Rethinking Urban Green Space Accessibility Through Route Environment Quality

Urban green spaces (UGS) contribute significantly to public well-being by fostering physical activity and improving mental health. While accessibility is a central concern in UGS planning, conventional approaches often prioritize distance-based metrics, assuming that proximity alone ensures equitable and effective access. However, the environmental conditions along the way to UGS remain largely overlooked, despite their potential to discourage visits and reduce the benefits these spaces offer. This study introduces an environmentally informed accessibility framework by integrating high-resolution environment variables to evaluate the walking routes from residential areas to UGS in Helsinki, Finland. By modeling access to both medium-sized UGS and large UGS, we reveal that routes of similar distance can vary greatly in environmental quality, challenging the assumption that proximity alone guarantees accessibility. Access to larger UGS is particularly affected, reinforcing the need for urban planning strategies that prioritize high-quality pedestrian environments. Beyond identifying spatial disparities, this study proposes a methodological approach that is adaptable to different urban contexts, offering planners tools to assess both UGS distribution and route quality. Our results highlight the limitations of single-dimensional accessibility indicators and advocate for multidimensional measures that account for both distance and route conditions. By integrating environmental quality into accessibility frameworks, cities can create more inclusive, health-promoting urban landscapes that ensure UGS benefits are equitably distributed.