A planning framework to evaluate demands and preferences by different social groups for accessibility to urban greenspaces

Abstract The role of urban greenspaces is widely considered having positive implications for health and providing a complete set of ecosystem services in cities. This paper presents a planning framework for urban greenspaces that considers demands and preferences for accessibility of different social groups (e.g. children and elderly people). It is designed to achieve different objectives in terms of planning and design of greenspaces and to be used in different urban contexts. The framework is structured in four phases that take place during a planning process of greenspaces: the definition of the objectives, the modelling of accessibility to the new or existing greenspaces, the interpretation of results and the definition of planning decisions. In the framework, accessibility to greenspaces is assessed through spatially explicit GIS-based indicators that combine socio-economic and land-use data with the road network information, so to take into account the interactions between social demands and the presence of greenspaces in cities. Two applications of the planning framework are proposed for the cities of Catania (Italy) and Nagoya (Japan), characterized by different configurations of greenspaces, high urban density urban and presence of particular social groups. Planning implications highlighted by the two case studies are presented and discussed.