Does street greenery always promote active travel? Evidence from Beijing

Abstract

Urban green space is considered as an effective means to promote active travel (AT). However, the existing research does not always get the positive effect of green space on AT, which may be regulated by the road classification. Roads are divided into five grades according to the function and flow of roads in China. Low-class roads are often characterized by low traffic flow and high accessibility. Based on a traffic survey in Beijing, this study uses multi-level logit regression and multi-level linear regression to analyze the impact of street greenery described by green view index (GVI) on AT with road classification as moderating variable. Results demonstrate that (1) regardless of road classification, favorable greenery always promotes the probability of AT; (2) street greenery may have a two-way impact on AT distance, and the association is positive only when it takes place on low-class roads; (3) walking requires higher greenery on low-class roads than cycling. It first reports moderating role of road class for the impact of street greenery on AT, and emphasizes the importance of low-class roads’ greenery.