Which characteristics represent the gentrification affected by parks? A study case in Nanjing, China

Abstract

The provision of newly constructed parks in urban areas offers numerous benefits to residents but also gives rise to the phenomenon of green gentrification. Accurately defining the extent of park services, examining the characteristics of gentrification resulting from new parks, and identifying the key park features that contribute to gentrification are crucial for research. This study employs network analysis tools to determine the service area of new parks and utilizes data on the attributes of new parks in the central urban area of Nanjing, residential transaction data, POI data, and census data. A canonical correlation analysis is conducted to explore the canonical correlation between the characteristics of green gentrification and the attributes of the new parks. The findings reveal that the housing price premium, the proportion of high-end commercial places and the proportion of elderly population were the typical characteristics of green gentrification, with the correlations of −0.896, −0.530 and 0.415, respectively. In addition, park service facility density, park service facility type, park area and park perimeter are the key park characteristics that were easy to cause gentrification, and the correlations with the typical characteristic variables of newly built parks were 0.742, 0.657, −0.594 and −0.570, respectively. Based on these results, it is suggested that the house price premium best reflects the characteristics of green gentrification, while small parks with robust service capabilities can help mitigate the effects of green gentrification. The research findings provide novel strategies for alleviating gentrification resulting from the construction of new parks.