How Green Space Exposure Is Associated with Social Vulnerability in the Highly Urbanized Xuhui District, Shanghai

Green space (GS) exposure reflects how well urban dwellers engage with GSs, which is closely related to sustainable communities. However, the associations between GS exposure and multi-dimensional social vulnerability (SoV) remain to be elucidated. To address this gap, this study develops a comprehensive framework to investigate the associations between GS exposure and SoV using methods of the Gini coefficient, bivariate mapping, and discriminant analysis, taking the Xuhui District of Shanghai as a case study. The results show the following findings. (1) The GS exposure was improved by good accessibility of GSs, particularly for the downtowns suffering a low level of GS availability; (2) The distribution of GS exposure is relatively equitable across different levels of SoV; (3) Communities with low GS exposure and high SoV are characterized by a high proportion of children and a low proportion of highly educated and employed people. The findings highlight the necessity of a systematic evaluation of GS exposure from a SoV perspective. Such a systematic evaluation could help optimize the GS patterns and allocate the valuable GSs to vulnerable groups for a more inclusive and sustainable community.