Access to Public Green Spaces as a Factor in Combating Environmental Injustice

Ensuring equitable access to urban green spaces is a major challenge in contemporary urban planning, with important implications for public health, well-being and environmental justice. However, comparative cross-city analyses based on harmonised methodologies remain limited, particularly across contrasting European climatic and morphological contexts. This study aims to: (i) assess the spatial distribution of public green spaces; (ii) evaluate neighbourhood-level accessibility and identify environmental justice inequalities; and (iii) examine how urban form and climatic context influence accessibility outcomes across the following three medium-sized European cities: Faro (Portugal), Tartu (Estonia) and Nitra (Slovakia). A GIS-based approach was applied using consistent criteria, including publicly accessible green spaces ≥ 1 ha, Euclidean buffers of 300 m and 500 m, and harmonised population data from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL). Accessibility was quantified as the proportion of residents living within the defined walking-distance thresholds. The results reveal substantial inter- and intra-urban disparities. Tartu exhibits the highest green space provision (23.34 m2/inhabitant), while Faro presents the lowest (5.67 m2/inhabitant). However, accessibility patterns do not directly reflect provision levels: Faro achieves accessibility values at 500 m comparable to those of Tartu, whereas Nitra shows lower accessibility despite moderate provision. These findings demonstrate that accessibility is shaped primarily by the spatial configuration of green spaces rather than by overall provision alone. The study highlights the importance of integrating urban morphology and climatic context into environmental justice assessments and urban green infrastructure planning in order to reduce spatial inequalities in access to urban nature.