Objective Accessibility and equity are critical indicators for evaluating urban residents’ opportunities and convenience in utilizing green spaces, as well as key factors in assessing the rationality of spatial distribution of urban green resources. This paper takes urban park green spaces in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province of northern China as the research object, aiming to reveal the spatial disparities in accessibility and fairness across parks of varying quality and analyze how these disparities influence residents’ use of park resources. The findings provide a scientific basis for optimizing the spatial layout of park green spaces in Taiyuan.

Method Based on fine-grained residential population data, street networks, park green space distribution, and travel time data from 2007 to 2023, this study proposed an evaluation method that accounted for the heterogeneity of park quality. The accessibility of urban park green spaces in Taiyuan was assessed using a two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method under multiple travel modes. Furthermore, the equity of accessibility distribution was evaluated through the Gini coefficient.

Result (1) The overall quality of urban park green spaces in Taiyuan was at a moderate level. Among them, comprehensive parks and historical gardens exhibited higher quality compared with community parks and pocket parks. The lowest quality scores were observed in Jiajie Park, Beipaihonggou Linear Park, Huangpo Martyrs Cemetery, and Xingyan Park. (2) The accessibility of urban park green spaces in Taiyuan demonstrated significant spatial disparities. High-accessibility areas were concentrated along both sides of the Fen River, gradually decreasing from east to west. The central urban districts exhibited overall higher accessibility than suburban areas. Jiancaoping District had the highest accessibility value citywide (60.97), with the largest proportion of high-accessibility streets; in contrast, Jinyuan District had the lowest value (25.97), characterized by a dense population but a limited number of parks. (3) The equity index of park green space resources in Wanbailin District was the lowest (Gini coefficient = 0.154), indicating the highest level of fairness. Jiancaoping District showed a higher level of inequity (Gini coefficient = 0.269), suggesting a notable supply-demand imbalance. Due to earlier periods of urban development, areas such as Jinsheng Town in Jinyuan District and Julun Subdistrict in Xinghualing District lacked sufficient planned park green spaces.

Conclusion Significant disparities exist in different types of parks in Taiyuan, with park green space accessibility exhibiting pronounced spatial differentiation, central urban areas generally outperform suburban districts. In some regions, a mismatch between supply and demand is evident. Furthermore, the fairness of green space resources varies across streets and administrative districts, with uneven distribution observed in certain areas. To promote sustainable urban green development, it is recommended to enhance park quality, improve public transportation infrastructure, and optimize the spatial layout of green spaces.