Abstract
The community greenway is a kind of greenway that goes through high-density residential areas in the city and is closely related to residents’ life. However, few scholars focus on how this type of greenways serves the everyday life of the community as an integrated resource. This aspect is important because the everyday life in the public space involves multiple activities. How to coordinate and satisfy these activities relates to the benefits of community greenways. Therefore, this paper takes a representative community greenway in Haizhu District of Guangzhou as an example, to study whether community greenways match the needs of necessary activities, optional activities and social activities. The usage patterns, the evaluation of the current status, the impact on everyday activities, and the importance of different construction factors were surveyed. The applied methods include site observation, questionnaires and interviews. The results show that more than 90% of users are from communities within 1 mile from the community greenway. More than half of the users (55%) are satisfied with the community greenways. Furthermore, the community greenways benefit the everyday activities of residents, such as transportation, recreation, social interaction and also other minor but important everyday activities. However, from the perspective of residents’ requirements for construction factors, the status of service facilities needs to be improved. The characteristics, overall benefits, and construction implications of community greenways are therefore discussed. Community greenways can be important open space for residents and this paper is significant on community greenways meeting the needs of residents’ everyday activities, thus, to provide a better community living environment and to build a better urban open space system.
Highlights
The greenway movement has been recognized worldwide since its inception in the 1990s.The Greenway, which can be considered as “a linear open space established along either a natural corridor, such as a riverfront, stream valley, or ridgeline, or overland along railroad right-of-way converted to recreational use, a canal, a scenic road, or other route” [1], has unique advantages as open space when the land becomes less and less in city areas
This study attempts to identify the use of community greenways
The activities in community greenways include commuting, walking the dog, shopping, exercise, fishing, enjoying sceneries, reading, relaxing, interacting with neighbors or family members, which can be divided into necessary activities, optional activities and social activities
Summary
The Greenway, which can be considered as “a linear open space established along either a natural corridor, such as a riverfront, stream valley, or ridgeline, or overland along railroad right-of-way converted to recreational use, a canal, a scenic road, or other route” [1], has unique advantages as open space when the land becomes less and less in city areas. It is a part of urban infrastructure and forms connected networks that support both ecological and social activities and process [2]. The development of the society has led to even higher demands for open spaces [12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
