Flowers as attractions in urban parks: Evidence from social media data

Urban parks are among the most important urban public services. Quantifying their visitation intensity and understanding the driving forces behind their popularity is of great relevance to urban planning. We analyze the behavior of park visitors in Beijing based on phenological information extracted from social media data. Specifically, we built a dataset utilizing natural language processing techniques and co-word analysis methods to explore the connection between flowers and park visitation. Our findings revealed that: (1) According to the changing trend of visitor volumes and their peak times, urban parks can be divided into “single-peak” (visitor volumes show a single peak, with significant seasonal characteristics) and “multi-peak” (visitor volumes show multiple peaks with no obvious seasonal characteristics) parks; (2) There is an association between flowers and visitor volumes to urban parks, with a noticeable increase in the frequency of visits to parks especially in spring (i.e., during flowering); (3) Different types of flowers have varying appeal to attract visitors. Further, parks with one or few “dominant flowers” appeal to more visitors than parks without a clear dominating flower (or flowers). Our results provide implications for urban park design and management for improving their scenic qualities.     

Comparison of two methods for assessing the pollen allergy risk of urban parks in Chengdu City,China

The urban green space is an important inducer of pollen allergy. In recent years, the incidence of pollen allergy in China has increased from 5 % to 17.8 %, and it still rapidly increases. However, only few assessment methods of pollen allergy risk have been developed and applied in the urban green spaces. The feasibility and the accuracies of the assessment results of these methods has been unknown. Therefore, in this paper, the two best-known methods, total pollen concentration monitoring method and urban green zone allergenicity index (I_UGZA) method, were both used to assess the pollen allergy risk of the same urban park (the People’s Park of Chengdu City, China). The impact factors and prediction consistency of both models were compared. The results showed that the proportion of medium and highly allergenic tree species reached up to 75.93 % in People’s Park. The total I_UGZA value of this park was 0.69. A total of 36,171 pollen grains were collected here. The average pollen concentration of this park was 125.88 grains/cm² per day. Both methods showed that the pollen allergy risk of the People's Park was the highest in spring. Correlation analysis showed that no vegetation characteristics of this park were correlated with I_UGZA values and total pollen concentration. However, pollen concentration was extremely significantly correlated with air temperature and solar radiation in autumn and winter. Kendall’s concordance coefficient identified a super high consistency between total pollen concentration and I_UGZA values in this park. This result means that both methods for assessing the risk of pollen allergy are effective. Based on the total pollen concentration, a polynomial formula was established for succinctly calculating the I_UGZA. A three-step greening strategy is proposed to minimize the volume of allergen production and increase the well-being of users of urban parks in Chengdu City.     

Studying the spatial evolutionary behavior of urban forest patches from the perspective of pattern-process relationships

Urban forest dynamics can influence the provision of ecosystem services provision. Considerable research has been conducted to understand how these dynamics respond to urbanization, from individual patches to entire landscapes. However, most of these are cross-sectional studies based on landscape metrics, and research using a process-based perspective in this context is scarce. In this study, we present a “pattern-process” analytical framework to quantify the evolutionary behavior of urban forest patches. We combine this framework with land cover classification data based on high-resolution remote sensing images (< 1 m) from 2002, 2013, and 2019 to detect the dynamic characteristics of four processes of forest patches in Beijing urban areas. These dynamic characteristics include: size distribution, aggregation and fragmentation, transfer, and self-stabilization. The results showed that 1) the average size of the patches in the study area is increasing, and patches larger than 50 m² have a more positive influence on the process of patch structure evolution, 2) patch fragmentation shifts with the direction of urban sprawl, 3) transfer between urban forest and bare land is increasing, and 4) urban forest network construction positively enhances the stability of patches. This framework can provide a useful basis for understanding the spatial and temporal evolution of urban forest landscapes during urban development and contribute to the sustainable management of urban forests.     

The relationship between the distribution and use patterns of parks and their spatial accessibility at the city level: A case study from Tehran,Iran

Parks are recognised as important elements of urban green infrastructure and for providing many benefits to city residents. In countries where urban growth is unplanned and sprawling, green space provision falls behind, inadequate amounts are provided or spaces are not located in the most effective places. Tehran, the capital of Iran, has experienced huge growth in population and corresponding sprawl in recent years. There has been no study of the effectiveness of parks as part of the range of green spaces in the city − their location, accessibility within the urban structure, relationship to the socio-demographic character of the population, amount per capita or quality and condition. Using a combination of existing data supplemented by new data from site surveys, this study firstly looked at the citywide scale of public open space in relation to population and socio-economic patterns. Second, a representative sample of 16 parks was examined in terms of their accessibility within the urban street structure using space syntax. The syntactical results were correlated with several different aspects of each park collected and rated on a 1–5 scale. The results showed a wide range of availability of parks with no specific pattern related to whether the district is better off or poor. The data on green space per district was often heavily biased by the presence of large areas of forest park or non-recreational land which gives a false picture.Many of the best parks are poorly integrated into the street network and found in the better off districts yet are very popular because they are “destination” parks in cooler, hilly areas. Poorly integrated parks in the inner city districts tended to show lower levels of maintenance, were often little used and had vandalism. Much more attention is needed to provide green space in an equitable way.     

The fate of urban green spaces: Assessment of the ownership,availability and conditions of parks in Accra,Ghana

Globally, the loss of green spaces threatens the sustainability of many cities. Among other factors, complex land ownership and management regime reportedly disrupt land administration and development; but with inconclusive empirical evidence on how this influences the conditions, availability and development of parks. This study, using Accra, thus employs document analysis, 16 key informant interviews and observation of majaor parks to: (i) explore the spatial location of parks and the relationship between their ownership and conditions, (ii) examine the factors which have influenced the decline in park size and conditions, and (iii) examine the institutional response to improving upon park planning, availability and conditions. The findings show distributive injustice of parks as most of them are located in high- and middle-income neighborhoods. There is also evidence of decreasing available park land per 1000 population between 1991 and 2022. Parks managed by private institutions were found to be in very good state compared to those managed by state institutions. The existing dualistic and complex land tenure regime have largely led to the decline in park availability and conditions. Other reported factors were rapid urbanization, land litigation, low priority to park development and planning, laxity in the enforcement of regulations, and political interference. The study makes recommendations to improve upon existing practices and generally enhance park creation, availability and conditions.     

Comparison of avian diversity between urban parks adjacent to mountain and river in the largest megacity Guangzhou,South China

Urban parks can provide a resource for maintaining and increasing bird biodiversity. However, little research has been conducted to show the differences in bird community diversity between parks adjacent to mountains and rivers in the city center of highly urbanized areas. This study analysed whether the bird composition and species diversity differed between parks adjacent to Baiyun Mountain (hillside parks) and Pearl River (riverside parks) in Guangzhou, South China. From January 2018 to December 2020, 137927 birds representing 206 species were recorded. The results indicated that the number of species and individuals of birds were higher in hillside parks than in riverside parks in each season. The number of species and individuals was also higher in hillside parks than in riverside parks in different functional groups according to bird food type, residential type, and ecological type. The number of species shared by the two types of parks was 120. The unique birds' species number in hillside and riverside parks were 67 and 19, respectively. Bird diversity in terms of richness and Shannon index was higher significantly in hillside parks than in riverside parks in summer. Principal component analysis of environmental traits of 18 parks showed that plant traits in parks have relatively high and positive contribution. Correlation analysis indicated that bird diversity was positively affected by water area, the highest altitude, habitats diversity and tree evenness in park, while negatively regulated by building coverage around each park. The top 20 most abundant bird species accounted for 87.5% of the total birds in the study period. Nycticorax nycticorax, Urocissa erythroryncha and Podiceps ruficollis were observed more frequently in hillside parks, while Pycnonotus aurigaster, Passer montanus, Acridotheres cristatellus were observed more frequently in riverside parks. Principal coordinates analysis also indicated that bird communities significantly differed between hillside parks and riverside parks. In conclusion, our findings highlight the importance of conserving mountains and rivers as buffer zones for serious anthropogenic disturbance in the city center. We propose that the conservation of hillside parks is a priority strategy for enhancing urban birds biodiversity.     

Assessment of spatial equity of urban park distribution from the perspective of supply-demand interactions

Urban parks have been widely recognized for the critical functions they provide in enhancing health and wellbeing. However, parks are known to be inadequately provided and non-uniformly distributed in cities, leading to an increasing interest to examine spatial equity of park distribution. Such studies have mostly focused on the distributional attributes of park supply in determining spatial equity, while the role of residents’ demand is usually ignored or not adequately assessed. In addition, people’s preferences for park use were normally ignored and nearest parks were assumed as supplier of park services. Moreover, even though equity assessment is scale-dependent, few studies adopt a multi-scale assessment. We report on a study to address these gaps. A multi-scale Supply-Demand Equity Index (SDEI) was developed to assess spatial equity of park distribution from the perspective of supply and demand interactions, and data were collected at a fine scale of neighborhood level. Residents’ accessibility to their most often used parks and nearest parks were used to assess and compare supply level; while residents’ perceptions obtained from surveys and population density were used to assess and compare demand level. Results showed that supply measured by accessibility to most often used park more accurately reflects supply, and demand assessment on the basis of perception could reflect variations among different social groups and reveal otherwise hidden patterns of spatial inequity. It was also shown that SDEI could identify areas where mismatch between supply and demand occurs. We demonstrated in a single study that different definitions and approaches of quantifying spatial equity can lead to distinct conclusions, therein highlighting that the complex nature of equity requires nuanced approaches and providing a broader view of equity assessment. In addition, the implications of this study for urban park planning and management were highlighted.     

Evaluating the accessibility of urban parks and waterfronts through online map services: A case study of Shaoxing,China

Regular access to natural environment has many physical and mental health benefits for urban residents. This study was to evaluate the accessibility of urban parks and waterfronts in a Chinese canal city at the household level. Shaoxing, a typical canal town in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, was selected as the case study because of its abundant but underused natural resources. The study had measured the shortest travel routes from individual households to parks and waterfronts using data from the online map service and intensive fieldwork. The results showed that only 22% of Shaoxing residents live within a 500 m walking distance to parks, but scenario analysis showed if the canals were well used, almost all the residents would have access to natural environment within 15 min’ walk. Thus, the route-based accessibility evaluation method developed in this research offers a fine-grained understanding of household inequality in access to natural environments. It not only provides specific recommendations for planning intervention to improve the accessibility of natural resources in Shaoxing, but also contributes to the advancement of accessibility measures for planning practice. This route-based measure makes it possible to combine other accessibility measures of the travel routes such as sidewalk qualities in future research. The simplicity of this method means that it can be used to evaluate accessibility to other public facilities at the household level to develop walkable neighborhoods in cities.     

Engagement,representation, and safety: Factors promoting belonging and positive interracial contact in urban parks

Urban parks have been touted as spaces of diversity and democracy that have the potential to foster interracial contact among racially and ethnically diverse visitors. However, the extent to which they facilitate interracial contact and the factors related to contact are less understood. Using a quantitative panel study of racially and ethnically diverse U.S. urban residents (n = 931), this study investigated the influence of community diversity, motivations to visit parks, perceived engagement and representation, safety, and sense of welcome and belonging on interracial contact in urban parks. Results demonstrated more frequent and positive interracial contact when individuals perceived a greater sense of welcome and belonging and when they perceived more equitable engagement and representation. These results suggest that urban park agencies seeking to increase sense of welcome and belonging or frequency of positive interracial contact should focus on engagement and representation (as reflected through inclusive programs and events, input in decision making, and representation of racial and ethnic diversity) and safety.     

Understanding the relationship between small urban parks and mental health: A case study in Shanghai,China

The literature to date has mainly explored the impact on public mental health of green spaces around residential areas, large urban parks, family gardens, blue spaces, national parks, etc., while few studies have examined the association of Small Urban Green Spaces (SUGS) with public mental health. The role, function, and service radius of SUGS in urban people’s lives are quite different from those of general green spaces, and the relationship and mechanism linking general green spaces to mental health cannot be fully applied to small parks. This work was conducted to: 1) investigate the relationship between SUGS and mental health; 2) understand what factors affect mental health; 3) determine what kind of SUGS is more conducive to improving mental health. SUGS’ designs and physical characteristics were evaluated with the Natural Environment Scoring Tool (NEST) and user information for 10 SUGS (1–5 ha) in Shanghai in 2021 was collected via a questionnaire. We developed a multilevel model for exploring the factors affecting mental health from two aspects: the individual level and the park level. This study found that SUGS and mental health were positively associated. In addition to individual–level variables like income, marital status, social cohesion, and use frequency, park–level variables such as usability, aesthetics–natural features, and civilized environment are also conducive to improving mental health, while entertainment facilities in SUGS have a negative association with mental health. There was no evidence that visit frequency, stay time, social cohesion, or physical exercise act as a mediator between park features and mental health. This study provides empirical evidence for the positive correlation between SUGS and mental health and presents a means of promoting public mental health with efficient SUGS planning and management.     

Urban parks,value uplift and green gentrification: An application of the spatial hedonic model in the city of Brisbane

This paper explores the impact of urban parks on real estate prices making use of a hedonic price approach. Focusing on Brisbane, Australia, as a case study site, we use spatial hedonic models to analyse housing sales data across 15,000 sales transactions to investigate the effects of parks on nearby housing prices, paying attention to park typology and classification. Our findings indicate that recreational and sport parks are differently associated with price variations. The study also examines a specific and significant inner-city park currently undergoing a major redevelopment—namely Victoria Park. Our analysis of the Victoria Park site seeks to quantify the value uplift, that is, the future increase in property prices as a result of the transformation of the current private golf course in this location into a new publicly accessible parkland. This study’s property economics modelling analysis indicates the conversion of Victoria Park from a golf course to public parkland will increase property prices by an average of 3 % for properties located within 750 m of the park. The article concludes with a discussion of value capture opportunities that these findings present as well as challenges of green gentrification for this and similar urban renewal projects and possible policy responses.     

Integrating community gardens into urban parks: Lessons in planning,design and partnership from Seattle

With rising interest in urban agriculture and urban food issues, community gardens have become an increasingly welcomed feature of urban landscapes. Reflecting this growing interest and demand, there has been a corresponding shift from temporary occupation of vacant sites to integration of community gardens into urban parks system. Such integration holds significant opportunities for community gardens to achieve stability, expand their overall footprint, and become a more integral part of the urban built environment. But as community gardens become a more accepted feature of public parks, what are some of the key issues and challenges of integration? How can community gardens thrive under a different spatial and institutional framework that governs public parks? Using Seattle as a case study where integration of community gardens into public parks has a long history as well as significant recent growth, this article examines lessons and challenges of such integration. Specifically, it identifies lessons including the clarity of roles and responsibilities of different agencies and the importance of collaboration and partnership as well as participatory site planning and design. It also points to perception of community gardens as private use and spatial and programming conflicts between gardening and other park uses as continued challenges.     

Spatial distribution,activity zone preference,and activity intensity of senior park users in a metropolitan area

Urban parks can bring multiple health benefits to seniors and thus are important to their lives. This study investigated seniors’ spatial distribution, preferred activity zones, and activity intensity during park visits. We used GPS trackers to collect spatial location information and accelerometers to record metabolic equivalent of energy (MET) at an interval of 10 s, and examined differences in activity intensity according to activity zone type. Data from 286 seniors in two large urban parks in Shanghai, China were included. We identified eight park activity zone types: pathway, paved open space, sports area, children’s playground, lawn, water, other natural area, building, and other area. Grid cells of 5 m by 5 m were created and hotspot analysis was utilized to identify the activity zones most frequently used by seniors. ANOVA post-hoc analysis was applied to investigate the variance between activity zone cells in terms of mean visit point counts, total visit point MET, and average MET. We also utilized latent class analysis to identify distinctive subgroups of seniors.The results indicate that seniors’ spatial distributions vary vastly both between and within park activity zones. Of the eight zone types, paved open space was used most frequently, and seniors were most active on pathways. Other natural area also had high usage, and featured higher average activity intensity than sports area, water, and building and other area. Children’s playground had higher average activity intensity than lawn or water. Finally, three distinctive groups of seniors were identified: short-stay active walker, long-stay light walker, and short-stay transient. These findings have direct implications for park design practice. Paved open space and pathways should be carefully designed based on the specific seniors’ activity patterns. Furthermore, seniors’ needs should be considered in the design of playgrounds in parks, where they accompany their grandchildren, and of other natural area, where they stretch their bodies and enjoy fresh air. The diverse activity patterns of the subgroups of seniors should be addressed in future studies.     

Evaluating the supply-demand relationship for urban green parks in Beijing from an ecosystem service flow perspective

The mismatch between the spatial patterns of urban green parks (UGP) and population in urban areas is a common phenomenon in Chinese cities and elsewhere. Whether and to what extent such mismatch may impact the realization of Ecosystem Service (ES) provided by the former remain unclear. Stemming from the Ecosystem Service Flow (ESF) perspective, this paper argues that the distance-decay effects and spatial heterogeneity in the propagation process of the ESF with different conveyors may render the various types of ES demonstrating different location sensitivity in both provision and realization terms. We then present an “is-ought” framework for analyzing the supply-demand relationship of ES, which features deductively obtained ES provision potential and empirically observed ES realization, both are spatially explicitly mapped. Refined ontological and distance-decay modeling methods and mobile signaling data were introduced to implement the framework taking Beijing as a case. For the two typical types of ES in urban environments, the recreational and thermoregulating services, we find that there indeed exists under- or over-supply of ES along the center-periphery gradient of the city. The findings have policy implications for the planning and management of UGP.     

Effects of urban waterfront park landscape elements on visual behavior and public preference: Evidence from eye-tracking experiments

High-quality urban blue-green spaces are essential to enhance the well-being of residents. Public preferences in urban landscapes are closely related to visual behavior and can meet human needs. By combining objective eye-movement data with subjective evaluation data, public preferences for blue-green typical spatial waterfront parks were analyzed based on visual behavior. Taking Wuhan, a megacity in China, as an example, four types of landscapes were identified: waterscape, plantscape, hardscape, and integrated landscape. Using visual clustering to identify eye movement indicators, we analyzed the influence of element types, proportions and combinations on public preferences based on visual behavior differences related to landscape elements. The results indicated that: (1) visual behaviors differ among elements and preferences, arbor commands overall attention, and pavilion is the element attended to first. (2) The positive correlation between water and fatigue recovery increased by 0.163 after combination with reflection, while the correlation between arbor and fatigue recovery changed from 0.353 (p < 0.01) to − 0.251 (p < 0.01) after combination with shrub and grass. (3) Plantscape and waterscape were rated as more natural, intimate, and restorative, but the most element-rich integrated landscape had the highest beauty ratings. Hardscape had significantly lower ratings but were generally considered to be fully utilized spaces. (4) The most significant visual behavior factor affecting evaluations was fixation duration, and the most critical landscape elements were arbor and pavilion. This study reveals differences in people's visual perceptions and preferences for waterfront parks through eye-movement experiments, and could lead to more judicious landscape element selections and park space compositions.     

Effects of urban park environment on recreational jogging activity based on trajectory data: A case of Chongqing,China

Existing studies have seldom used large-scale trajectory data to analyze jogging activities in urban parks. Most of them have relied on traditional questionnaires and on-site interviews. Therefore, this study aims to uncover the characteristics and the potential influencing factors of jogging activities based on trajectory data recorded by a mobile app, using the case of Chongqing city. The results show that urban parks with high jogging flow are mainly distributed within the inner ring road of Chongqing, whereas urban parks with low jogging flow are newly built outside the inner ring road. The volume of jogging flow in urban parks in the spring and summer is higher than that of autumn and winter, and the volume on weekends is higher than that of weekdays. The peaks of jogging in urban parks vary across space and over time, leading to different spatiotemporal patterns. Urban parks along the subcenters, riversides, and airport corridors have morning (6–7 a.m.) and evening peaks (7–8 p.m.). Urban parks in the newly urbanized areas and industrial zones have evening peaks. The regression models show that walking loops and waterscapes have positive effects on jogging flow. The landscape shape index of urban parks and the distance to the city center negatively affect the jogging flow. Finally, the study indicates the possibility of using large-scale trajectory data to analyze jogging activities, which is helpful for urban park planners and managers to improve the frequency of jogging activity.     

Exploring the use and perceptions of inner-city small urban parks: A case study of Budapest,Hungary

Globally, accelerating urbanization has led to a severe shortage of urban green spaces. This scarcity is particularly acute in inner cities with high population densities and ratios of built-up areas. To explore park visitors’ usage and perceptions, we present the results of a survey of 681 individuals from different socioeconomic groups conducted in four small urban parks in Budapest, Hungary’s capital. The survey results found that people living near the block parks were their primary users, but many people from distant areas also visited the parks due to their good accessibility. In addition, findings show that the green components of the parks were generally more satisfactory to users than other amenities, indicating higher quality expectations for cultural ecosystem services in small urban green spaces. However, perceptions of park safety varied across socioeconomic groups, suggesting that views of safety did not necessarily reflect actual park security. Finally, while most respondents stated they would not want to contribute to park maintenance, young people, particularly neighborhood newcomers, showed greater willingness to volunteer for such work.     

Biodiversity functions of urban cemeteries: Evidence from one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe

As the world becomes more urbanized, urban cemeteries may become increasingly valuable for biodiversity conservation as cemeteries are ubiquitous elements of the green infrastructure in cities worldwide. By implementing a multi-taxon approach at different spatial extents, we analyzed habitat functions of a large urban cemetery in Berlin (Weiÿensee Jewish Cemetery) and explored related environmental variables. This cemetery is an outstanding cultural heritage site but it also stands for old urban cemeteries that have progressed to urban woodland, an ecosystem type that exists in many regional and religious contexts. The cemetery provided a habitat for 604 species; species of conservation concern comprised 1.6⿿100% of total species among different groups of taxa (in decreasing order: bats, birds, lichens, bryophytes, carabids, vascular plants, spiders). Species richness and species composition at the plot level were significantly related to differences in management intensity and resulting vegetation structures but differed among taxonomic groups. In vascular plants, carabids and spiders, the species composition varied significantly with habitat age, and there was a set of characteristic species for different age classes in each species group. Our results thus support the use of differentiated management approaches to maintain habitat heterogeneity by allowing wilderness development in some parts of a cemetery while keeping others more open. Since these aims can be combined with efforts to preserve outstanding grave architectures and allow access to visitors, our study indicates ways of reconciling conflicting aims of heritage preservation and biodiversity conservation, a promising perspective for biodiversity conservation in culturally shaped urban landscapes. We conclude that cemeteries provide important cultural ecosystem services within the urban green infrastructure.     

Structure of an urban green space indirectly affects the distribution of airborne particulate matter: A study based on structural equation modelling

Urban green spaces can effectively regulate microclimate and improve air quality. However, the relationship between the structure of an urban green space, meteorological conditions, and the concentration distribution of different sized particles inside and outside of green spaces is unclear. In this study, a field survey was conducted on the structures of 188 green spaces in Beijing. The temperature and relative humidity were also monitored, and the concentrations of different sized particles were measured both inside and outside of the selected green spaces to comprehensively analyse the relationships between these variables and the structure of a green space. The results of structural equation modelling showed that the structure of a green space indirectly affected the concentration distribution of particulate matter (PM) through the effects of cooling and humidification, while the direct effect was not obvious. In addition, the impact mechanisms of the structure of a green space on the concentration distribution of particles differed between PM₁, PM_1–5, and PM_5–25, primarily due to the influence of particle size and meteorological factors on the movement of PM. This study deepens the understanding of the influencing mechanisms of the structure of a green space on the concentration distribution of PM, thus providing an important reference for subsequent related field and numerical simulation research.