Which communities have better accessibility to green space? An investigation into environmental inequality using big data

Classification of institutional barriers affecting the availability, accessibility and attractiveness of urban green spaces

A multi-mode Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method for measuring accessibility of urban parks

Online information technologies are becoming essential tools for urban planning as they support information sharing and participatory decision making in the planning process. Therefore this paper underlines the importance of online planning and e-participation, examines household use of information technology and discusses the digital divide problem. This paper also explores Australian local governmentsi potential and experiences in online planning. It scrutinizes existing infrastructures of local councils as well as their willingness to adopt the Internet and geographic information systems in their planning processes. This research clusters local government areas in terms of their potentials in the implementation of online planning. This clustering would lead Australian governments to develop policies on where to start and where to extend online planning next. The paper concludes with introducing online planning examples and initiatives from Australia.

Australian local governments' practice and prospects with online planning

This study estimates the factors affecting socially vulnerable groups’ demand for and accessibility levels to green public spaces in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Dhaka is a high-density city with one of the lowest levels of green space per capita in the world. Dhaka has just 8.5% of tree-covered lands, while an ideal city requires at least 20% of green space. Urban public green space provides a healthy environment to city dwellers as well as ecological soundness. This study aims to examine the effects of population density and size of a community area (Thana) on the social demand for and accessibility to green parks. To determine the socially vulnerable group demand index, this study used demographic data from the National Population and Housing Census 2011 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. This study used geographical data extracted from Google Earth Pro to measure accessibility levels, and additionally analyzed geographical data with ArcGIS 10.0 and Google Earth Pro. We drew radius circles using Free Map Tools to measure time-distance weighted scores from community areas to urban green spaces. The results show that the large population size of socially vulnerable groups creates very high demand at the score of 0.61 for urban green public parks and small-sized, high-density community areas generate very good accessibility at 2.01% to green public spaces. These findings are highly useful to policymakers, urban planners, landscape engineers, and city governments to make a compact city sustainable, inclusive, and resilient. Moreover, the notion of a “smart city” might be a smart solution in order to manage Dhaka Megacity sustainably in this modern technological age.

Analyzing the Level of Accessibility of Public Urban Green Spaces to Different Socially Vulnerable Groups of People

GIS based analysis for assessing the accessibility at hierarchical levels of urban green spaces

Urban Green Spaces (UGS) are an integral part of urban environment and act as lungs for rejuvenating the urban environment and improving the quality of life and health of residents. UGS assist in regulating urban microclimate, biodiversity conservation, alleviating floods, enhancing air quality, and also promotes physical and mental wellbeing of urban populace. They also provide spaces for improved social environment and are considered highly beneficial for physical, social and cognitive development of urban children. UGS exists in diverse shape, size, vegetation cover and types and includes parks, gardens, railway corridors, road side green, derelict monument sites, etc. [1] defined UGS as urban land that consists of unsealed, permeable, soft surfaces such as soil, grass, shrubs and trees. Chandigarh is the first planned city of modern India and is known for its uniformly distributed and ample UGS within its boundaries. However, only quantification of amount of UGS is not sufficient to harness the full range of benefits from UGS for smart urban environment. The UGS should be accessible, uniformly distributed and maintained for its daily use by urban population. Although, there are restrictions on development within the Chandigarh, the high pace of urbanization, population increase and economic development in surrounding area is creating a pressure on infrastructure of Chandigarh as well. Chandigarh is also facing the issues of traffic congestion, air pollution and environmental degradation which were unheard before. The multi-faceted issues and benefits of UGS call for smart approaches for their effective utilization and management. Geospatial technologies integrated with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools provide a useful and smart tool in the hand of planners for quantification, assessment and evaluation of UGS for smart management. They can help in identifying the vulnerable areas as well as to assess the accessibility and distribution of UGS. They can be used for quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of UGS by applying a range of remote sensing data sets and geo-analysis. Many indices have been developed using these datasets for evaluation and monitoring of UGS. With the growing technological advancements in smart web-based tools, these technologies can also be used effectively for monitoring and management of UGS through integration of ICT tools and citizen centric services. This study demonstrates various innovative geospatial and ICT tools for evaluation and monitoring of UGS.

Mahavir

Papers

GIS based analysis for assessing the accessibility at hierarchical levels of urban green spaces

Smart Environment Through Smart Tools and Technologies for Urban Green Spaces