Spatial analysis of urban parks and its application in urban greening policy making- An explorative case study in Iran

Today, participation in leisure activities has become an integral part of urban lives. People from different social, cultural, and economic groups are looking for recreational places, where they can meet their leisure needs in a free and easy way. In this line, designating areas for public outdoor recreation sites is an essential component of urban plans, which are involved in the land use policy and planning processes. Providing urban parks is one way that urban planners can enhance public access to free recreational facilities. As a result, the distributive justice of urban parks has been considered by many studies. Taking Karaj as an exploratory case study, the research is intended to produce knowledge about the spatial distribution of supply and demand for urban park green spaces in this metropolitan city of Iran. Based on matching supply and demand, the spatial supply-demand balance has been extracted in four geographic research units: block scale, sub-district scale, district scale, and city scale. Using the spatial clustering method, the poorest and richest urban areas in terms of accessibility to urban parks can be recognized. The research results show, in total, 56 percent of residents suffer from a lack of standard access to urban parks. As well as, measuring the accessibility of pedestrians to urban parks by Network Analysis tool, represents that travel distance between residential areas and urban parks for 37 percent of people is longer than preferable walking distance. In this regard, the spatial pattern of supply-demand balance identifies priority areas to improve urban green infrastructure.

Spatial analysis of urban parks and its application in urban greening policy making- An explorative case study in Iran Keywords:

Karaj , Accessibility , Spatial clustering , Supply-demand balance , Urban greening policy making , Urban parks