IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i24p16914-d1005869.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toward a Healthy Urban Living Environment: Assessing 15-Minute Green-Blue Space Accessibility

Author

Listed:
  • Dong Liu

    (Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong
    Institute of Future Cities, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong)

  • Mei-Po Kwan

    (Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong
    Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong)

  • Zihan Kan

    (Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong
    Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong)

  • Jianying Wang

    (Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong)

Abstract

Exposure to green-blue space has been shown to be associated with better physical and mental health outcomes. The advent of COVID-19 has underlined the importance for people to have access to green-blue spaces in proximity to their residences due to pandemic-related restrictions on activity space. The implementation of the 15-min concept, which advocates that people should be able to reach locations of essential functions like green-blue spaces within 15 min of active travel, can bring green-blue spaces nearer to where people live. Nonetheless, there is still a lack of understanding of the social and spatial (in)equality in 15-min green-blue space accessibility by active travel in cities seeking to embrace the concept, such as Hong Kong. This study explores 15-min green-blue space accessibility by walking and cycling in Hong Kong to reveal the distribution of disadvantaged neighborhoods. The results show that neighborhoods in Kowloon’s districts are the most disadvantaged in accessing green-blue spaces within 15 min of active travel. Our study provides policymakers with valuable insights and knowledge conducive to formulating policies aimed at reducing inequality in 15-min accessibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Dong Liu & Mei-Po Kwan & Zihan Kan & Jianying Wang, 2022. "Toward a Healthy Urban Living Environment: Assessing 15-Minute Green-Blue Space Accessibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:16914-:d:1005869
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16914/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16914/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huiying Li & Dianfeng Liu & Jianhua He, 2022. "Exploring Differentiated Conservation Priorities of Urban Green Space Based on Tradeoffs of Ecological Functions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Kevin Krizek & Ahmed El-Geneidy & Kristin Thompson, 2007. "A detailed analysis of how an urban trail system affects cyclists’ travel," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 611-624, September.
    3. Junghwan Kim & Mei-Po Kwan, 2021. "How Neighborhood Effect Averaging Might Affect Assessment of Individual Exposures to Air Pollution: A Study of Ozone Exposures in Los Angeles," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(1), pages 121-140, January.
    4. Alessandro Rigolon & Matthew H. E. M. Browning & Olivia McAnirlin & Hyunseo (Violet) Yoon, 2021. "Green Space and Health Equity: A Systematic Review on the Potential of Green Space to Reduce Health Disparities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-27, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Dong & Kwan, Mei-Po & Kan, Zihan & Liu, Yang, 2023. "Examining individual-level tri-exposure to greenspace and air/noise pollution using individual-level GPS-based real-time sensing data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    2. Rahman, Fabiha & Oliver, Robert & Buehler, Ralph & Lee, Jinhyung & Crawford, Thomas & Kim, Junghwan, 2025. "Impacts of point of interest (POI) data selection on 15-Minute City (15-MC) accessibility scores and inequality assessments," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pucher, John & Buehler, Ralph & Seinen, Mark, 2011. "Bicycling renaissance in North America? An update and re-appraisal of cycling trends and policies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 451-475, July.
    2. Gallez, Elsa & Canters, Frank & Gadeyne, Sylvie & Baró, Francesc, 2024. "A multi-indicator distributive justice approach to assess school-related green infrastructure benefits in Brussels," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Tien Mai & The Viet Bui & Quoc Phong Nguyen & Tho V. Le, 2022. "Estimation of Recursive Route Choice Models with Incomplete Trip Observations," Papers 2204.12992, arXiv.org.
    4. Lisa Dandolo & Klaus Telkmann & Christina Hartig & Sophie Horstmann & Sara Pedron & Lars Schwettmann & Peter Selsam & Alexandra Schneider & Gabriele Bolte & on behalf of the INGER Study Group, 2023. "Do Multiple Sex/Gender Dimensions Play a Role in the Association of Green Space and Self-Rated Health? Model-Based Recursive Partitioning Results from the KORA INGER Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Liu, Yang & Kwan, Mei-Po & Song, Liuyi & Yu, Changda & Cui, Yuhan, 2025. "How mobility-based exposure measures may mitigate the underestimation of the association between green space exposures and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 379(C).
    6. Ursula Pool & Anna Kenyon & Lynn Froggett & Mark Dooris, 2023. "Beside the Seaside: Reflections on Local Green and Blue Spaces from Adults Aged over 50 in a Coastal Community," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Lake Sagaris, 2015. "Lessons from 40 years of planning for cycle‐inclusion: Reflections from Santiago, Chile," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(1), pages 64-81, February.
    8. Alessandro Rigolon & Timothy Collins, 2023. "The green gentrification cycle," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(4), pages 770-785, March.
    9. Lake Sagaris, 2010. "From sustainable transport development to active citizenship and participatory democracy: The experience of Living City in Chile," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(4), pages 275-288, November.
    10. Abdulrahman A. Zawawi & Nicole Porter & Christopher D. Ives, 2023. "Influences on Greenways Usage for Active Transportation: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-37, July.
    11. David B. Olawade & Melissa McLaughlin & Yinka Julianah Adeniji & Gabriel Osasumwen Egbon & Arghavan Rahimi & Stergios Boussios, 2025. "Urban Microclimates and Their Relationship with Social Isolation: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(6), pages 1-32, June.
    12. Gyoungju Lee & Youngeun Kang, 2025. "Evaluating Urban Park Utility in Seoul: A Distance-to-Area Discounting Model," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-24, July.
    13. Ji, Shujuan & Wang, Xin & Lyu, Tao & Liu, Xiaojie & Wang, Yuanqing & Heinen, Eva & Sun, Zhenwei, 2022. "Understanding cycling distance according to the prediction of the XGBoost and the interpretation of SHAP: A non-linear and interaction effect analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Amber L. Fyfe-Johnson & Carolyn J. Noonan & Maria B. Butcher & Magdalena K. Haakenstad, 2025. "Physical and Mental Health of Caregivers and Educators of Preschool-Aged Children: Identifying Benefits and Barriers to Outdoor Time, How Outdoor Time Can Make a Difference for Health Equity, and Why ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(2), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Paolo Contiero & Giovanna Tagliabue & Andrea Tittarelli & Martina Bertoldi & Claudio Tresoldi & Giulio Barigelletti & Viviana Perotti & Vittoria Balbo & Stefania Rizzieri & Marco D’Orazi & Valerio Gen, 2021. "Municipality Data as a Rapid and Effective Tool to Analyse Spatial and Temporal Variations of All-Cause Mortality by Town District: The Experience in Genoa (Italy)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-11, August.
    16. Carolina Mayen Huerta, 2023. "Understanding the pathways between the use of urban green spaces and self-rated health: A case study in Mexico City," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Yamaguchi, Yuhei, 2025. "Disparities in Exposure to Green Spaces Remotely Sensed," SocArXiv w6bpv_v1, Center for Open Science.
    18. Salvatore Monaco, 2025. "The Other Side of Sustainability: Contradictions and Risks in Contemporary Green Innovations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-16, May.
    19. Tania Noël & Benoit Dardenne, 2022. "Relationships between Green Space Attendance, Perceived Crowdedness, Perceived Beauty and Prosocial Behavior in Time of Health Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-18, June.
    20. Sun, Shichao & Duan, Zhengyu, 2019. "Modeling passengers’ loyalty to public transit in a two-dimensional framework: A case study in Xiamen, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 295-309.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:16914-:d:1005869. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.