A Hybrid QGIS–Excel Framework for Assessing Green Space Accessibility and Socio-Economic Equity: A Case Study of Gumla District, Jharkhand, India

Abstract

Urban green spaces provide essential benefits which improve environmental sustainability and public health while enhancing people's overall well-being. The system faces major difficulties because it does not provide proper access to its resources and does not distribute assets fairly to both rural and semi-urban communities. The research assesses green space accessibility and socio-economic equity in Gumla district, Jharkhand, through a hybrid analytical framework that combines Geographic Information System with Microsoft Excel. The study evaluates accessibility through two methods which include buffer zones of 300 meters and 500 meters and network-based methods. The study employs three methods to assess equity which include the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient and Composite Equity Index. The findings show that most people in the population do not have access to green spaces which they can reach by walking despite the presence of extensive forest coverage that reaches 27%. The Gini coefficient of 0.58 shows that there exists a high level of inequality because people in urban and semi-urban areas hold most of the accessible resources. The CEI system identifies priority areas which experience difficulty reaching resources and which possess low socioeconomic status. The study shows that access to resources depends more on the existing infrastructure and settlement patterns than on the actual resources which exist. The proposed framework offers an affordable method which organizations can use to evaluate spatial equity while it enables data-deficient regions to create inclusive planning methods.