Provision and Accessibility of Urban Green Space Across City Zones

Abstract

Parks, gardens, and other green spaces are not a luxury in a city but anecessity for the health and well-being of its people, offering places to rest,exercise, and meet, and cooling and cleaning the urban air, yet green space is often shared unequally, some parts of a city being well provided and others starved of it. This study examines the provision and accessibility of urban green space across the zones of a city. The amount of green space available to each resident, the green space per person, was examined across the zones of a city and compared against the standard commonly recommended for adequate provision, so that the zones with enough green space and those falling short could be identified and the evenness of provision judged. The provision of green space varied widely from zone to zone: some zones had ample green space per person, well above the recommended standard, while others fell well below it, their residents having little green space within reach, so that provision across the city was uneven and several zones were under-served. The zones falling short were left without adequate access to the benefits that green space brings, while the well-provided zones enjoyed them, an inequality in a resource important to health and well-being. This unevenness arises because green space is distributed according to how each zone developed, with little green space created in densely or poorly planned zones, so provision does not match where people live. The study shows that urban green space is often provided unequally across a city, with some zones well served and others under-served against the recommended standard, and it discusses the importance of green space, the inequality in its provision, and the implications for planning a fairer and greener city. KEYWORDS: Urban green space, Green space provision, Accessibility,Environmental justice, Urban parks, City zones, Per-capita green space,Urban planning, Well-being