More Accessible, More Equitable? Rehabilitation Support Spaces for Persons with Mental Disabilities in Tianjin

The equitable allocation of mental health rehabilitation support spaces provides an important foundation for community living and social participation among persons with mental disabilities. Existing accessibility studies tend to focus on a single facility type or travel mode, with limited consideration of the relationships among rehabilitation needs, travel conditions, and spatial opportunities. Using the central urban area of Tianjin as a case study, we aggregated records of persons with mental disabilities at the residential community level and classified rehabilitation support spaces into four types: professional rehabilitation spaces, natural restorative spaces, social interaction spaces, and occupational participation spaces. The Gaussian-enhanced two-step floating catchment area (Gaussian E2SFCA) method was used to estimate accessibility by space type and comprehensive accessibility under public transport, walking, and car passenger travel scenarios. Moran’s I, bivariate LISA, Lorenz curves, the Gini coefficient, and screening for communities with high needs and low accessibility were combined to assess spatial clustering, overall distribution, and needs-based spatial equity. The results show that travel modes substantially reshape the spatial distribution of rehabilitation support opportunities. Public transport accessibility was higher in central areas and lower on the periphery, whereas high walking accessibility was confined to scattered patches around facilities. Car passenger travel reduced spatial disparities but access remained constrained by family caregiving capacity and financial resources. Sensitivity to travel constraints varied across space types, with the largest gaps in access observed for occupational participation and professional rehabilitation spaces, indicating that comprehensive accessibility cannot replace assessment by space type. Screening at the residential community level identified multiple units with high needs and low accessibility, revealing that overall equity assessments can obscure local mismatches between supply and demand. These findings indicate that transport improvements can reduce distance-related barriers but do not automatically achieve needs-based equity. The study provides spatial evidence to inform the allocation of mental health rehabilitation resources, the identification of priority areas, and the development of compensatory transport support policies.