Equity Measurement of Public Sports Space in Central Urban Areas Based on Residential Scale Data

Abstract

Urban public sports facilities have captured much public attention because of their close ties to public health. However, few studies have comprehensively assessed the equity of accessibility to various types of public sports space with a fine scale. This study proposed a spatial equity measurement method based on multi-source urban data and GIS network analysis. Residential buildings were taken as the minimum research unit to investigate the equity differences of residents’ enjoyment of urban public sports space accessible by walking and public transportation. Taking Harbin, China, as an example, this study calculated and visualized the proximity of more than 12,000 residential buildings to a variety of public sports space in the central urban area. The results showed that: (1) urban centers enjoy more public sports space resources than border areas, that is, the developed area has more advantages than the emerging area; (2) according to the classification of sports space, their spatial distribution pattern and measurement results are obviously different; (3) the areas with a low walking equity degree also had a low bus equity degree. This study integrated multi-source data into the traditional spatial computing models and provided an important reference for the equitable planning of urban public sports space.