This study examines the geographical inequalities in walking accessibility of essential services such as transit, shopping, healthcare, education, and recreation across four different community types in Panyu District, Guangzhou: urban villages, redeveloped communities, commodity housing communities, and rural villages. The accessibility is examined by coverage of Points of Interest (POIs) within 15-minute isochrones of community boundaries, a spatial boundary representing the area reachable within a set time frame. Transit, shopping, healthcare, education, and recreational amenities are selected as key amenities for examination. Redeveloped communities and commodity communities demonstrate higher overall accessibility in the 15-minute isochrones, while rural villages and urban villages exhibit lower accessibility to services out of the community boundary, and with more services inside the community The data indicate historical biases in urban planning, emphasizing unit-based and commodity housing growth while systematically neglecting informal and rural populations.

The core aim of this research is to uncover how historical planning policies and land ownership structures have shaped spatial gaps in service by community types in a quantitative approach. As cities in China pursue “15-minute living circles,” aiming to make access to urban services for communities by active transportation, the study offers recommendations for improving equitable infrastructure and explore mixed-use developments, especially in under-resourced areas.