Inequality of public facilities between urban and rural areas and its driving factors in ten cities of China

Urban development continues to face the dilemma of spatial inequality of public facilities, particularly educational and medical facilities. Identifying inequalities in various types of public facilities and their driving mechanisms is crucial in reducing social inequality. However, information on this topic is limited. This study took 10 typical cities in China as cases. We used the methods of the Gini coefficient and hedonic price model as bases in evaluating the equality of nine types of education and medical facilities, focusing on the differences between urban and rural areas. Moreover, we further analyzed the driving factors of facility equality. Results showed that equality of public facilities in urban areas was significantly higher than that in rural areas. Primary schools, middle schools, and health service centers were relatively equal, and kindergartens and pharmacies were unequal only in rural areas. However, the equality of facilities with large-size or commercial attributes was not optimistic. Furthermore, there remained a significant gap among counties (or districts), which was mainly driven by population, economy, and building density in the form of logarithm and logarithmic linear models. Our research contributes to an in-depth understanding of the inequality of public facilities and further supports decision-making to improve social equality.