Development of a Variable Multimodal Balanced Floating Catchment Area Approach for Spatial Accessibility Assessment

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and expansion, stemming from demographic growth and migration from rural areas to urban centers, have heavily strained cities in recent years. These circumstances have created an ever‐growing need for equipment and essential services. On the other hand, previous research has shown that accessibility measurement is a powerful technique for assessing urban compactness. This assessment arises from the willingness of urban planners to develop transport services and land use across various cities globally. This paper addresses the computational problem of spatial accessibility, focusing on the influence of private cars versus public transport. We introduced a metric that enhances the Balanced Floating Catchment Area (BFCA) index. Our metric not only considers multiple transportation modes in the calculation of spatial accessibility but also takes into account variable catchment sizes. We applied our metric in a case study examining spatial accessibility to public hospitals in Casablanca. The results provide a geographic breakdown of each transportation mode, and the accessibility of different scenarios has been compared.