Accessibility to Neighborhood Parks Within Pedestrian Sheds Across Residential Activity Areas: A Case Study of Daegu, South Korea, Considering Periods of Residential Development and Housing Type

This study proposes a method for evaluating accessibility to neighborhood parks within pedestrian sheds in environments where pedestrian network data are limited and aims to analyze the effects of residential development period and housing type on park accessibility. The study area is Daegu, South Korea. In residentially dense areas, residential activity blocks were delineated using roads with four or more lanes in consideration of pedestrian safety. This approach was intended to establish residential activity areas that account for pedestrian discontinuities. Residential activity areas are classified into five categories of park accessibility, based on whether a neighborhood park lies within walking distance, the number of parks available, and their proportional relationship to the total block area. In addition, periods of residential development are defined according to the year of building approval, and their associations with park accessibility are analyzed in relation to housing type. The analysis identified 464 residential activity blocks within the study area, of which 253 contained parks within pedestrian sheds. The actual distribution of parks within the blocks differed from the results of the conventional buffer-based accessibility analysis conducted for parks within pedestrian sheds. For example, although some blocks included parks within the statutory maximum walking distance of 1 km under the conventional buffer criterion, residents were in practice required to cross roads with four or more lanes to access the parks, indicating that the parks were not effectively located within the residential activity area. In terms of the relationship with the period of residential development, areas densely occupied by residential buildings established before 1980 exhibited relatively low park accessibility, whereas those established since 1990 demonstrated relatively favorable park accessibility. These findings suggest that spatial disparities in park accessibility are structurally shaped by the timing of urban development and patterns of residential formation, rather than by population density alone. This study presents an approach to evaluating accessibility that is applicable even in the absence of pedestrian network data and provides policy implications by identifying priority areas for neighborhood park provision to improve park equity in older residential areas.