Walking access to daily critical services and amenities is much lower in the suburbs than in urban centres
Daily lives require access to everyday services and amenities like schools, parks and pharmacies. Urban layouts with low density, car-oriented designs and poor provision can exclude less mobile people, such as the elderly, the young and the carless. Easy walking access to schools and childcare facilities, in particular, can promote health, reduce traffic congestion and pollution, enhance safety and encourage equitable access to education.
In OECD countries with available data, 76% of people in urban centres of FUAs can walk to a primary school and a childcare facility in 15 minutes (Figure 4.17). Data for 46 large FUAs in 8 OECD countries show that people living in poorer areas have similar walking access to schools per head compared to people living in richer areas. However, this measure does not account for quality differences. Access drops drastically in the suburbs (excluding their rural parts) as only 36% of people can walk to a primary school and a childcare facility within 15 minutes. This share varies from less than 20% in the United States to over 70% in Mexico, the Netherlands and Portugal. The difference in walking access to primary schools and childcare facilities between urban centres and suburbs grows with the size of the FUA, from 20 p.p. in small FUAs to 44 p.p. in large FUAs (Figure 4.18).
OECD cities offer services and amenities but many people – especially old-age people – cannot walk to essential services like pharmacies. Across OECD countries with available data, only 2 out of 3 (64%) people living in urban centres of midsize and large FUAs can reach a pharmacy on foot in 15 minutes. In these cities, 36% of the 17% of people over 65 cannot walk to a pharmacy (Figure 4.19). The five urban centres with the worst accessibility to pharmacies for people over 65 are all in the United States. In Collier, Florida, United States, 77% of the 33% of people who are over 65 cannot walk to a pharmacy. In contrast, in Thessaloniki, Greece, only 8% out of 21% cannot.
Moreover, not everyone in OECD cities can easily access green spaces, even though these areas are important for physical and mental health, and environmental sustainability. In OECD countries with available data, about 1 in 4 people living in urban centres (26%) cannot access a green area within a short walk (i.e. more than 400 metres away) (Figure 4.21 and Figure 4.22). Only 60% and 54% (respectively) are in the United States and Mexico. Moreover, wealthier cities offer better access to green spaces in some countries, including France, Switzerland and the United States (Figure 4.20). In the United States, where the gap between the poorest and the wealthiest cities is among the largest, 54% of people living in urban centres of the poorest FUAs do not have access to a green area within a short walk, compared to 36% of people living in the wealthiest FUAs. In contrast, green space access is uniformly high across cities in Austria, Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom, regardless of income levels.
