Multi-Scale Analysis of Urban Greenspace Exposure and Equality: Insights from a Population-Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)-Weighted Model in the West Side Straits Urban Agglomeration

Urban greenspaces (UGSs) are pivotal for ecological enhancement and the well-being of urban residents. The accurate quantification of greenspace exposure (GE) and its distributional equality is essential for equitable urban planning and mitigating inequalities in greenspace access. This study introduces a novel population-EVI-weighted model that integrates the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), land cover, and demographic data to evaluate GE across various spatial scales and buffer distances (300 m, 500 m, and 1 km). This model provides a more nuanced representation of realistic UGSs utilization by residents than traditional metrics of greenspace coverage or simple population-weighted exposure. Our comprehensive analysis reveals that refining the spatial scale improves the understanding of GE’s spatial variation and its distributional equality. Furthermore, increasing the buffer distance substantially enhances GE and its distributional equality across 20 cities and over 93% of counties within the Urban Agglomeration on the West Side of the Straits (WSS). Notably, the county level shows superior performance and greater sensitivity to buffer distance adjustments compared to the city level in the WSS. These findings underscore the importance of scale and buffer distance in urban greenspace planning to achieve equal access to greenspaces.