Analysis of Spatial Distribution and Accessibility to Urban Parks, (Case Study: Shiraz)

Spatial distribution and access to urban services and facilities, especially urban parks, are very important and play a fundamental role in achieving equality, social and locational justice in the society. In this paper, we have reviewed the spatial distribution pattern and Level of availability of urban parks in Shiraz. For this purpose various geo-processing tools have been used including: buffer, the nearest neighbor analysis and K function. For measuring the concentration and spatial equilibrium of parks in different areas of the city some mathematical methods such as Entropy Index, Lorenz curve, Gini Coefficient, Location quotient (LQ), distribution coefficient and concentration measurement have also been used. Based on the results achieved from 169 urban parks in Shiraz, spatial distribution of the parks was semi-balanced and there is little difference between different municipal districts. However, the distribution of regional parks, district parks, and urban parks was not balanced. Some districts (For example, district 6) do not have convenient access to urban parks. The results of buffering method showed that despite the lack of accessibility to different parks in the most municipal districts of the city, district 6 is the most deprived in terms of access to parks and districts 2, 4 and 8 have the best accessibility. Based on the total surface of buffer around the parks, 74% of the city is covered and only 26% of the total area of the city suffers from the insufficient accessibility to parks.