Accessibility Analysis of Urban Green Space: the Case of Erbil City

Abstract

Urban green areas are open spaces in urban areas that are mainly covered by vegetation. They can be public or private urban green spaces that include parks, community gardens, forests, and nature reserves. Parks are an important component of urban quality of life if they are well designed and accessible. Accessible parks contribute to physical activity among urban residents. Therefore, the objective of the study was to identify the most significant main accessibility factors that discourage the use of public urban green areas, and examine the extent to which they influence the use of green areas in residential areas of the city of Erbil. This study was conducted in 2017 and 2020 to measure the accessibility of green spaces using network analysis with GIS for Erbil city. The present study represents the first known investigation regarding the accessibility of public green spaces within the city of Erbil. The results show that for community parks, 68% of the population has access with a travel time of 5 minutes, 99% of the population has access with a travel time of 10 minutes, and 100% of the population has access with a travel time of 15 minutes. For district parks, 70% of the population had access with 5 minute drive time. With 10-minute drive time, 96% of the population had access and 100% of the population had access with 15-minute drive time. For neighborhood parks, the results show that 43% of the population had access with 5-minute walk and, 71% of the population had access with 10-minute walk. At 15-minute walk time, 80% of Erbil residents had access to neighborhood parks. Mini parks were accessed by 22% of the population with a 5 minute walk and they were accessed by 52% of the population with a 10 minute walk. With a 15 minute walk, mini parks were accessible to 70% of the population.