Who can access what? Uncovering urban inequality in access to service for senior citizens

The scarcity or lack of access to essential services at the local level in cities can result in spatial inequalities, as some areas and their residents can deal with disadvantages and a lower quality of daily life. The spatial distribution and the variety of amenities at the local scale represent an important feature of the liveliness of places. The local availability and access to essential services are particularly relevant for demographic groups experiencing limited mobility or mobility poverty, such as the elderly living in cities. Spatial disparities have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlighted severe problems related to accessing essential services. This work explores the issue focusing on the following question: who can access what depending on where they live in cities? Using Machine Learning and Spatial Autocorrelation applied to several data sources on the location of urban amenities and Internet access, this work aims to identify underserved places in terms of the variety of available amenities and access to quality broadband. The combination of underserved areas with a high concentration of groups in vulnerable conditions, such as the elderly, identifies left-behind urban areas where interventions are most needed. Results might inform policies aiming at favouring fair access to services at the local scale, also with slow mobility modes, and in general to develop comprehensive and sustainable planning strategies for cities, leaving no place and no person behind.

SULIS Patrizia;  PROIETTI Paola; 

2024-10-16

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

JRC133815

2399-8083 (online),   

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23998083241260757,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC133815,   

10.1177/23998083241260757 (online),