Urban Accessibility and Socio-Economic Inequality: A Spatial Analysis of Istanbul Neighborhoods Using Ridge Regression

By studying 653 neighborhoods of more than 5000 inhabitants in Istanbul, we try to analyze urban accessibility parameters impact on the prices of housing sales and socio-economic status. The analysis was performed using 88 indicators taken from the 34-Minute Istanbul project data which was prepared by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It shows the services that people can reach within a 34-minute walking distance (round trip). In line with the literature, these indicators were grouped into 10 thematic categories, while the data was converted from a hexagon basis to the neighborhood level. They used the Ridge Regression method for the analysis of neighborhood data. Based on the findings obtained, it finds that high access in education, health, transportation and mobility categories have positive and significant relationship with housing selling price and socioeconomic status more specifically in the B section of Cuccurullo. Spatial clustering and service overlap limited the impact of the categories: basic needs and food retail, and economic and employment. The study, which finds that accessibility is an important determinant for combatting urban socio-economic inequalities, suggests the need to rethink spatial justice policies in Istanbul not solely in terms of transportation but also in terms of diversity and distribution of services.