An assessment of urban park access in Shanghai – Implications for the social equity in urban China

Abstract

The question whether urban green resources are equitably distributed across different 5 social groups is a major concern of social equity and environmental justice for both 6 governments and scholars. This topic is particularly relevant for rapidly developing 7 countries such as China where inequality is growing. This paper examines whether 8 and to what extent the distribution of urban park services is equitable for marginalised 9 population in China. We choose Shanghai as the case study and took into account 10 three dimensions of group delineation, namely demographic characteristics, social 11 economic status and social spatial structure. We employ the spatial clustering method 12 to assess the similarities and differences of the association between the spatial patterns 13 of accessibility to urban parks among different social groups. Interestingly, we found 14 that vulnerable groups are favoured over more affluent citizens. Local municipal 15 endeavours have ensured that the access to Shanghai's parks remains socially 16 equitable. Additionally, we attributed it to the path dependence of China's socialism 17 legacy before the market-oriented reforms. 18

Access to Urban Green Space in Cities of the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

“…For quantity, studies in Chinese cities show more cases of inequity-high-SES people have higher quantities of green space than low-SES [75,76,78,81,93,95,98,99,102,104]-than equity [12,82] or mixed findings [45,74]. Studies in other Asian cities such as Sheikhupura, Pakistan [69], Tehran, Iran [71,84], and Hamadan, Iran [46] also found inequitable results for green space quantity.…”

“…Yet some Global South cities also face a number of additional challenges such as the presence of large informal settlements (e.g., slums and favelas); the legacies of colonialism and post-colonialism; even larger wealth inequalities than Global North cities; higher levels of pollution due to rapidly growing industries; and extremely high rates of population and urban growth [4,5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. These particular challenges negatively impact the most vulnerable residents of Global South cities, raising environmental justice concerns related to access to environmental goods and exposure to environmental hazards [13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…As part of growing concerns about inequalities in urban areas of the Global South, in the last decade, an increasing number of studies have analyzed whether urban green spaces are equitably distributed in cities of developing countries [12,[18][19][20][21]. Much of this research has also been motivated by the documented benefits of urban green space.…”

Characterizing Horizontal and Vertical Perspectives of Spatial Equity for Various Urban Green Spaces: A Case Study of Wuhan, China

“…The distribution and governance of urban green space are inequitable in many cities around the world (14,15). Public parks and woody vegetation are more often located in wealthy neighborhoods, where residents have higher education and income (16,17). There is evidence that socioeconomically disadvantaged and racialized minorities have lower access to urban green space and are less likely to engage in urban forestry decision making (11,15).…”

Spatial Equity Measure on Urban Ecological Space Layout Based on Accessibility of Socially Vulnerable Groups—A Case Study of Changting, China

“…Therefore, many public service facilities and consumer facilities (including parks) that serve for the high income groups enter the community through the process of urban gentrification. However, spatial equity research on public parks in China is still in its infancy [32][33][34][35]. The previous literature discussed the spatial equity layout of urban parks.…”