Access to parks and green spaces in Quebec City, Canada: Developing children-specific accessibility measures

Accessibility indicators are gaining traction in research and planning as they provide a joint understanding of how transportnetworks and land-use patterns enable individuals to reach a variety of destinations. Local accessibility is especially beneficialfor children as they do not have the same capacities to travel as adults and their independent mobility is generally constrainedto active modes such as walking and cycling. Further, active and independent travel are linked to their health and well-being.Yet, there does not appear to have been much work done in relation to developing accessibility indicators specific to children.This study presents a methodology to specifically assess accessibility to parks (a key destination for children) on foot and bybicycle for children in Quebec City, Canada using open-access data. Accessibility indicators were generated for each residen-tial lot based on the suitability of the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure for children. The number of parks accessible waspresented and the equity of accessibility to parks was considered through population and socioeconomic measures. Theresults revealed a notable decrease in walking accessibility when only dedicated pedestrian infrastructure was considered,and differences between walking and cycling accessibility. This enabled the identification of accessibility gaps where the exist-ing infrastructure did not provide safe access to parks and green spaces for children This research will be of interest toresearchers and planners aiming to refine accessibility indicators to support children’s independent mobility, while takingequity into consideration.