Accessibility evaluation of public service facilities in affordable housing communities in Hangzhou, China

Differences in housing-facility accessibility directly impact social equity and residents' quality of life. Exploring Hangzhou, China as a case study, this research employs a geographic information system and the Baidu Map path planning application programming interface, combined with full-sample big data of residential communities, to systematically analyze the spatial distribution characteristics and accessibility disparities of public service facilities between affordable housing and commercial housing communities. Further, it explores the hierarchical differentiation within affordable housing communities. There are three major findings: (1) low-priced commercial housing spatially overlaps partially with affordable housing but exhibits significant spatial dislocation with mid- and high-priced commercial housing; (2) mid-priced commercial housing performs best in multiple public service facility scores, followed by high-priced commercial housing, affordable housing, and low-priced areas. The core carrier of accessibility disadvantages is not the entire affordable housing sector but market-formed low-priced commercial housing areas. (3) Affordable housing demonstrates a gradient pattern of "affordable ownership housing > public rental housing > blue-collar apartments," with blue-collar apartments exhibiting particularly pronounced disadvantages in accessibility to basic facilities, such as kindergartens and vegetable markets. The findings provide theoretical and practical references for promoting "15-minute community life circles" and social integration in high-density cities.