Children’s multi-dimensional accessibility to urban green infrastructure: A systematic review of assessment methods and outlook

Previous literature extensively documents the multifaceted benefits of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) for children's physical, mental, and social well-being, while also recognizing the limited UGI access for children in urban areas due to safety concerns, parental constraints, and the uneven UGI spatial distribution. Although prior studies have highlighted the challenges associated with evaluating UGI accessibility and its incorporation into urban planning, and some reviews have explored its implications for children’s health, a comprehensive review of methodological approaches specifically designed to assess children’s accessibility to UGI remains lacking. This systematic review analyzes 638 studies on UGI accessibility (including 80 focused on children) to first outline the most prevalent UGI accessibility dimensions, encompassing physical accessibility (e.g., proximity), perceived accessibility (e.g., perceived barriers), and sensory accessibility (e.g., views). Second, the review classifies methodologies used to assess these accessibility dimensions into two groups: Environmental Data Analyses (EDA) (e.g., physical distance analyses) and Participant Data Analyses (PDA) (e.g., questionnaires), and discusses each in detail. Findings from both general and children-focused studies reveal several limitations in current methodologies of assessing children’s accessibility to UGI. There is a lack of consideration of physical barriers (e.g., stairs), sensory factors (e.g., views), and the absence of validated questionnaires to assess perceived accessibility. This review introduces a conceptual framework that combines EDA and PDA to advance assessments of children’s accessibility to UGI. It addresses key methodological gaps by linking specific methods to each physical, perceived, and sensory dimension, indicating their usage frequency, and striving for more equitable, child-friendly urban environments.