Testing the limitations of buffer zones and Urban Atlas population data in urban green space provision analyses through the case study of Szeged, Hungary

Abstract A liveable city requires urban green spaces (UGS) in many locations, since such spaces have a direct impact on the quality of life and overall well-being of city dwellers. UGS provision analyses therefore have been attracting a number of researchers, practitioners and decision makers for recent years using various methodologies. In this study, we conduct reference UGS provision analysis using accurate input data, calculating the population with access to a UGS within fifteen minutes of walking, with a one-minute resolution. These results are employed as reference for quantifying the spatial accuracy of buffer zone-based isochrone maps and the overall (thematic and scale) accuracy of the European Environmental Agency’s Urban Atlas population database in UGS provision estimation. The estimated differences between the Urban Atlas and the reference data in UGS provision assessment are 11.8% (6861 people) within 10 minutes and 11.8% (7050 people) within 15 minutes of walking. The difference between estimates from buffer zone-based isochrone maps and the reference is 2.1% (1479 people) within 10 minutes and 0.1% (77 people) within 15 minutes of walking. Further statistical analyses reveal that the spatial accuracy (correlation coefficient with reference = 0.7878) of the buffer zone-based map’s impact on the result of UGS provision estimation is more than the overall accuracy of the Urban Atlas’ population database (correlation coefficient with reference = 0.9798). These results may potentially enhance the knowledge about the limitations, usefulness and reliability of the buffer zone-based isochrone maps and the European-scale land cover and population dataset in spatial analyses of UGS provision. The results of this study can be used for improving the accuracy of buffer zone- and Urban Atlas-based UGS provision mapping estimates at local and regional scales.