Park Characteristics Research Articles

Seasonal variations in urban park characteristics and visitation patterns in Atlanta: A big data study using smartphone user mobility

Urban parks are essential for physical activity and health enhancement of local residents. Although previous research has explored the utilization of the urban parks, seasonal oscillations in visitation to small and medium-size urban parks have received scant attention. Utilizing long-time smartphone mobile data, this study investigated park visitation patterns in 84 Atlanta parks. In this article, seasonal variations in park visitation and the correlation between park visiting patterns and park attributes were evaluated. Using fixed-effect regression, we modeled the effects of socioeconomic, climatic, and park attributes on park visiting patterns. The results indicated that park visitor volume and park service areas were significantly influenced by seasonal variations. Facilities, pavements, and scale facilitated visitor volume, while water bodies and landscapes enhanced the park's accessibility from a distance. The landscape design of the park was a significant factor during the summer season, rather than autumn and winter, which were mostly influenced by the availability of playgrounds and recreational facilities. Seasonal patterns of resident visitation varied among parks and interacted with park qualities. This study is expected to inform future design and research of urban parks by addressing specific characteristics of parks and to provide resources in response to dynamic patterns of park access that surpass generic norms.

Did COVID-19 Reshape Visitor Preferences in Urban Parks? Investigating Influences on Sentiments in Shanghai, China

Urban parks can be critical components of city landscapes. In the wake of COVID-19, understanding the role of urban parks in helping to elicit positive sentiment and improve the overall well-being of visitors has gained new traction in the literature. This research distinctively investigates whether the COVID-19 pandemic altered preferences regarding urban parks and identifies the key landscape attributes and environmental factors that influenced positive visitor sentiment, thereby addressing a critical gap in understanding the evolving dynamics of urban green spaces in the post-pandemic era. We use a mixed methods approach that includes natural language processing techniques to analyze crowd sourced data across more than 100 urban parks in Shanghai, China. Not surprisingly, our results highlight a post-pandemic rise in preferences for neighborhood parks and features typically associated with neighborhood parks, such as walking accessibility and surrounding residential densities. In addition, we found six park features, the presence of grasslands, water bodies, walking paths, and proximity to shopping facilities, significantly impacted the ways in which people perceived their park experience. These insights can guide urban park planning, design, and management in our evolving post-pandemic landscape to help ensure that urban parks continue to serve as essential urban spaces.

The dynamic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on park visits: A longitudinal study in the United States

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s park visit pattern has received great attention from both scholars and policy-makers, attributed to parks’ established health benefits and thus serving as an effective strategy to mitigate people’s stress and improve people’s physical and mental health. While burgeoning empirical evidence has been generated, both negative and positive impacts of the pandemic on park visit behaviors have been reported. However, the dynamics of park visits along with the pandemic progress remains underinvestigated. Using locational-based mobile data, this study investigates the longitudinal dynamics of park visits in terms of visiting frequency, travel distance, and time spent within parks across the contiguous United States from January to December 2020. The year-over-year (2019–2020) variations of park visitation patterns are associated with pandemic-relevant variables (i.e., the number of infection cases, and policy stringency index), and the locational characteristics of parks (i.e., “local parks” and “non-local parks” as classified according to ESRI’s US parks dataset). The analytical results reveal that (1) on average, park visit frequency, travel distance, and length of stay reduced since the outbreak of the pandemic; (2) the number of infection cases exerted a negative impact on visit frequency, a positive impact on visitors’ dwelling time, but the inconsistent impact on travel distance in different pandemic periods; (3) the stringency of containment policies negatively affected visit frequency and travel distance, but its impact on park visitors’ dwelling time was inconsistent; and (4) local parks received much fewer visits, even though visitors traveled a longer distance to access some local parks located in peri-urban areas. This study depicts a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of park visitation along with the pandemic progress and sheds light on the ways that parks can aid in recovering from a public health crisis.

Using geospatial trajectories to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the associations between environmental attributes and runnability of park trails

The worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated social distancing measures have produced alterations in park visits of individuals, as well as their park-based physical activity (e.g. running exercise). Although studies on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in running activity patterns are becoming an emerging focus, less is known about how these changes are related to the environmental attributes of parks before and after the pandemic, the knowledge of which is essential to planning green infrastructure that better supports physical activities. Therefore, we employed a volunteered geographic information approach to investigate the runnability of park trails in Shenzhen, utilizing self-tracking routes from Strava, in order to uncover the associations between trail characteristics and park features with the running intensity before and after the pandemic. Multilevel regression model analyses revealed that trail network connectivity was the only environmental attribute indicating consistent and positive associations with running intensity. Blue space density was positively correlated with running intensity in urban parks but indicated no significant association in forest parks before the pandemic. In the pre-pandemic era, population density was positively related to running intensity in urban and forest parks. However, after the pandemic, the associations between running behaviours and population density remained positive in forest parks but turned insignificant in urban parks. The outbreak of the pandemic also altered the influence of other park features (e.g. park shape and trail density) on running intensity. The evidence-based knowledge provides planners with significant insights into pandemic-resilient park planning for the post-COVID era.

What Role Do Urban Parks Play in Forming a Sense of Place? Lessons for Geodesign Using Social Media

The sense of place is a multidimensional construct that evokes an emotional commitment to a specific geographic setting. It can be a crucial aspect of cultural ecosystem services. While social media has gained popularity as a tool for assessing ecosystem services, its effectiveness in capturing a sense of place, its impact on cultural ecosystem services, and its role in the landscape design process remains less certain. This study investigates the role of urban parks in shaping the sense of place by analyzing user-generated content from a specific social media platform (Twitter). We gathered tweets from 30 diverse urban parks in Chicago, covering various park types, sizes, shapes, and management styles. Our analysis reveals multiple facets of the sense of place associated with urban parks. We suggest that a sense of place is not solely rooted in the attachment to physical surroundings but also in the personal experiences individuals encounter within these spaces. Residents residing near parks tend to develop a sense of ownership and responsibility, leading to stronger emotional bonds with their environment. Urban parks foster community engagement, enhance social cohesion, and offer opportunities for nature-based experiences. Furthermore, this study underscores the significance of diverse park features, accessibility, and size in bolstering place attachment. Our research demonstrates the potential for geoinformation analysis in the geodesign process as a cost-effective and scalable approach for understanding the person–place connection.

РАРИТЕТНА СКЛАДОВА ФАУНИ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОГО ПРИРОДНОГО ПАРКУ «КРЕМЕНЕЦЬКІ ГОРИ»

The National Nature Park “Kremenetski Hory” is situated in the northern part of the Ternopil region, covering an area of 6,951.2 hectares. The park features a hilly terrain.
 The primary objective of the park is the protection and preservation of rare species. As of the beginning of 2023, there is a need for further research, particularly in the field of invertebrates, to better understand the fauna within the park.
 A total of 796 animal species have been documented in the National Nature Park “Kremenetski Hory” and its surrounding areas. This includes 12 amphibian species, 7 reptiles, 155 bird species, 48 mammals, 1 roundmouth, 484 insect species, and 60 mollusks. Notably, 217 of these species are afforded protection under Ukrainian and international environmental conservation agreements.
 This article presents data on animal species with nature protection status recorded within the park from 2012 to the first half of 2023. According to both literary sources and modern research, 55 species listed in the Red Book of Ukraine are documented in the park’s records, with 42 being reliably confirmed, 12 known only from literary sources, and one species considered to be erroneous.
 Further exploration of the park’s fauna is essential, and this can be achieved by involving specialists and utilizing modern recording technologies.

Urban Park Design and Pedestrian Mobility—Case Study: Temuco, Chile

Pathway design features in urban parks are vital in facilitating leisure walking and maintaining a minimal rate of physical activity, hence enhancing public health. This study investigated the relationships between the design aspects of Cautin Park, Chile’s largest urban park in the Araucania Region, and the tendency for walking, as well as walking behavior. The objectives were investigated using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Several design elements were discovered to be connected to walking tendency and walking behavior in this urban park, including path paving, pathway width, (dense) trees, green spaces and vegetation, connectivity with programs and activity zones, tranquility along pathways, more shade along pathways, pathways that provide better connectivity between different parts of the park, and the presence of benches along the urban park’s pathways. These insights could be used by urban planners and designers in the future planning of urban parks in this region.

Student and senior views on sustainable park design and intergenerational connection: A case study of an urban nature park

Sustainable park design is a trend towards efforts to preserve natural resources and support quality of life for people of all ages. The aim of this study was to investigate how a sustainably designed and managed urban nature park in Colorado, USA is viewed and used by younger and older people and therefore understand the potential for intergenerational connection in these settings. Interviews with 21 seniors aged 65 – 85 years from a neighbouring senior living complex and walking tours with 36 students aged 6 – 14 years from the adjoining school investigate views and use of park features, including a lake that is transitioning into a wetland. The study adopts the theory of affordances as a framework to thematically analyse activity and experience opportunities for younger and older park users and investigate how urban nature park design can promote intergenerational connection through understanding the perception of shared affordances. Results reveal three significant themes for students: i) playing; ii) improving ones mood; and iii) learning. Significant themes for seniors were: i) exercising; ii) observing nature; and iii) meeting people. Where affordance themes converged between student and senior responses intergenerational connect opportunities emerged. These insights have implications for optimizing applied design and maintenance of urban nature parks for intergenerational health and wellbeing. The study advocates for city parks departments and landscape practitioners to implement environmentally sustainable landscape design and management strategies that afford and sustain intergenerational cohesion in urban nature parks.

Pocket Parks: A New Approach to Improving the Psychological and Physical Health of Recreationists

The increasing density of cities poses a huge threat to public health, so pocket parks with high accessibility and flexibility have become potential resources to promote public health. In this context, the ways in which pocket parks can improve public health have become the focus and challenge of current research. This study selected 10 different types of pocket parks in Fuzhou, China, as the research subjects and collected real-time psychological and physiological data of participants by watching videos of the sample plots. The aim was to explore the impact of the environmental characteristics of pocket parks on the psychological and physiological responses of recreational users. The results of the study showed that: (1) the environmental characteristics of pocket parks significantly affect the psychological and physiological responses of recreationists. Different environmental characteristics can affect recreationists’ emotional state, attention recovery, environmental preferences, and the indicators of IBI, HR, SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, SCL, and EMG to varying degrees. (2) The environment of pocket parks may encourage recreationists to generate positive psychological benefits when the site is larger and has a higher degree of scenic beauty, and when the space is not effectively confined. A pocket park environment with a low paving ratio, open view, cultural elements, topographic changes, special vegetation and distributing space can also have a positive effect on the psychological benefits of recreationists to a certain extent. Low canopy density and high green visibility can also play a role in suppressing negative emotions. (3) Pocket parks with high levels of depression and off-site disturbance are not conducive to positive physiological responses from recreationists, while pocket parks with high levels of green visibility and beauty and specialized vegetation are more likely to provide health benefits to them.

What Indicators Are Shaping China’s National World-Class High-Tech Zones? Constructing a Feature Indicator System Based on Machine Learning

China’s high-tech parks have significant effects on driving national ecological innovation. Among them, ten world-class high-tech parks represent the highest level of development in China’s high-tech industry. Understanding the development characteristics of national world-class high-tech parks is of great significance for guiding the construction of other parks and achieving the high-quality development of parks. Based on the evaluation data of over 200 indicators of national high-tech parks from 2013 to 2017, this study used the XGBoost classic machine learning algorithm to select the characteristic indicators of national world-class high-tech parks and establish an evaluation indicator system, and it identified four primary indicators of the world-class high-tech parks, including innovation development, enterprise development, international development, and economic development. The indicators cover 30 important sub-indicators and highlight the importance of innovation resource input indicators, such as “use of technology activity funding from government departments”, “full-time equivalent of R&D personnel”, and “financial technology expenditure in high-tech parks”. Compared to the expert analysis, the application of the machine learning method in the evaluation of national high-tech parks improves the efficiency of selecting important indicators and makes the selection results more objective. The results of this research provide a reference value for guiding and promoting national high-tech parks to become world-class parks.

Design Characteristics, Visual Qualities, and Walking Behavior in an Urban Park Setting

The design characteristics of urban parks’ pathways are important in facilitating leisure walking and maintaining the minimum rate of physical activity, thus improving public health. This study examined and explored the relationships between design characteristics as well as certain visual qualities of Cautin Park, the biggest urban park in the Araucanian Region of Chile, and the tendency for walking as well as walking behavior. A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to examine the objectives. Several design attributes were found to be related to the tendency for walking and the walking behavior in this urban park, including greater pathway width, more vegetation, tranquility along the pathways, and more comfortable pathway environments for pets. Additionally, these correlations were assessed based on gender and age, and it was found that adolescents showed the greatest difference from other groups. For instance, adolescents walk significantly more along pathways with more connectivity to activity zones. Among the visual qualities, only legibility shows a significant correlation with the number of all types of pedestrians, as well as subgroups of adolescents, adult men, and adult women. These results were reviewed, and their implications were discussed. Urban planners and designers could apply these findings when designing future urban parks in this context.

Smart historical gardens

Historical parks and garden sites provide a range of social, environmental, ecosystem, recreational, and scientific services. They are witnesses of history, resources of biotic (botanical and dendrological collections) and abiotic (historical buildings or complexes) attributes, sources of knowhow about park maintenance and management accumulated over the centuries as transfer between past and future generations. A series of hazards and processes for finding the best strategies to adapt to climate change are now generally researched. They should also apply to historical greenery – it is particularly sensitive to such alterations. This study aimed to identify the most important pro-climate and pro-ecological trends as well as specific material and organisational solutions noticed by the jury of selected European professional competitions: “European Garden Award”, “Garden of the Year Award” (UK), “Monument of the Year” (Germany) and “Well-kept Monument” (Poland). The available competition regulations, published laudations, and general characteristics of individual parks were analysed. Not only did the research show a diversified level of development and approach to individual sites at the national level, but also variation in sites’ activation: from basic conservation and restoration works to implementation and promotion of pro-ecological and pro-climate solutions, as well as discrepancy in the priorities for assessing objects set by individual competition committees. An unjust tendency among the majority of researched competitions to marginalise the problem of climate change has been noticed (only recently has this problem started to draw some attention). It can contribute to the loss of a significant part of the garden heritage because any activity in such a sensitive substance requires a relatively longer time and often divides the work process into many stages. Their standardisation and equal development would strengthen the European heritage and resilience to climate change. The exchange of knowledge and experience in the form of good practices and appropriate funding can support these actions.

Research Progress of Urban Park Microclimate Based on Quantitative Statistical Software

Urban parks, as an important component of urban green spaces, play a crucial role in improving the urban environment and enhancing residents’ quality of life. This review summarizes the main content and research progress of urban park microclimate studies through analysis and synthesis of relevant literature from academic databases such as Web of Science and Google Scholar. Using Citespace or VOSviewer for bibliometric analysis, we found that the number of academic papers on the urban park microclimate has been growing year by year. The research content primarily covers the monitoring and analysis of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and other indicators in urban parks, as well as the impact of park design and planning on the microclimate. Keyword analysis revealed that researchers have mainly focused on the cooling effects of the urban park microclimate, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, and improvement of air quality. In terms of research methods, a combination of field observations and simulation models is commonly employed, with data being analyzed and validated using mathematical and statistical methods. The research results indicate that well-designed and planned parks can significantly improve the microclimate environment, reduce temperatures, and provide comfortable climatic conditions in urban areas. Additionally, vegetation arrangements and water features in urban parks also contribute to microclimate regulation. Moreover, windbreak measures and cooling strategies in parks can help alleviate the urban heat island effect, enhance air quality, and promote the health of ecosystems. However, this review also identified some issues in urban park microclimate research, including limitations in research scope, methods, and practical applicability. Future studies could deepen the comprehensive understanding of the urban park microclimate and explore more effective strategies for park design and planning to optimize and enhance the microclimate environment. It is also important for researchers to continuously innovate in terms of research methods and verify the feasibility of practical applications to better address the challenges of urban development.

Neighborhood park access and park characteristics are associated with weight status in youth.

This study investigated park access and park quality in the context of childhood obesity. Participants were 20,638 children ages 6-17y from a large primary care health system. Analyses tested associations of park access and park characteristics with children's weight status, and sociodemographic interactions. Both park access and the quality of nearest park were associated with a lower odds of having obesity. Park quality interacted with age, sex, and income. Findings suggest park access is important for supporting a healthy weight in children. Park quality may be most important among 12-14-year-olds, girls, and higher income groups.

Autonomous valet parking optimization with two-step reservation and pricing strategy

With the development of autonomous vehicle, the autonomous valet parking has been attracting extensive attention, by relieving users’ inconvenience from parking. Compared with shortrange autonomous valet parking, long-range autonomous valet parking extends parking features with bridge of long-range travelling and parking in a user-friendly cycle. However, due to the uncertainty of trip routes, the performance of single reservation mechanism on parking lot status prediction is limited. Besides, unified parking pricing intensifies parking competition and causes local congestion. Therefore, we propose a long-range autonomous valet parking framework based on Two-step Reservation Mechanism. The proposed scheme provides the first reservation service before arriving at Drop-off spots (regular step), so as to anticipate parking demand of parking lot. Then, it provides the second reservation service when arriving at Drop-off spots (extra step) for updating the optimality of parking decision. The future parking lot status can be predicted with the impact of concurrent requests and reservation execution probability. Meanwhile, we propose a heterogeneous pricing strategy, in which the parking lots with higher parking demands would be adjusted with higher prices. Simulation results show that our scheme outperforms literature works on reducing parking cost and balancing parking demand.

Observation-based data-gathering method to support the assessment of the use of cultural ecosystem services in urban green spaces

Urban green spaces (UGS), such as parks, gardens, forests, and green infrastructure, supply numerous regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services to urban communities, which is key for their wellbeing. To effectively plan and design UGS, it is crucial to understand how people use them and the factors that influence their usage. The diverse range of factors includes cultural, socioeconomic, demographic, seasonal, and spatial aspects, which present a challenge for studying these areas. Data collection methods based on observation enable capturing of high-quality data that reflect the behaviours in UGS, providing valuable insights for urban planners and policymakers. Standardised protocols and frameworks facilitate knowledge gathering, allowing researchers and practitioners to build upon evidence for effective urban planning and policymaking. This work aims to develop a method based on a mobile app to collect observation-based data on UGS usage efficiently.•Mobile app to collect georeferenced information on observed activities, basic sociodemographic characteristics, time and seasonal factors, and park characteristics, including the spatial distribution of park recreational equipment.•App optimised for fast and accurate data collection.•Focused on cultural ecosystem services.

Research on Intelligent Industrial Park Management System

In recent years, the scale of industrial parks in China has grown rapidly, but the use of intelligent management methods for industrial park management in China has not been carried out for a long time and lacks relevant experience. To explore the management mode and application characteristics of smart industrial parks, this article derives the operation mode of the smart industrial park management system based on the digital twin infrastructure, and elaborates and analyzes the main functions and characteristics of the smart industrial park management system, To provide reference and reference for better promoting the management system of smart industrial parks.

Parental Perceived Safety Using PPGIS and Photo Survey across Urban Parks in Cairo, Egypt

Exposing children to green environments has multiple benefits. However, safety concerns may discourage parents from allowing their children to participate in physical leisure activities. This study employed a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) questionnaire to explore whether and how park characteristics influence safety perceptions of 241 parents regarding their children’s active, unstructured play and independent mobility. The survey was distributed to parents who were accompanying their children in Cairo’s Al-Azhar and Al-Dawliya parks. Respondents identified places they considered safe and unsafe and reported their overall perceived level of safety based on photographs taken in the two parks. The results showed that parents were more afraid of the threat of crime compared to other potential risks. Moreover, secluded and densely vegetated places with inadequate lighting were perceived as unsafe. The study contributes to the ongoing discussion on creating safe environments for children and proposes ways to reduce parents’ safety concerns.

Pollution characteristics and source apportionment of heavy metal(loid)s in soil and groundwater of a retired industrial park

Heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) pollution has become a common and complex problem in industrial parks due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Here, soil and groundwater were sampled from a retired industrial park to investigate the pollution characteristics of HMs. Results show that Ni, Pb, Cr, Zn, Cd, and Cu were the typical HMs in the soil. Source analysis with the positive matrix factorization model indicates that HMs in the topsoil stemmed from industrial activities, traffic emission, and natural source, and the groundwater HMs originated from industrial activities, groundwater-soil interaction, groundwater-rock interaction, and atmosphere deposition. The sequential extraction of soil HMs reveals that As and Hg were mainly distributed in the residue fraction, while Ni, Pb, Cr, Zn, Cd, and Cu mainly existed in the mobile fraction. Most HMs either in the total concentration or in the bioavailable fraction preferred to retain in soil as indicated by their high soil-water partitioning coefficients (Kd), and the Kd values were correlated with soil pH, groundwater redox potential, and dissolved oxygen. The relative stable soil-groundwater circumstance and the low active fraction contents limited the vertical migration of soil HMs and their release to groundwater. These findings increase our knowledge about HMs pollution characteristics of traditional industrial parks and provide a protocol for HMs pollution scrutinizing in large zones.

Park features that encourage park visitation among older adults: A qualitative study

BackgroundParks provide many opportunities for promoting physical, social, and mental wellbeing among older adults and are therefore considered a good setting to promote healthy ageing. However, older adults are the age group least frequently observed visiting parks. To attract more older adults to parks, it is important to understand their needs and preferences for park design. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain in-depth information about older adults’ preferred park features for park visitation. MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 older adults aged > 60 years who visited a recently renewed urban park in Ghent, Belgium at least once since its renewal. The interviews were conducted in-park or in the nursing home adjacent to the park until saturation of information was obtained. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, pseudonymised, and analysed by inductive content analysis using NVivo 12 software. ResultsThe most preferred park activities were walking, sitting, and watching the environment. The park features liked by older adults were good quality and accessible walking paths, nature and vegetation, openness and structural layout of the park, and sufficient and good quality sitting areas. The park features that they did not like mostly related to poor park maintenance. ConclusionsThis study provides an overview of park features that older adults perceive as important for park visitation. It is the first qualitative study in Belgium to assess which park features entice older adults to visit parks, and it contributes to the limited European knowledge on this topic. The evidence can help urban planners, landscape architects, and policymakers to (re)design attractive local parks that promote healthy ageing.