PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2017, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6): 697-708.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2017.06.005

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Spatial accessibility analysis of primary schools at the county level based on the improved potential model:A case study of Xiantao City, Hubei Province

Pengfei TANG1,2(), Jingjing XIANG3, Jing LUO1,*(), Guolei CHEN1   

  1. 1. School of Urban and Environment Science, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
    2. Institute of Economic Research on Changjiang River Valley, Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China
    3. Wuhan Planning&Research and Exhibition Center, Wuhan 430014, China
  • Online:2017-06-20 Published:2017-06-20
  • Contact: Jing LUO E-mail:tommy82127@163.com;luojing@mail.c-cnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41371183

Abstract:

Spatial accessibility is an important index to evaluate the configuration of educational facilities, and potential model is an important method to measure the accessibility of educational facilities. This study improved the potential model from two aspects: by introducing the factor of primary school service ability, and constructing the school influence factor by considering the influence of schools with different grades of service capability and local residents' travel time limit. Based on the data of Xiantao City in Hubei Province by the end of 2010 on primary schools, residents, traffic network, and so on, the improved potential model was applied to assess the variation of spatial accessibility to primary schools in Xiantao City. The results show that: (1) At the village-level settlement scale, the spatial accessibility of primary schools for the residents is universally high at township centers and along transport corridors, and shows a distance attenuation effect at certain radius, but the spatial accessibility of primary schools at settlements between townships is relatively low. (2) At the township scale, the towns with higher spatial accessibility are mainly distributed in the northern area along the G318 road. (3) The improved potential model could reasonably evaluate the spatial accessibility of primary schools in each rural settlement and township. Also, when the value of friction coefficient (β) is set as 2, the educational resources available for rural residents can be reflected more accurately, and this provides a reference for the decision making by relevant government departments.

Key words: improved potential model, spatial accessibility, county level, primary school, Xiantao City, Hubei Province