Assessing Equitable Transit Access to Nature: A Social Equity Perspective on Canada’s Prospective National Urban Parks

In 2021, the Government of Canada committed to establishing at least one National Urban Park (NUP) in every province and territory, with a target of 15 NUPs by 2030. This initiative aims to enhance access to greenspace, support public health and well-being, advance reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples, and stimulate economic opportunities related to infrastructure, recreation, and tourism. However, the geographic distribution of NUPs may currently inhibit or inadvertently create unequal access for populations who frequently rely on public transit. To address this, we apply a social equity lens to examine the public transit-based accessibility of prospective NUP locations in 15 cities across Canada by analyzing and comparing travel times for different socioeconomic groups. Using the travel times as accessibility scores, we calculate the Gini index and equity-based accessibility ratios for income, race, and age. While the Gini index indicates relatively low levels of overall inequality, the accessibility ratios reveal substantial and systematic disparities. Both the magnitude and direction of these disparities vary across cities and socioeconomic dimensions, indicating that accessibility outcomes are not evenly distributed among population groups. Notably, we identify statistically significant inequities by race and age: in several cities, visible minority populations and older adults experience markedly longer travel times to prospective NUP locations. These findings highlight both intra- and inter-city disparities in access to the health benefits of nature across Canada’s prospective NUP locations, which may challenge the goals and objectives of Parks Canada’s new NUP policy. Our results emphasize the need for parallel strategic investment in public transit to ensure all Canadians, regardless of their background, can benefit from a NUP being created in their community, and by extension, the health and well-being benefits that nature provides.