Changing Regional Inequality Patterns in Western China: A Case Study of Xinjiang

Regional inequality in western China has been rarely examined and has risen as an important issue in the Chinese academic circle. This study, taking Xinjiang as a case, investigated regional inequality in Xinjiang since the 1990s. The results show that the interregional inequality became more prominent, while the overall regional disparities among counties and cities have experienced an inverted U-shape path and have been mainly caused by the inequality of the intra-north part of the province. Counties with high economic development levels were mainly located in northern Xinjiang and had a high probability of further moving economic levels. We further found that the regional development pattern in Xinjiang was significantly associated with spatial accessibility, followed by population density and urbanization factors. This paper deepens our understanding of the complex pattern and mechanism of regional inequality in western China, and local specific policies, therefore, are needed to solve the problem.

SPATIAL ACCESSIBILITY OF URBAN PARKS IN TANGIER CITY, MOROCCO

Recently, Urban Parks presents an essential role of humanity, because they provide a many of benefits that support our physical and social health. Therefore, UP (Urban Parks) are crucial part of whole urban environment. In this paper, we present the role of Green Space in public health, and based on Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques, we will start our study with a case study of the city of Tangier in northern Morocco. The city has had remarkable development in recent years. So, the inhabitants of Tangier need demands in the public services, in particular the urban parks.So we studied the distribution of urban parks in the different commons of the city (Tangier, Charf, Benimakada and Boukhalef (Guezania previously)) by calculating the area and the number of UPs in each common, then a calculation on the indices (PAC, PAR and PR) for each region, and finally make a comparison with the situation in 2015.

The Emergency Accessibility Analysis based on Traffic Big Data and Flood Scenario Simulation in the context of Shanghai Hotel industry

Underlying the impact of global warming and rapid growth of the tourism industry, the increasing frequency of flood post threats to the sustainable development of the coastal cities in China. The article proposes a methodological approach to evaluate the emergence response capability. This approach combines the flood simulation scenario method, traffic big data with the path navigation interface of the web. This article provides an empirical study to evaluate the emergency response from Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) to the tourist hotel in Shanghai from spatial accessibility perspective. The findings show that (1). The emergency response from FRS has significant relationships with the situation of transportation, the location of hotels, the intensity of flood inundation and the number, location of the urban FRS. (2). The emergency accessibility of a city caused by floods depends on the prevailing traffic conditions. The more severe traffic congestion has a significant impact on the spatial accessibility. (3) Flooding and real-time traffic conditions can change the fastest path from FRS to tourist hotels, resulting in delays in emergency response times, and the selection of the most appropriate travel routes is critical to improving the emergency response capability of cities. The results proved the validity of this proposed approach. Consequently, the approach contributes to the enhancement of the level of emergence response ability of urban tourism when they encounter disasters.

Assessing Spatial Accessibility to Primary Health Care Services in Beijing, China

Primary health care has been emphasized as a pillar of China’s current round of health reforms throughout the previous decade. The purpose of this study is to analyze the accessibility of primary health care services in Beijing and to identify locations with a relative scarcity of health personnel. Seven ecological conservation districts, which are relatively underdeveloped, were selected in the study. The Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve, as well as the shortest trip time and modified two-step floating catchment area (M2SFCA) approach, are used to quantify inequalities in primary health care resources and spatial accessibility. The Gini coefficient of primary medical services was calculated as high as 0.705, showing a significant disparity in primary care services. A total of 81.22% of communities reached the nearest primary care institution within 15 min. The average accessibility of primary healthcare services, as measured by the number of health professionals per 1000 population, was 2.34 in the 1715 communities of seven ecological conservation districts. Three hundred and ninety-one communities (22.80%) were identified with relatively low accessibility. More primary health professionals should be allocated to Miyun, Mentougou, and Changping Districts. Overall, the primary healthcare resources were distributed unevenly in most districts. According to our study, expanding primary healthcare institutions, increasing the number of competent health professionals, and enhancing road networks will all be effective ways to increase spatial access and reduce primary healthcare service disparity in Beijing.

The Effect of Community Socioeconomic Context on High School Attendance in China: A Generalized Propensity Score Approach

Many developing countries have experienced increasing spatial inequality, but little is known about the effect of community disadvantages on educational attainment in these societies. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2016), I examine the effect of community socioeconomic status (SES) on the transition into high school in urban and rural China, and I explore several mechanisms explaining the community effects. I adopt the generalized propensity score method to estimate the potential probability of high school entrance at different levels of community SES. Results show that community SES is positively associated with high school attendance in both urban and rural China, and the relationship is stronger in more disadvantaged communities in both contexts. In urban areas, the effect of community SES is partly attributable to collective socialization and children’s academic performance. In rural areas, spatial accessibility to high schools and children’s academic performance are the salient mechanisms.

Spatial Disparities and Correlated Variables of Community Care Facility Accessibility in Rural Areas of China

With the increasing aging of the world’s population, research on the equitable allocation of elderly care facilities has received increasing attention, but measuring the accessibility of community care facilities (CCFs) in rural areas has received little attention. In this study, which covered 7985 CCFs in 223,877 villages, we measured the accessibility of CCFs in rural areas of Hubei Province by using the nearest distance method. Based on the accessibility calculation, the spatial disparities and agglomeration characteristics of spatial accessibility were analyzed, and the correlated variables related to the accessibility were analyzed from both natural environment and socioeconomic aspects by employing a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. Our results show that 87% of villages have a distance cost of less than 7121 m and 81% of townships have a distance cost of less than 5114 m; good spatial accessibility is present in the eastern and central regions, while poor spatial accessibility is shown in a small number of areas in the west. The results from the clustering analysis show that the hot spot areas are mainly clustered in the western mountainous areas and that the cold spot areas are mainly clustered around Wuhan city. We also observed that area, elevation, population aged 65 and above, and number of villages are significantly correlated with accessibility. The results of this study can be used to provide a reference for configuration optimization and layout planning of elderly care facilities in rural areas.