Assessing the effects of the large-scale road construction on the ethnic disparities of accessibility in Tibet from 2010 to 2020

Tibet is the main consist of the Tibetan Plateau and also inhabited by minorities in China. How to promote its road accessibility and narrow the gap between different ethnic groups should draw more attention. This study analyzes both territorial accessibility (At) and potential accessibility (Ap) in Tibet from 2010 to 2020, as well as the disparities within and between main ethnic groups, exploring whether ethnic minorities undertook the accessibility disparity or loss. The findings are as follows: (1) At and Ap are characterized by a center-periphery structure with a remarkably improvement and spatial difference from 2010 to 2020. The disparity between counties tends to widen slightly, whereas the increment of At shows the opposite feature. (2) The Hui and Han ethnic groups enjoy better accessibility than Tibetans, and the other ethnic minorities have insufficient accessibility, though with prominent improvement. The disparity in At within ethnic groups is smaller but tends to widen; by contrast, that of Ap is larger but tends to narrow. The Hui ethnic group enjoys relative equal accessibility, which tends to be more so, while Tibetans face unequal accessibility with no obvious improvement. (3) The proportion of Tibetans is negatively correlated with the improved accessibility, but those of the other ethnic minorities are positively correlated with the increment of At, indicating that the accessibility improvement in Tibet tilts to the ethnic minorities in remote areas. The overall spatial disparities in accessibility in Tibet tend to widen, but this does not totally apply to those between and within ethnic groups. Nonetheless, the construction of transport infrastructure alone may not be able to achieve equality. Above results may provide reference for related research and policy making for remote and minority areas in China and other similar regions.