An Evaluation of Spatial Equity in Community Park Layouts:A Study Based on the SE Index Method

LIU Zhiqiang; ZHENG Wei; HONG Genwei; YU Hui

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2025.02.001

Abstract：Community parks,which act as green open spaces that provide daily recreational services for residents of communities,are closely related to residents'quality of life.With the increasing equalization of basic public services and the concept of community living areas,scientific research on the layout characteristics of community parks is critical for enhancing the residents'quality of life.At present,as urban construction begins to enter the stage of high-quality development,the issues of uneven layouts and inadequate service provision in community parks in China are becoming increasingly prevalent,accompanied by the low fairness of residents enjoying the services of community parks.Therefore,it is critical to study the spatial fairness evaluation of community park layouts,which can provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the layout of community parks and improving the quality of human habitat construction in the context of urban renewal.To date,the Gini coefficient has been widely used to evaluate the spatial fairness of green space layouts in parks.It is intuitive,simple to use,and its calculation results are comparable.Moreover,it offsets shortcomings of the accessibility index,which is limited by the availability of data and the calculation complexity,making it only applicable to small-scale refinement research.However,the Gini coefficient does not take into account the spatial dimensions,such as the distribution of residents and the layout of parks,and similar Gini coefficients will inevitably represent different spatial equity scenarios,failing to achieve unique correspondences.Therefore,it is necessary and feasible to introduce the SE index,a spatial equity evaluation method that combines the Gini coefficient with the bivariate Moran index. An empirical study based on the Central Area of Suzhou was carried out.The SE index was introduced to evaluate the overall spatial fairness of the community park layout,in addition to revealing the matching status of supply and demand and spatial fairness differences in each municipal district at the local scale.As a spatial fairness evaluation method combining the Gini coefficient and bivariate Moran index,the SE index is both feasible and accurate.It can determine whether there is overall inequity in the allocation of community parks,explain the different fairness statuses of municipal districts with similar Gini coefficients on the local scale,and accurately identify the spatial units with insufficient fairness,thus analyzing the spatial fairness of the layout of parks and green spaces more accurately. 1)On the macroscale:the overall spatial fairness of the community park layout in the central area is generally low,and it varies significantly among the municipal districts.Gusu District has the best spatial fairness,followed by Industrial Park,Hi-tech District,and Wuzhong District,successively.Xiangcheng District has the worst spatial fairness.2)On the local scale:the Gini coefficients of Wuzhong and Gusu Districts are similar,but there is a sufficient supply of community parks in Wuzhong District.The inequity status in Wuzhong District is mainly attributed to the fact that only a small number of people can enjoy community parks.The inequity status in Gusu District is attributed to the high demand of the population for the enjoyment and insufficient supply of community parks. The accessibility indexes of community park supply in the central area of Suzhou were characterized based on the Gaussian two-step moving search method.The relationships between the distribution of population demand in residential areas with the number and spatial concentration of the community park layout were measured on the macroscale.On the local scale,the supply-demand matching degree and differences in spatial concentration among municipal districts were compared,aiming to obtain evaluation results on the macroscale.This study is expected to provide some scientific reference for optimizing the community park layout and some insight into the fairness of green space layout in parks.