service facilities as measured by distance [7]. Talen argued that spatial equity involves considering needs, fairness and justice in the distribution of public service facilities [9]. The term ‘spatial equity’ just focuses on the service level difference among a region’s public facilities while, the term ‘social equity’ pays more attention to the “spatial match” between the service level of public facilities and the distribution of the resident population
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