Koos Fransen

A commuter-based two-step floating catchment area method for measuring spatial accessibility of daycare centers

This paper puts forward a commuter-based version of the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, which has gained acceptance in studies on spatial health care accessibility. Current implementations of the 2SFCA method are static in that they consider centroid-based night-time representations of the population. The proposed enhancement to the 2SFCA approach addresses this limitation by accounting for trip-chaining behavior. The presented method is illustrated in a case study of accessibility of daycare centers in the province East Flanders in Belgium. The results show significant spatial differences in accessibility between the original and commuter-based version of the 2SFCA (CB2SFCA). They highlight the importance of giving heed to more complex travel behavior in cases where the need for detailed accessibility calculations is apparent.

Concepts, reflections and applications of social equity: approaches to accessibility to primary goods and services in the region of Flanders, Belgium

Mobility presents a variety of opportunities as it allows users to access locations and services, and to meet people beyond their immediate surroundings. While the concept of mobility primarily focuses on the ease of moving, accessibility delineates the actual potential to participate in out-of-home activities. As a result, accessibility is a complex concept with a multitude of foci. This complexity is presented in the first section, which explains the general concept of accessibility, how it is defined and how it is related to the notion of transport-related exclusion. This section also gives an overview of the body of literature on the measures to determine area-based as well as personal accessibility levels and points out the important contrast between the simple, easy-to-interpret methods, adopted by policy makers and the complex methods preferred by experts. The second section clarifies how the dichotomous relationship between the urban and rural environment is reflected in transport policy that emphasizes on (especially car-based) mobility rather than on accessibility. Furthermore, the environmental and economic points of view are highlighted and the common policy strategies focused on sustainability are illustrated. Subsequently, the shortcomings in the way in which the contemporary debates concerning mobility, sustainability and the social implications of transport planning are conducted, are criticized. Finally, the last part of this section is dedicated to an extensive discussion on the ability of transport policies to, on the one hand, generate spatially as well as temporally uneven accessibility effects that give preference to certain population groups above others, and on the other hand, their ability to strive for a more equitable distribution of transport services amongst the population. The third section proposes two methodologies for measuring transport-related social exclusion implemented in a literature-based case study in Flanders. These studies comprise the following topics: measuring transport gaps by relating the social to the transport disadvantage and measuring modal disparities by comparing accessibility by private and public transport. The former investigates in which areas the provision of the public transport system is not tailored to specific public transport needs. The latter examines the disparity in access by private and public transport in order to highlight the car dependency. Both case studies incorporate the temporal variability in provision through the private and public transport network, as the time-of-day strongly influences accessibility levels.

Evaluating spatial inequality in pre-schools in Ghent, Belgium by accessibility and service area analysis with GIS

All Flemish regional cities struggle with the effects of spatial and social inequality which is manifested amongst others in the scholar system. Pupils of primary schools (in Flanders children from 2.5 to 12 years) living in the proximity of a suitable school are forced to attend schools at a greater distance because the capacity of nearby schools is exceeded. This often leads to scenes in which parents camp outside the school, hoping they will be able to enroll their children in the school of their choice. The goal of the research at hand was to provide a tool for local authorities, not only to be used to visualize and analyze the current school constellation in their territory, but also to support decisions concerning capacity extensions of existing schools, implantation of new schools or suppression of non-essential school locations. This was done by creating an automated and general applicable model in which GIS and network analysis are used to determine the areas serviced by each school. Furthermore the model is used to produce a coverage map based on the ideal scenario for the current demography which is then compared to the actual situation, thus pinpointing and identifying problem areas for which appropriate measures have to be taken. Finally the model can be used to predict and resolve future capacity issues. The model was validated for pre-schools in the city of Ghent, Flemish Region, Belgium and proved to be a valuable tool to support local policy in education.