Walking time and access to urban ecosystems
This project examines global inequalities in walking access to urban nature. Using high-resolution data and travel time modelling, we quantified how long it takes the world’s 4.7 billion urban residents to reach the nearest ecosystem, such as parks, wetlands, or bare natural land. While more than half of city dwellers live within a five-minute walk, nearly 600 million people face journeys longer than 10 minutes, with the greatest disadvantages in the Global South. Our findings show that previous distance-based methods overestimated accessibility, and that better definitions of what counts as an urban ecosystem are essential. To achieve equitable access by 2030, cities will need innovative planning, new green and open spaces, and investment in walkability.
Related publication
Richards, D., Schindler, M. and Belcher, R. (2025). Walking time is a major barrier to accessing urban ecosystems globally. npj Urban Sustainability.