Spatio-temporal disparity between demand and supply of park green space service in urban area of Wuhan from 2000 to 2014

Various green space researches are conducted on spatial and social analysis in regional scale, but few of them focus on the disparities of access to green spaces in spatial-temporal dynamics analysis in small-scale of cities in developing countries. This paper employed integrated approaches to analyze the spatial-temporal disparities between demand and supply of park green spaces (PGSs) of two traffic modes (walking and driving) in grid scale of urban center in Wuhan from 2000 to 2014: the Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method calculated the accessibilities; the coefficient of variation measured the changes; and the spatial correlation analysis clarified the effects of spatial disparities by accessibility changes of each mode. Our results indicated that the supply and demand of PGSs both increased. The spatial disparities of park green spaces in urban center of Wuhan and seven districts were significantly different in walking and driving in different periods. The temporal disparities decreased by 4.6% in 2010 and then increased by 90.7% in 2014 in walking, whereas that in driving increased continually (i.e., 13.0% and 41.1% in 2010 and 2014, respectively). Spatial autocorrelation analysis affirmed that the spatial agglomeration of accessibility was profoundly strong stronger, whereas temporal correlation was weak. In addition, we discussed the factors of the changes in disparities by bivariate analysis, which verified that policies and strategies (e.g., urban green space planning, transportation planning and population policy) were the key factors of PGSs accessibility. Decision makers and planners may pay considerable attention on the quality of park services and traffic conditions right along, but the comprehensive effects of surrounding land use and socioeconomic context impacts could not be ignored. The results can provide a comprehensive understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the urban green space, and also help decision makers and planners to balance economic development and green conservation.