Evaluating Accessibility Benefits of Opening Gated Communities in China: A Case Study of Shanghai

Opening gated-communities (GCs) has been widely discussed for urban inclusion and revitalization. With the policies of opening GCs being promoted in China, quantitative and comprehensive evaluation of the potential benefits is heavily needed. Taking Shanghai as an example, this study quantifies and analyzes the accessibility benefits and risks of opening GCs with factors including GC types, opening levels, travel modes, and travel destinations considered. We found that (1) opening GCs can bring 50m+ accessibility gains to 17% and 52% of the residents in Moderately Opening (MO) and Completely Opening (CO) scenarios, respectively. (2) Cycling benefits more than walking in all cases and scenarios. (3) For different GCs, conventional GCs have fewer benefits in MO but more in CO than the newly-established one. For different facilities, trips to bus stations demonstrate the largest accessibility gains. (4) The accessibility benefit of a residential building is highly determined by its closeness to the gates and relative location in the block. (5) Only 1% and 5-7% of external trips may penetrate the opened communities in MO and CO scenarios, respectively, which are far less than both expectation and the benefits. These findings precipitate at least two policy implications in China.