From “separation” to “Integration”: Analyzing the functional transformation of the urban greenbelt in Beijing from the perspective of “parkization”

Abstract

The Urban greenbelt (UGB), vital for curbing urban expansion, experiences shifts in function across diverse development stages. Unfortunately, UGB functional transformation process, especially its social utilization of ecological functions, often receives insufficient attention, impacting urban ecosystem health enhancement and residents' well-being. The UGB park, combining ecology and social benefits, holds significance in studying varied UGB functions and their transformation. Thus, tracking park development trends (“parkization”) aids in analyzing UGB functional evolution. We employed high-precision land use/land cover (LULC) data (less than1m) from Beijing to explore UGB functional transformation law, focusing on UGB park dynamics and their ecological benefits (Park Ecological Land Use/Land Cover (PLULC) percentage (PPELULC), mean patch size (MPS), edge density (ED), area-weighted mean shape index (AWMSI), patch size standard deviation (PSSD)), and social benefits (per capita park area (PCP), per capita PLULC area (PCPELULC), accessible park service scope). Results revealed that as UGB park construction slowed, park ecological space displayed an “increasing and dispersing” trend, signifying weakened UGB park ecological benefits. Simultaneously, park social services collectively exhibited improvement, suggesting the UGB functional transformation from solely ecological protection to holistic environmental and social safeguarding. This transformation was more notable within the first greenbelt (UGB1), predominantly driven by comprehensive and natural amusement parks. The “parkization”-based UGB function evaluation method not only illuminated the functional transformation mechanism but also underscored the integrated needs of ecology and society, which is essential to the subsequent scientific formulation and implementation of ecological management strategies that meet the needs of urban environmental protection