Analysis of Location Selection of Public Service Facilities Based on Urban Land Accessibility

The role of Geographic Information Systems in mitigating plastics pollution in the Global South-A spatial analysis of recycling facilities in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is at the forefront of environmental conservation in Central America, with its focus on sustainability and green practices. Building on this foundation, the country joins a cohort of middle-income developing countries that have set forth ambitious goals to eliminate plastic pollution and become plastics-free. Recycling remains one of the most effective ways of removing plastic waste from the environment. Although GIS has been utilized in environmental research, its use is still expanding in developing countries of the Global South. These countries are experiencing unprecedented adverse climate and ecological impacts while also pursuing fundamental socioeconomic growth. The application of more cost-effective and strategic technological solutions, as well as data-driven decision-making, could fast-track the achievement of their urgent environmental goals. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, this study applies hot spot, location-allocation, and time-distance measures to examine Costa Rica's capacity to recycle plastic waste. Focusing specifically on availability and the public's access to recycling facilities, this article offers insights into the resource constraints and evolution of plastics governance in developing countries with environmentally-focused priorities. The findings of this study suggest that while Costa Rica is implementing progressive plastics regulatory policies, the ability to achieve plastics-free status is hampered by shortfalls in the number and distribution of recycling facilities and the public's access to recycling services. Expanding recycling infrastructure, including transportation, and adopting a less canton-centric waste administration system could contribute to resolving these challenges. This study contributes to discourses on global plastics governance and environmental change management in the Global South.

Supply-demand balance and spatial distribution optimization of primary care facilities in highland cities from a resilience perspective: A study of Lhasa, China

Introduction

The development of urban resilience, which is fundamentally a balance between the supply capacity of primary care resources and the demand from urban residents, includes an appropriate architecture of primary care facilities. Resilient city construction in highland areas is hampered by the physical environment and transportation constraints and frequently encounters issues like poor accessibility and unequal distribution of primary care facilities.

Methods

To optimize the supply and demand of primary care resources in highland cities and effectively improve the resilience of urban public health, this paper assesses the distribution of primary care facilities within the built-up area of Lhasa (China) through a spatial network analysis method based on GIS, combined with population distribution data, and employs a location-allocation model to optimize the distribution.

Results

Firstly, the overall supply of primary care exceeds the overall demand, but the facilities' service area can only accommodate 59% of the residences. Secondly, there is a clear spatial variation in the accessibility of primary care facilities, and the time cost of healthcare is too high in some residences. Thirdly, the supply-demand relationship of primary care facilities is unbalanced, with both over-saturated and over-deficient areas.

Discussion

After distribution optimization, the coverage and accessibility of primary care facilities have increased significantly, and the spatial imbalance of supply and demand has been alleviated. This paper proposes a research method to evaluate and optimize the spatial distribution of primary care facilities from multiple perspectives based on the resilience theory. The results of the study and visualization analysis methods can be used as an invaluable reference for planning the distribution of urban healthcare facilities and urban resilience construction in highland areas and other underdeveloped areas.

Evaluating the accessibility of public service facilities to tourists and residents in island destinations: Evidence from the Changhai County

With the increasing diversity of social groups, public service facilities need to meet the diverse needs of different groups. However, there is still a lack of in-depth research evaluating urban public service facilities for diverse groups. Therefore, this paper use Kernel density spatial analysis method to delimits the research area based on data on the temporal and spatial behavior of islanders and tourists, and use urban network analysis (UNA) method to evaluates the public service facilities of the spatially overlapping area from the aspects of facility accessibility and availability. The study shows that (1) the spatial dislocation between facilities and residential places is serious, which leads to redundant construction or a lack of configuration of facilities in some areas. (2) The public service facilities in some areas can be used by tourists and residents to a similar degree, the number of facilities accessible to residents and tourists within a certain distance is not much different, and the configuration of facilities is relatively reasonable. (3) The overall configuration of infrastructure is biased toward residents, but the configuration of facilities in some areas can also reflect group fairness. The results indicate that the public facilities have a tendency to serve residents, and the results can give some suggestions for public facilities configuration to build a human-oriented island.

How Can the Layout of Public Service Facilities Be Optimized to Reduce Travel-Related Carbon Emissions? Evidence from Changxing County, China

With the developments in urbanization and motorization, travel-related carbon emissions are increasing rapidly. The layout of public service facilities (LPSF) has a direct impact on travel-related carbon emissions. However, existing public service facility planning methods focus on population, economy, and other aspects, ignoring the environmental impact. So, how do we optimize the LPSF to reduce carbon emissions? This paper proposed a method to optimize the LPSF under the constraint of travel carbon emissions. We selected medical facilities in Changxing County, China, and applied the method we proposed. We found that (1) the carbon reduction effect was significant—the total monthly emissions in Changxing were reduced by 26.10%, and the area covered by high emissions was reduced; (2) the medical facilities in Changxing under a low-carbon goal should be distributed in the county center and surrounding urban areas in a multi-center form; and (3) improving the accessibility of facilities can help to form a low-carbon facilities layout. This paper provides a spatial planning method to guide the specific locations of facilities under low-carbon goals. It also provides scientific suggestions for low-carbon land-use policies at the county level in China.

Evaluation of Public Service Facilities in 19 Large Cities in China from the Perspective of Supply and Demand

The equalization of urban public service facilities is important to the daily lives of urban residents. Spatial quantification of the supply and demand of public service facilities can reveal relationships between supply and demand agents and provide a foundation for the planning of urban public service facilities. This study proposed a comprehensive framework to assess the current state of supply (accessibility of facilities) and demand (population carrying pressure) of various public services in cities and determine patterns between different public service facilities. This framework contains three elements: (a) multi-scale spatial quantification of the matching of supply and demand, (b) spatial matching of supply and demand, and (c) spatial clustering analysis of the supply and demand balance. This study analyzed 19 major cities in China from a supply and demand perspective and examined implications for matching the supply and demand of public service facilities. The results indicated that education service facilities had the most appropriate supply and demand relationship. Areas where public service facilities had a good matching of supply and demand demonstrated a strong pattern of clustering. There were significant differences in the level of matching of the supply and demand of public service facilities among various regions in China. The limitations of the framework and future directions are discussed.