Urbanisation and Green Space: Analysing Urban Green Space Accessibility in Uganda’s Cities

Abel Nzabona, Centre For Basic Research, Kampala

African countries are experiencing heightened pace of urbanization. However, this is happening alongside urban challenges such as limited accessibility to urban green spaces (UGS) in Uganda’s cities. This undermines the principle of achieving SDG 11.7 that aims to have UGS for all. This paper analyses predictors of UGS accessibility using a sample of 936 residents of six cities interviewed in a 2022 survey. The outcome variable is ‘accessibility to urban green space’; measured by asking heads of households whether UGS is freely accessible to the public. Descriptive statistics are computed and a probit regression model is fitted to determine the predictors of perceptions on accessibility to UGS. Overall, UGS accessibility is low. Physical environment, demographic factors and socioeconomic status of the respondents influence their perception of UGS accessibility. The findings have implications including improving the physical conditions of the cities and raising the socio-economic status of the residents.