Measuring spatial accessibility in the context of spatial disparity between demand and supply of urban park service

Urban parks are amenities that promote urban residents' quality of life, and therefore, one of the primary issues in urban planning is to ensure accessibility to urban parks for appropriate service provision. In many cities, however, accessibility varies by locality. Some localities may suffer from inaccessibility because few suitable parks are located near densely populated areas. The magnitude of inaccessibility in this context is represented by the spatial disparity between demand for and supply of urban park services. In addition, if limited accessibility is prevalent across the city, the region-wide lack of park services due to overall inaccessibility would be a major concern. This paper aims to develop a spatial disparity measure that indicates the inaccessibility of park services in order to identify where they are deficient in consideration of the underlying demand population and to determine the overall condition of service deficiency. This measure is expected to aid urban planners in understanding the overall inaccessibility and determining where to prioritize the provision of park services. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.