Child-specific greenspace accessibility indicators

Title	Measuring children's and adolescents' accessibility to greenspaces from different locations and commuting settings
Source	Roos Teeuwen, Achilleas Psyllidis, Alessandro Bozzon. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Volume 100, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2022.101912
Level of evidence	Direct
Where	Case studies in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague (NL) - 848 green spaces evaluated for accessibility by children and adolescents on foot
Approach	Street network modelling using two types of network measures that capture pedestrian movement along streets: (1) Walkshed buffer zones that capture the number of children and adolescents having access to each greenspace relative to their homes and schools (2) Betweenness measures that estimate the flows of children and adolescents traversing each greenspaces on foot while commuting.  We demonstrated our method using the most populated cities in The Netherlands.
Findings	·      Novel age-adjusted method for measuring greenspace and playground accessibility, tailored to three important aspects of children's and adolescents' daily activities, namely their homes, their educational facilities, and the commutes between them. ·      Its three measures (i.e. residence-based, education-based, and on-the-move) offer new insights into greenspace accessibility, and highlight the importance of acknowledging variation between age groups. ·      For example, in our sample, large amount of greenspaces are not accessible by adolescents from educational (62%) or on-the-move settings (72%), and in many areas traversed by adolescents on-the-move, greenspaces are completely lacking.  ·      High-scoring greenspaces tended to be significantly smaller than average, around 3 hectares. Large greenspaces, wider than 500m, are difficult to traverse within a 15-min walking commute, resulting in low to medium accessibility.
Recommendations	·       This work is the first to apply betweenness models in the context of greenspaces exposure research. It can be replicated in any city with land use, street network, population statistics, and educational facilities data available.  ·      Urban planners and (public health) policy makers can use this methodology to assess potential exposure to greenspaces for different population age groups, and assess where new greenspaces could be introduced to allow for increased routine exposure. ·      Specific recommendations for urban design include: ·      Recognize the barrier effect of large greenspaces and prioritize smaller, accessible ones for children. ·      Consider density and relevance of facilities (e.g., schools, playgrounds) and street networks around greenspaces. ·      Integrate play spaces and community input to mitigate children’s mobility restrictions caused by traffic and barriers.