DHRUVI MEHTA

Hi! I'm Dhruvi, a data analyst and visualisation specialist with a background in graphic design based in New York City.














2026 by Dhruvi Mehta

Park Accessibility in Singapore

ArcGIS Pro, Spatial Analysis
 Singapore is often celebrated as a “City in Nature,” known for its lush greenery, walkable neighborhoods, and carefully planned urban environment. But while green spaces are woven into the city’s identity, access to them is not always evenly distributed.

This project explores a simple but important question: who in Singapore actually lives within walking distance of a park?


Using GIS-based network analysis, I examined park accessibility across 332 residential subzones in Singapore and evaluated whether residents could reach a park within a 10-minute walk, or approximately 800 meters. Rather than measuring straight-line distance, the analysis followed Singapore’s real street network to better reflect how people move through the city in everyday life.

The map reveals a city with strong overall park access, but also clear spatial inequalities.

Central and mature residential regions such as Bishan, Queenstown, and Toa Payoh demonstrated some of the highest accessibility coverage, with many neighborhoods comfortably meeting the government’s 800-meter accessibility target. In contrast, several high-density areas in newer or industrial-adjacent planning regions showed lower levels of accessibility despite large resident populations.

Three clusters stood out in particular:
  • Woodlands East emerged as a major underserved zone, with nearly 99,000 residents living outside the 800-meter park access threshold.
  • Matilda and Waterway East in Punggol showed similar patterns, with rapidly growing residential density outpacing green space accessibility.
  • Telok Blangah Way in Bukit Merah highlighted how even centrally located, high-density neighborhoods can experience limited park access.

One of the most interesting findings was the relationship between urban age and accessibility. Older, mature estates often demonstrated stronger integration between housing and green infrastructure, while some newly developed towns revealed accessibility gaps despite modern planning frameworks.

The analysis also revealed a broader regional pattern. The North-East and Central regions achieved accessibility coverage above 90%, while the West Region recorded the lowest coverage at approximately 68%. This 26% difference highlights how unevenly green space accessibility can be experienced across the city.

From a data storytelling perspective, I wanted the map to communicate both scale and lived experience. The visualization combines choropleth mapping, network-based service areas, population density overlays, and highlighted underserved clusters to guide viewers through the geography of accessibility inequity. Rather than presenting accessibility as a binary outcome, the project frames it as an urban planning and quality-of-life issue tied directly to density, mobility, and equitable development.

This project was created using ArcGIS Pro with spatial joins, network analysis, and service area generation based on Singapore’s street network. Population data from SingStat and park location data from NParks were integrated to identify neighborhoods where residents may experience limited access to nearby green space.

Ultimately, the project asks whether being a “green city” is enough if some communities still remain farther from nature than others.