Zhang, Kaihan;
Shang, Wen-Long;
De Vos, Jonas;
Zhang, Yuerong;
Cao, Mengqiu;
(2025)
Illuminating the path to more equitable access to urban parks.
Scientific Reports
, 15
, Article 9646. 10.1038/s41598-025-94110-1.
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Abstract
Parks are a crucial element of urban landscapes. Understanding the role of the built environment in terms of park accessibility is vital for promoting travel equity and shaping public policies to improve access to urban parks. This study employs a geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) approach to examine the impact of the built environment on park accessibility at both macro and micro levels. We find that accessibility to urban parks varies significantly across different travel modes, with walking being the least equitable due to its most clustered distribution pattern. While the macro-level built environment provides substantial explanatory power for accessibility across travel modes, our GeoAI-based analysis offers a more nuanced understanding of streetscape qualities, by closely reflecting a more realistic human perception of the built environment. These qualities - street network interconnectivity, safety, openness, spaciousness, greenery, and distinctive signage - significantly correlate with enhanced park accessibility across all travel modes, thereby complementing macro-level factors. Ultimately, this study suggests that placing emphasis on multimodal travel can enhance travel equity, thus providing the relevant authorities and policymakers with cost-effective strategies for improving park accessibility.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Illuminating the path to more equitable access to urban parks |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-025-94110-1 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94110-1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Urban park accessibility; Multimodal travel; Green justice; Streetscape quality; GeoAI |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10213478 |
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