From Hubs to Deserts: Urban Cultural Accessibility Patterns with Explainable AI

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07475v1
• Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2025 01:01:12 GMT
• Title: From Hubs to Deserts: Urban Cultural Accessibility Patterns with Explainable AI
• Authors: Protik Bose Pranto, Minhazul Islam, Ripon Kumar Saha, Abimelec Mercado Rivera, Namig Abbasov,
• Abstract summary: Cultural infrastructures, such as libraries, museums, theaters, and galleries, support learning, civic life, health, and local economies.<n>We present a novel, scalable, and open-data framework to measure spatial equity in cultural access.
• Score: 1.1961510466705991
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Cultural infrastructures, such as libraries, museums, theaters, and galleries, support learning, civic life, health, and local economies, yet access is uneven across cities. We present a novel, scalable, and open-data framework to measure spatial equity in cultural access. We map cultural infrastructures and compute a metric called Cultural Infrastructure Accessibility Score (CIAS) using exponential distance decay at fine spatial resolution, then aggregate the score per capita and integrate socio-demographic indicators. Interpretable tree-ensemble models with SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) are used to explain associations between accessibility, income, density, and tract-level racial/ethnic composition. Results show a pronounced core-periphery gradient, where non-library cultural infrastructures cluster near urban cores, while libraries track density and provide broader coverage. Non-library accessibility is modestly higher in higher-income tracts, and library accessibility is slightly higher in denser, lower-income areas.

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