Proposing an integrated accessibility-based measure to evaluate spatial equity among different social classes

Abstract

Fair spatial distribution of services has always been a challenge for urban planners to supply sufficient accessibility for individuals and to consider the needs of vulnerable social groups. Nevertheless, equity assessment literature has mostly focused on measuring the accessibility through distance-based variables, and social stratification based on just income, as well. Accordingly, this study intends to employ an accessibility measure that considers non-distance-based variables along with distance-based ones. It uses multi-criteria decision-making to propose an accessibility index to assess vertical and horizontal equity of residents’ accessibility to a range of public facilities, in the district 6 of Tehran, Iran. Therefore, using the integration of geographical information system-based spatial analysis, wider people specification, and the Gini coefficient, this measure proposes a novel framework to examine the equity level of individuals belonging to the lower, middle, and upper social classes. Results imply a 0.228 Gini index for horizontal equity, which indicates a low level of inequity among residents. Besides, for vertical equity evaluation, Gini index of 0.097, 0.249, and 0.167, respectively, for lower, middle, and upper groups show people in the lower class experience very low levels of inequity, therefore higher accessibility is well distributed among groups with higher social needs. This approach can help planners to choose the right analysis method and prioritize urban decisions toward the equitable distribution of facilities.

Advances and pitfalls in measuring transportation equity

“…Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients capture the total inequality within a population or group, but they are silent regarding the inequality between disadvantaged and better-off groups. Despite this limitation, researchers have interpreted comparisons between Gini coefficients calculated separately for different groups or different places as providing estimates of inequalities between groups (e.g., Azmoodeh et al, 2021;Wang and Lindsey, 2017;Welch, 2013). This is not correct; Gini coefficients provide no information about which group experiences better or worse overall conditions.…”

A multi-scale approach mapping spatial equality of urban public facilities for urban design

“…Therefore, they do not state enough insights for understanding the allocation and distribution of UPFs' from a larger scale (i.e. at the administrative level) [ 7 , 9 , 49 , 50 ]. As the most widely used tool, accessibility analysis provides a quantitative operational method for the evaluation of spatial equality [ 6 , 9 , 10 ].…”

Road crashes in Adelaide metropolitan region, the consequences of COVID-19

“…Shorter distances between the start and end points and less total walking throughout the route are two ways in which population and activity density may cut down on walking time. There is a substantial correlation between walkability and factors including land use diversity, job and transit access, and junction density ( Azmoodeh et al, 2021 ). Policies that promote congestion, mixing land uses, and public transportation may indirectly raise the risk of crashes for those who rely disproportionately on walking as a mode of mobility ( Lee et al, 2013 ).…”