An evaluation of the access to neighbourhood parks based on the “need-based equity”: a case study in Izmir (Turkey)

Abstract

This study aims at contributing to the studies about how spatial distribution of neighbourhood parks in existing cities shape the opportunities for equitable access to “healthy environments” of the “needgroups” – here, low income groups, women, children, and elderly. Based on the “need-based equity,” it evaluates such need-groups’ “access” to neighbourhood parks in the central districts of Izmir, the third biggest metropolitan city in Turkey. It deploys “equity mapping” with the help of geographic information system to analyse and interrelate the basic data about the characteristics of neighbourhood parks and the population that is available in Turkey’s context but relatively limited compared to European context. It comparatively identifies and evaluates the objective characteristics of the built and social environment at the city scale and relates the findings to the discussions of the relations between built environment, health and urban justice.