Assessing The Accessibility Of Existing And Newly Developed Urban Green Space: The Case Of Addis Ababa City

Abstract

Cities of developing countries, such as Addis Ababa, are facing a significant problem concerning green spaces. Urban green space has become fundamental feature of urban development initiatives since its importance in providing numerous green space services for human well-being is highly indicated. Despite their numerous advantages, they are under severe threat, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa's fast growing cities. Therefore, this research aims to assess the accessibility of urban green space in Addis Ababa city. Specifically, it comparatively investigates the availability, physical accessibility and service area gap of exiting and newly added recreational public urban green spaces in the city. The initial thematic mapping, data synthesis and key findings were generated using ArcGIS software. The method that was used to evaluate urban green space availability was acreage and per capita indicator. Proximity indicator was used to evaluate physical accessibility and to identify the proportional population without access to green space. And the service area gap was formulated by calculating the difference between the provided green infrastructure and the standard for the provision. The study finds out the newly added recreational urban green space has higher acreage compared to the previous one which also makes the per capita larger than the previous. The physical accessibility of the newly added green spaces was much lower than the previous urban green space in terms of proximity indicator which makes it less accessible for residents living in 400m and 800m distance from the facility. The service area gap of the city was minimized because of the providence of the newly added ones despite it still lack to meet the standards. The result implies the physical accessibility of the newly provided urban green space is less while the previous one is better despite of the contribution for the per capita is great. The study will help the decision makers to see in which part of the city they should focus regarding green space. The research can be used as a guideline for researchers to further study the solution of increasing green space accessibility in terms of different other aspects. And it will also guide the municipalities to consider accessibility while providing new green space facilities for the city.