Spatial Equity of Public Open Space Accessibility in Dense Urban Areas: Evidence from Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract

In global high-density cities, the contradiction between supply and demand of public open space is prominent, and the issue of fairness has attracted much attention. This paper takes Kowloon City District of Hong Kong as the research object, adopts the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area method to calculate public open space accessibility at building group population points, evaluates spatial social equity via the Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient and Theil index, and applies the Geodetector model to identify the driving mechanism of spatial differentiation. The following main conclusions are obtained. Firstly, accessibility exhibits a spatial differentiation pattern with higher values in the northeast and central-west and lower values in the southern coastal areas. Secondly, the Gini coefficient is 0.2404, indicating mild inequality. The Theil index shows that the unfairness mainly stems from spatial location differences within the same group. Thirdly, road network density is the core driving factor. Factor interaction enhances explanatory power, with the strongest synergy between road network density and income. This article enriches the empirical application of spatial justice theory in high-density urban areas and provides reference for green space planning and stock renewal in similar old urban areas.