Measuring objective accessibility to neighborhood facilities in the city (A case study: Zone 6 in Tehran, Iran)

Access to public spaces could be one of the important factors in their use. Whilst measuring accessibility to public spaces has received considerable attention, there are few studies outside the Anglophone world, especially in developing countries such as Iran. The present research targets two important goals. First it attempts to create a new methodology for measuring objective accessibility to public spaces (such as parks, schools and shops) at the neighborhood scale and second it investigates the distribution of such spaces by examining the socio-economic status of citizens. The goal is achieved by applying a new and straightforward method of GIS and fuzzy logic. This methodology was applied in the study area and the results presented in the form of tables and maps. The results revealed that there are spatial disparities in some parts of the area with lower accessibility to such spaces. The study indicates that the general understanding of people with high level deprivation having less access to public space is incorrect. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.