Relationship between Morphological Characteristics of Nonthaburi Province and Emergency Medical Service Parameter

Abstract

Hospitals are essential public infrastructure designed to serve the healthcare needs of urban populations, especially those offering emergency medical services (EMS), rely on a high level of publicness, with a spatial morphology that are well-connected to the urban context to ensure accessible, rapid, and efficient healthcare services. However, this quality may be compromised due to the ongoing urban expansion, which can lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness of EMS coverage and potentially impact the efficiency and equity of the urban healthcare system. In Nonthaburi Province, EMS performance does not meet the national standard of response time within 8 minutes in at least 36% of cases. This study analyzes urban morphological characteristics in Nonthaburi, focusing on 3 key aspects: transit network pattern, land use and building use pattern and figure and ground pattern. Using space syntax methods, the research assesses spatial potentials such as the global and local potentials of accessibility and visibility and connectivity potential, alongside street network configurations through intelligibility coefficients which assesses how easily users can comprehend the spatial layout and the synergy coefficient, which measures the integrative capacity of the urban fabric. Results indicate that effective EMS depends on hospital locations with high local integration and well-connected street networks. Areas with small urban blocks and multiple access routes enable quicker and more direct emergency responses. The study concludes that optimizing hospital placement based on spatial potential and transit data can improve EMS performance, support urban growth, and ensure hospitals remain responsive to increasing healthcare demands.