Cooling inequity: Investigating environmental equity in residents' access to cooling services from urban parks using an improved 2FSCA model

Abstract

Since the early 21st century, urbanization has intensified the urban heat island effect, posing negative health impacts on residents. Urban parks played a critical role in mitigating local temperatures and served as a major strategy for addressing this problem. Despite the growth in the number of parks and green spaces, uneven distribution restricted equitable access to cooling services, especially for vulnerable groups. Furthermore, current assessments of the cooling benefits provided by urban parks failed to account adequately for variations in parks' service capacities and coverage areas. Thus, this study evaluated the cooling effect, park service, and direct cooling services, utilizing an improved Gaussian Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (G2SFCA) model to assess the accessibility of park cooling services. Special emphasis was placed on accessibility for vulnerable populations, including the low-income, elderly, and children, in order to investigate the spatial and social equity of park cooling services. A case study was conducted on Fuzhou Third Ring Road. Results indicate that cooling service levels varied across parks, with 28 out of 48 parks demonstrating above-average cooling capacities. These parks were typically large urban comprehensive parks or smaller parks with substantial service capacities in central urban areas. Additionally, the accessibility of park cooling services showed significant spatial differentiation, exhibiting a long-tail distribution where 39.12 % of areas had zero accessibility, and 74.9 % fell below the average. Lastly, marked disparities existed among different population groups in accessing cooling services, with low-income and elderly populations facing significant disadvantages in resource access, underscoring social inequities in cooling provision.