Urban park accessibility and the mental health of older adults: a case study of Haidian District, Beijing

Abstract

ABSTRACT Urban parks benefit the mental health of older adults by providing outdoor leisure space. However, the potential impact of spatial accessibility to urban parks on older adults’ mental health was under-researched, particularly in regard to various spatial scales and transport modes. Using linear mixed models, this study assessed the association between spatial accessibility to urban parks and two typical mental health issues of older adults (i.e. depression and anxiety) based on a mental health survey among 1,231 older adults in Beijing, China. Spatial accessibility of each community to parks via walking and public transport modes at local, regional, and global scales was calculated based on travel time by application programming interface of online map. Results show that the spatial accessibility of urban parks at all three scales and with different transport modes had a significant impact on older adults’ anxiety; accessibility at the regional scale had the greatest impact. Older adults’ depression was affected primarily by regional park accessibility in walking mode. Findings have important practical implications for spatial-accessibility improvements to urban parks and for constructing age-friendly urban spaces.