Assessing equity in the accessibility to urban greenspaces: A socio-spatial vulnerability perspective in Porto, Portugal

Urban greenspaces are essential for the liveability of cities, due to their multi-functionality and the benefits they provide to the residents as ecosystem services. Their potential as nature-based solutions also provides an important opportunity to tackle and mitigate socio-economic and spatial inequalities, at various scales. Therefore, location and quality of greenspaces must be planned considering equity in the access by resident population, regardless of socio-economic context. The purpose of this research is to develop and present a methodology that evaluates such equity in accessibility to quality greenspaces, tested in the Portuguese city of Porto. The methodology crosses the quantity, spatial and social approaches existing in the literature. It considers location of each greenspace, plus a set of indicators that help quantify them in relation to size, opening hours, existing amenities, proximity to schools, and place metrics. Furthermore, it defines areas of proximity, based on walking accessibility up to 15 minutes, considering distinct socio-economic vulnerability groups, based on territorial profiles established through factor analysis of census block level data. The resulting crossing of socio-economic groups with ranges of accessibility to distinct greenspace types show, for example, that the creation of a new park in 2010 significantly helped to augment the accessibility of the most deprived groups, that nonetheless remain farthest from the most centrally located greenery. Conclusions reinforce the importance of urban planning to mitigate environmental injustices, including at the micro-scale in the 15-min city, and the interest of involving the local community, particularly the most vulnerable, to avoid the consequences of green gentrification.