Milliken shifts the question of urban nature from ecological presence to actual accessibility. Her study examines eight Cape Town nature reserves and conservation areas through key-informant interviews, surveys of 672 park users and 317 members of the surrounding public, and spatial mapping. The strongest finding is that biodiversity-rich environments may remain socially inaccessible even when they are physically protected. Most users arrive by private vehicle, only three surveyed users travelled by public transport, and access varies with proximity, safety, information, neighbourhood geography and the spatial legacy of apartheid. The iconic idea is therefore the separation between environmental provision and environmental availability. Methodologically, the research combines city-wide pattern recognition with reserve-specific case analysis, allowing metropolitan tendencies to remain connected to local conditions. Its bridge to spatial justice is direct: conservation value cannot stand in for public value, and urban green infrastructure only becomes metropolitan infrastructure when people can safely know, reach and use it.
