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. 2021 Jul 27:9:615432.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.615432. eCollection 2021.

Dynamic Changes in Community Deprivation of Access to Urban Green Spaces by Multiple Transport Modes

Shunqi Cheng  1 , Zhiqiang Liao  2 , Yu Zhu  1   3   4
Affiliations

Dynamic Changes in Community Deprivation of Access to Urban Green Spaces by Multiple Transport Modes

Shunqi Cheng et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Urban green spaces (UGSs) improve the quality of life of urban inhabitants. With the acceleration of urbanization and changes in traffic networks, it remains unclear whether changes in the distribution of UGSs can satisfy the needs of all inhabitants and offer equal services to inhabitants from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This study addresses this issue by analyzing dynamic changes in UGS accessibility in 2012, 2016, and 2020 for inhabitants of the central urban area of Fuzhou in China at the community level. The study introduces multiple transportation modes for an accessibility estimation based on a framework using the two-step floating catchment area method and examines the dynamic changes in community deprivation of UGS accessibility using Kernel regularized least squares, a machine learning algorithm. The results demonstrate that spatial disparities of UGS accessibility exist among the multi-transport modes and vary with time. Communities with high accessibility to UGSs by walking are scattered around the urban area; for accessibility by cycling, the high accessibility regions expand and surround the regions with low accessibility in the core urban areas, forming a semi-enclosed spatial pattern. However, the core urban spatial orientation of UGS accessibility by public transit demonstrates a reverse trend to the above two modes. The spatial pattern of UGS accessibility also varies over time, and the growth rate of accessibility slightly declined during the study period. Furthermore, the increase in UGS accessibility tended to slow from 2016-2020 compared with 2012-2016, and the trend toward equality was also erratic. The degree of deprivation for communities first weakened and was then aggravated, corresponding to the slowdown in the growth rate of accessibility, leading to the persistence existence of social inequality. Moreover, significant deprivation mainly exists among less educated people or those using the cycling and integrated travel modes. Although public transport is developing, deprived communities, such as communities with large proportion of older people, have experienced a decline in access to UGSs by public transport. Based on these findings, the study proposes a policy framework for the balanced distribution of UGSs as part of urbanization.

Keywords: deprivation; distribution disparity; dynamic changes; multiple transportation modes; urban green spaces.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of the study area in China and the UGSs, population demands, and transportation systems within it. The collection and division of green spaces for specific years.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The collection and division of green spaces for specific years.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The cumulative trip frequency of UGSs-oriented trips against the travel time by multi-mode transport.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatial heterogeneity of varying accessibility of UGSs based on transport modes over time: by the walking, cycling, public transport, and integrated modes in 2012, 2016, and 2020, respectively (unit: square meters per person).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Box plots for the dynamic changes in the accessibility of UGSs by multi-mode transport.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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