Spatial analysis reveals localized amenity shortages across urban census tracts, indicating that high citywide livability rankings mask neighborhood-level inequalities.
Key Points
Determine whether favorable citywide livability rankings translate into equitable, neighborhood-level access to essential urban amenities.
Evaluated spatial access to grocery stores, healthcare facilities, and parks across 38 census tracts covering a population of 121,219.
Calculated network distances via road-based nearest-facility routing, developed a Composite Accessibility Index (CAI), and computed both standard and population-weighted Gini coefficients.
Approximately 9,700 residents (8.0% of the 121,219 total population) resided in the lowest composite accessibility quartile.
Population-weighted Gini coefficients showed modest overall inequality (grocery = 0.040, healthcare = 0.042, parks = 0.029, CAI = 0.029), yet the lowest-scoring peripheral tract recorded a CAI of 0 with travel distances between 6.9 and 7.8 miles to essential amenities.