Higgs Gary, Price Andrew, Langford Mitchel
GIS Research Centre, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, UK.
J Rural Stud. 2022 Oct;95:1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.07.012. Epub 2022 Aug 5.
There is a longstanding policy interest in understanding the impacts of changes in access to public and private services in rural areas. To date much of the empirical analysis concerning changing patterns of accessibility has been predicated on assumptions regarding the mode of transport used to access such facilities. The availability of new and open sources of data, and the increasing sophistication of spatial analytical tools, has enabled alternative transportation modes to be included when investigating the impact of service changes. In this study a nationwide analysis of changes in public transport provision and bank closures has enabled the identification of those parts of Wales that were disproportionally impacted by the loss of financial services during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on local scenarios which show the combined impact of such changes, the findings demonstrate how temporal variations in accessibility can be used to examine potential patterns of exclusion that arise from the loss of key services. We conclude by suggesting that any assessment of changes in accessibility needs a holistic approach that considers changes in the transport infrastructure alongside other facets of service provision to understand the full impact of such closures on rural communities.
长期以来，人们一直关注了解农村地区公共和私人服务获取变化的影响。迄今为止，许多关于可达性变化模式的实证分析都是基于有关用于获取此类设施的交通方式的假设。新的开放数据源的可用性以及空间分析工具的日益复杂，使得在研究服务变化的影响时能够纳入替代交通方式。在本研究中，对公共交通供应变化和银行关闭进行的全国性分析，使得能够确定在新冠疫情早期威尔士哪些地区受到金融服务损失的影响尤为严重。借鉴显示此类变化综合影响的当地情况，研究结果表明可达性的时间变化可如何用于研究因关键服务丧失而产生的潜在排斥模式。我们最后建议，对可达性变化的任何评估都需要一种整体方法，该方法要考虑交通基础设施的变化以及服务提供的其他方面，以了解此类关闭对农村社区的全面影响。
