Social equity of public facility distribution : an accessibility-based assessment of the urban parks in Shenzhen

Abstract

The social implications involved in the planning issues have aroused more attention in recent decades, with the proliferation of theories, studies and empirical researches. The milestone can be cited as the principles of social justice, which put forward new social ethics that is opposite to the traditional utilitarianism theory. The principles from social equity put forward new requirements to the planning. In Chinese cities, the fast pace of economic development after open door policy, at the same time, makes a neglecting of social development, especially in terms of social equity.

With the understanding of concepts, this paper constructs an analytical framework for the social equity assessment in the public facility provision, based on the accessibility measurement. And empirical study of urban park planning in study area gives a visualized result through the facilitation of GIS. In addition to the major analysis part, the rethinking of urban parks planning process and mechanism is as well taken in an effort to make the assessment more comprehensive. After the question of whether or not urban parks service is distributed equitably, recommendations for future planning are raised.