Guangzhou Research Articles

Impact of Destination Image Formation on Tourist Trust: Mediating Role of Tourist Satisfaction.

Tourist destinations with cultural heritage have arisen as a prominent issue in tourism literature. Creating a positive image of the destination can influence tourists’ satisfaction and willingness to return. The goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between destination image formation (DIF), tourist satisfaction (TS), and tourist trust (TT). As a result, the structural relationships between local community participation (LCP), authenticity (A), access to local products (ALP), TS, and TT were investigated in this study. This study used a quantitative approach based on a survey of 644 domestic and foreign tourists visiting the Guangdong cities of Guangzhou, Foshan, and Shenzhen. The statistical software SmartPLS 3.3.3 was used to determine the relationship between variables in the research model using structural equation modeling. The outcomes show a positive correlation between LCP, A, and ALP, which led to tourist satisfaction and, eventually, tourist trust. It is concluded that the DIF and TS may result in increased tourist trust. There is also a discussion of additional theoretical contributions, practical implications, and limitations. The outcomes of this study will help to shed light on the variables that encourage and promote tourism in developing countries.

Build “Four Small Gardens” to Help Revitalize the Countryside and Add Value

From 2018 to 2020, after a major renovation of the living environment, Guangdong Province will coordinate the work of building green after demolition, cleaning up old buildings, and beautifying and beautifying villages, and mobilizing villagers to build “four small schools” according to local conditions. Garden” (small vegetable garden, small orchard, small garden, small park) small ecological plate, enrich the village appearance and form, guide the formation of a characteristic agricultural landscape that is both productive and ornamental, and continuously improve the “three cleanups, three demolition and three renovations” The work results and the style of Lingnan characteristic farmhouses have promoted the improvement and upgrading of the beauty level of the village. In this context, the research and exploration of the “Four Small Gardens” is introduced in this paper, and the actual work is extended to the construction practice of “Four Small Gardens” in Hengli Town, Nansha District, Guangzhou City, and some design ideas and concepts are introduced. The achievements and significance of the establishment and promotion of “Four Small Gardens” can be seen, which will provide a certain reference and reference value for the practice and promotion of “Four Small Gardens” in other regions in the future.

Direct observations indicate photodegradable oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) as larger contributors to radicals and ozone production in the atmosphere

Abstract. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) regulate atmospheric oxidation capacity, and the reactions of VOCs are key in understanding ozone formation and its mitigation strategies. When evaluating their impact, most previous studies did not fully consider the role of oxygenated VOCs due to limitations of measurement technology. By using a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS) combined with a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (GC–MS), a large number of oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs) have been quantified in Guangzhou city, China. Based on the new dataset, we demonstrate that constraints using OVOC observations are essential in modeling radical and ozone production, as modeled OVOCs can be substantially lower than measurements, potentially due to primary emissions and/or missing secondary sources. Non-formaldehyde (HCHO) OVOCs can contribute large fractions (22 %–44 %) of total ROx radical production, which are comparable to or larger than the contributions from nitrous acid and formaldehyde. Our results show that models without OVOC constraints using ambient measurements will underestimate the production rates of ROx and ozone, and they may also affect the determination of sensitivity regime in ozone formation. Therefore, a thorough quantification of photodegradable OVOC species is in urgent need to understand accurately the ozone chemistry and to develop effective control strategies.

Uncertainty analysis of facemasks in mitigating SARS-CoV-2 transmission

In the context of global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), there is a controversial issue on whether the use of facemasks is promising to control or mitigate the COVID-19 transmission. This study modeled the SARS-CoV-2 transmission process and analyzed the ability of surgical mask and N95 in reducing the infection risk with Sobol's analysis. Two documented outbreaks of COVID-19 with no involvers wearing face masks were reviewed in a restaurant in Guangzhou (China) and a choir rehearsal in Mount Vernon (USA), suggesting that the proposed model can be well validated when airborne transmission is assumed to dominate the virus transmission indoors. Subsequently, the uncertainty analysis of the protection efficiency of N95 and surgical mask were conducted with Monte Carlo simulations, with three main findings: (1) the uncertainty in infection risk is primarily apportioned by respiratory activities, virus dynamics, environment factors and individual exposures; (2) wearing masks can effectively reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk to an acceptable level (< 10−3) by at least two orders of magnitude; (3) faceseal leakage can reduce protection efficiency by approximately 4% when the infector is speaking or coughing, and by approximately 28% when the infector is sneezing. This work indicates the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the pandemic, and implies the importance of the synergistic studies of medicine, environment, social policies and strategies, etc., on reducing hazards and risks of the pandemic.

An EasyCA model with few steady variables and clone stamp strategy for simulation of urban growth in metropolitan areas

It is critical to predict urban growth for understanding of urbanization process. Traditional urban CA mainly focused on discovery of conversion rules from a series of biophysical and social-economic factors. Many varying factors are generally treated as constant, and the simulation result is none of great reference value for decision-making. In order to eliminate these limitations, an Easy Cellular Automata (EasyCA) was proposed with integration of seed searching and clone stamp growth strategy, it aims to provide feasible scenario analysis for decision-making. Only four steady variables namely distance to current urban patches, difficulty coefficient of land conversion, density of urban land and topographic conditions were applied to estimate urban suitability. Policy intervention was further considered for adjustment of urban suitability, and patch growth templates were collected as clone stamps for updating the status of cells during iteration. This EasyCA was then tested with example area of Guangzhou City located in the Pearl River Delta of China. Accuracy indices of averaged fuzzy kappa (FuzzyK) and figure of merit (FOM) were calculated with the values of 0.8419 and 0.2874, respectively, and both of them were higher than those from cell growth-based CA, indicating that EasyCA is efficient in utility and reliability. Comparison analysis verified that few steady variables can obtain reliable result of urban suitability, and it is greatly necessary to integrate policy intervention into estimation of urban growth probability. And the simulation pattern in 2035 is maximally close to actual status compared with the planning layout, it shows that EasyCA is potentially applicable and effective for planning practices in metropolitan areas.

Perception of English Stress of Synthesized Words by Three Chinese Dialect Groups.

This study investigated the possible prosodic transfer influences native regional dialects may have in the perception of English lexical stress by speakers of three Chinese dialects [Beijing (BJ), Changsha (CS), and Guangzhou (GZ)] compared to 20 American English (AE) speakers. F0, duration, intensity, and vowel reduction were manipulated in nonce disyllabic words. Participants performed four-word sequence recall tasks to identify lexical stress location. They performed better with natural sounds than with manipulated words. This study focused on the performance differences in manipulating words. The results showed that all four-group members performed similarly processing F0 condition nonce words. BJ and CS participants were more accurate than GZ participants in duration and vowel reduction cues. Reaction time (RT) suggested that the processing time of acoustic cues differed significantly across language groups. The findings indicate that first language (L1) dialect effect is robust in second language (L2) stress perception tasks.

Critical factors of construction workers' career promotion: evidence from Guangzhou city

PurposeThis study aims to build a framework of the influencing factors of construction workers' career promotion and identifies the critical determinants so as to propose suggestions for the government and enterprises to offer construction workers a path for career promotion.Design/methodology/approachIn line with the theory of human resources, such as Herzberg's two-factor theory, this study constructs a theoretical framework that affects the career promotion of construction workers. Using evidence from Guangzhou city, valid data provided by 464 workers from 50 sites were collected by a questionnaire survey, and the significance test on the influencing factors of construction workers' career promotion was taken by binary logistic regression.FindingsThe overall career development of construction workers in Guangzhou is worrying. The binary logistic regression indicates that age, working years, type of work, career development awareness, legal awareness, professional mentality, vocational psychological training and career development path are critical factors that affect construction workers' career promotion.Originality/valueThis study for the first time explores the career promotion of frontline construction workers. Specifically, it identifies the critical factors that affect the career promotion of workers and thus lays a foundation for further research and the promotion and continuous and healthy development of the construction industry. Thus, this study is original and has theoretical and practical significance.

Pandemics and Management of “Dangerous Communities”: Ebola, COVID-19, and Africans in China

How do we unpack and make sense of anti-African/Black sentiments in the pandemic control and mitigation practices in China? This article responds to the question by drawing a parallel between the experiences of Africans in China during the Ebola virus disease and COVID-19 outbreaks. Focusing specifically on Nigerians as a subsection of the African community in Guangzhou City, China, it explores how the COVID-19-inspired discrimination against Africans reflects much of the experiences of Africans in China during the Ebola crisis of 2014. The article combines sixteen “Ebola experience” data points, obtained from Nigerians in Guangzhou in 2017, with four COVID-19 experience virtual interviews, media reports, and social media archive and netnographic analysis covering April to June 2020. The experiences of Africans in Guangzhou in the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak reflect a patterned response to Africans and Blackness in the context of pandemic in China. The article contributes to the literature by examining the question of racial discrimination and the construction of African immigrant community in China as dangerous within the new geography of Afro-mobilities in East Asia.

Direct Medical Costs of Parkinson's Disease in Southern China: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on Health Insurance Claims Data in Guangzhou City.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. This study aims to evaluate the direct medical costs of patients with PD using a large sample from an entire city and to identity the potential factors correlating with their inpatient costs in Guangzhou City, Southern China. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study uses data obtained from the Urban Employee-based Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) and the Urban Resident-based Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) administrative claims databases in Guangzhou City from 2008 to 2012. The total sample was comprised of 2660 patients with PD. Costs were evaluated for the total sample and by types of insurance. The composition of costs was compared between the UEBMI and URBMI subgroups. The extended estimating-equations model was applied to identify the potential impact factors influencing the inpatient costs. Results: The direct medical costs per patient with PD were CNY 14,514.9 (USD 2299.4) in 2012, consisting of inpatient costs of CNY 13,551.4 and outpatient costs of CNY 963.5. The medication costs accounted for the largest part (50.3%). The inpatient costs of PD patients under the UEBMI scheme (CNY 13,651.0) were significantly higher than those of patients in the URBMI subgroup (CNY 12,402.2) (p < 0.05). The proportion of out-of-pocket spending out of inpatient and outpatient costs for UEBMI beneficiaries (24.3% and 56.1%) was much lower than that for patients under the URBMI scheme (47.9% and 76.2%). The regression analysis suggested that types of insurance, age, hospital levels, length of stay (LOS) and comorbidities were significantly correlated with the inpatient costs of patients with PD. Conclusions: The direct medical costs of patients with PD in China were high compared to the GDP per capita in Guangzhou City and different between the two evaluated types of insurance. Patients with the UEBMI scheme, of older age, with comorbidities, staying in tertiary hospitals and with longer LOS had significantly higher inpatient costs. Thus, policymakers need to reduce the gaps between the two urban insurance schemes in benefit levels, provide support for the development of a comprehensive long-term care insurance system and promote the use of telemedicine in China.

A regional numerical environmental multimedia modeling approach to assess spatial Eco-Environmental exposure risk of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in the Pearl river basin.

This paper presents a novel numerical environmental multimedia modeling system (RNEMM) for assessing the environmental fate of emerging organic contaminants and their relative health risk at a regional scale. The RNEMM is developed based on an integrated numerical algorithm that comprises four sub-models: a river network simulation module, a gaseous phase simulation module, a mass balance based simulation module for soil compartment, and a food web analysis module. This RNEMM has been applied to simulate the spatial distribution of PFOS and assess the consequent health risks for a central water basin region of the Pearl River in China. The study region includes the urban areas of Guangzhou, Foshan, and Dongguan Cities with emission sources of PFOS, which was detected in local water, sediments, and air environment. The spatial concentration distributions of PFOS in water, sediment, air, soil, and various fish species are examined based on RNEMM and compared with the measured data. With a focus on water environment, it shows that the simulated results essentially agree well with measured concentrations. Comparing the simulated results and the measured data collected in 2013, the relative errors are mostly less than 40 % in the surface water and sediment zones for this regional scale field study. Whereas the relative error in the atmosphere zone is less than 5%. In addition, the health risk assessment for children and adults is conducted based on the RNEMM approach. The hazard quotient (HQ) values for the 95th percentile in most subareas of the study region are higher than 0.1, showing a low-risk level for the study period. The results indicate that the RNEMM is a useful modeling tool to manage the environmental and health risks associated with emerging contaminants on regional air, water, soil, and ecosystem at an adequate spatial-temporal resolution.

Sustainable Renewal Strategies for Older Communities from the Perspective of Living Experience

This paper takes the old district of the east Huan Shi Road area in the Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, as an example. Through field research, resident visits, and expert interviews, the secondary and tertiary indicators in the measurement framework were obtained by combining six years of living experience. The questionnaire was designed through the relationship between the indicators, and a small sample test was conducted to test the results before generating the final questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed both online and offline, and the data were analysed in conjunction with the Kano model; then, the results were compared with the field research. Based on the perspective of living experience, a sustainable renewal strategy is proposed for the renovation of old neighbourhoods in practice.

Explaining the sustained public participation of ENGOs in China’s water governance: A case study of the ‘civilian river chiefs’ under the theoretical framework of ‘double embeddedness’

ABSTRACT Although essential to successful environmental governance, public participation has been sporadic and fragmented in China. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, this paper explores how environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) have carried out ‘civilian river chiefs’ projects as novel approaches to water governance. We propose a framework of ‘double embeddedness’, within which ENGOs have built political and social legitimacy, reciprocity, and networks that enable their sustained participation in water governance. Our findings suggest that new patterns of state–community–non-governmental organization relationships are key to understanding public participation in China’s future environmental governance.

Approach Based on Data Mining for Exploring the Hierarchical Decision-Making Rules between the Generation of Transnational Immigrants’ Sense of Place in Religious Spaces and Perception of the Environment

The generation of transnational immigrants’ sense of place in the religious space of the places they move to can protect and promote their integration into the local society by shaping a sense of place identity and belonging through the positive effects of human–environment interaction and the strengthening of the religious beliefs of the migrant community. China is in a period of economic transition in the post-reform and opening-up era, and has become one of the key testing grounds for observing and summarizing the internationally mobile population. However, there is a relative lack of empirical studies at the micro level. It is unclear how the socio-cultural and physical environment in religious places in urban China influences and leads to the construction of identity and local meaning among transnational immigrants. This study uses the Chapelle Notre-Dame de Lourdes in Guangzhou as an empirical case study, distributes questionnaires to foreign immigrants, and applies data mining approaches to analyze the data. The study also explores the knowledge of the rules related to the religious atmosphere perceived by the immigrants in this environment and their place identity, place attachment and place dependency. This study found that a place of worship that supports frequent and interactive ritual activities and provides a natural, harmonious, and solemn green landscape environment can effectively promote foreign immigrants’ sense of local attachment to the place of worship. The establishment of emotional relationships between religious places and foreign immigrants depends on the immigrant community’s satisfaction with the local physical environment and its perceived judgment. The speed of attachment and identity building depends on the light and shadow environment, architectural colors and materials, natural vegetation and other environmental elements related to the creation of the religious atmosphere that people perceive in the place. For Guangzhou City, which is in the process of globalization and transition to “multicultural services”, this study provides local policy makers with a critical reference for decision making on the creation and renewal of religious places in immigrant communities. The provision of more relevant production and living services for the internationally mobile population, and the enhancement of the local identity of the internationally mobile population to the place of migration are directions that academia and society need to explore together in the future.

Characterizing individual mobility perturbations in cities during extreme weather events

Understanding the patterns of urban human mobility has played an important role in multiple disciplines such as urban planning, transportation engineering and social sciences. Due to its rich connotations related to urban regions, the extreme weather events (EWEs)-induced perturbation of human mobility has been studied to capture the multifaceted influences of EWEs on cities. While this issue has drawn increasing attention, there is still limited understanding of EWE-induced mobility perturbation at the individual level. To address this need, a new analytical framework for individual mobility perturbation is proposed in this study. The framework assesses individual mobility perturbation during EWEs by taking various facets of spatial and temporal features into consideration, and examines the individual variation of such perturbation. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed framework, two consecutive typhoon events that influenced the city of Guangzhou, China in summer 2017 were examined as a case study. It was found that individuals in the city experienced notable decreases in the number of visited locations, visitation frequency and movement range, increases in waiting time, and changes in movement status pattern under these two EWEs. Moreover, mobility perturbation showed significant variation among individuals, and such variation was linked to individuals' demographic attributes, home location and travel preference. Meanwhile, four types of responses to EWE impacts were extracted from the population. The findings in this study contribute to a manifold understanding of EWE-induced individual mobility perturbations, and have potential to be transformed into actionable measures in urban EWE risk reduction and management practices.

Spatial Variation and Influencing Factors of Trace Elements in Farmland in a Lateritic Red Soil Region of China

Trace elements in farmland soil are important indicators of soil quality and farmland health, and also maintain the nutrient balance and promote the healthy growth of plants. In this study, taking Conghua District of Guangzhou city as the study area, the effects of topography, soil, land use, and other factors on trace elements in soil were investigated, and the spatial variability of boron (B), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) in farmland soil in a typical red soil region were mapped using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) method. The pH and land economic index (LEI) were important factors affecting the changes in trace element concentrations in the five soils, and the Cu and Zn concentrations were clearly affected by human factors. In the study area, 86.99% of B measurements were classified as low and very low levels, 50.61% and 49.20% of Mo measurements were also low and very low, 71.79% of Mn measurements were classified as moderate, while 91.02% of Cu and 52.95% of Zn measurements were classified as high. After a cross validation, the GWR Kriging (GWRK) model results of each element were relatively stable, and the order of the fitting coefficient (R2) was Cu &gt; Zn &gt; B&gt; Mn &gt; Mo. This study clarifies the spatial distribution and influencing factors of soil microelements in the studied region. This information can be used to improve the nutrient imbalance, further guide agricultural production, strengthen the management of farmland, and improve the healthy productivity of cultivated land.

Close Observation of the Evolution Process during Initial Stage of Triggered Lightning Based on Continuous Interferometer

The discharge signal in the initial stage of lightning is weak. The revelation of the discharge mechanism at this stage depends especially on close observation. In this study, a continuous interferometer (CINTF) was used to observe the initial stage of the upward positive leader (UPL) of the triggered lightning in Conghua District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. The positioning error of CINTF for a close-range radiation source was analyzed, and the positioning error calibration method of CINTF for a specific close-range radiation source was studied, which improved the observation accuracy of elevation angle at the initial stage of the UPL of the triggered lightning. With the rise of the rocket, the positioning error in altitude during the initial stage of the UPL increased obviously. Under the layout condition of the Guangzhou field experiment site for lightning research, when the positioning results of the elevation angle of the initial stage of the UPL were 40°, 50°, and 60°, respectively, the calibrated altitude positioning error could be reduced by about 11 m, 14 m, and 20 m, respectively. On the basis of the calibrated observation results, the evolution characteristics of the initial stage of the UPL were studied, and its discharge mechanism was revealed. The precursor current pulse (PCP) was generated by a weak upward positive breakdown and a subsequent strong downward negative breakdown near the rising rocket tip, which was in the form of a single pulse. The precursor current pulse cluster (PCP cluster) and initial precursor current pulse cluster (IPCP) were both signs of self-sustaining development of the UPL. After the PCP cluster, self-sustaining development stopped immediately. The self-sustaining development after IPCP could be short-term or continuous.

How do exhibitors develop exhibition attachment? Evidence from China

Existing studies on exhibition attachment employ the concept of place attachment and use quantitative methods to explore its influencing factors and outcomes on the premise that exhibition attachment has been formed. However, the theoretical issue of how exhibition attachment is formed has rarely been explored. This study proposed a theoretical framework of the formation mechanism of exhibitors' exhibition attachment through the liminal state. We conducted field observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews of exhibitors attending the Guangzhou (China) International Professional Light and Sound Exhibitions for three years to collect data and employed grounded theory to explore these exhibitors' various changes during the entire exhibition liminal process. Our findings reveal that the formation of exhibition attachment is a complex process, involving four-dimensional changes in time, space, subject behavior, and psychology. In time, exhibitors are in pre-liminal (before the exhibition), liminal (during the exhibition), and post-liminal (after the exhibition) phases. Accordingly, the spatial perception of the exhibition evolved from a physical to an interactive space, and thereafter to an emotional space. By integrating the network platform constructed by the organizers and acquiring experience value, exhibitors can identify with and ultimately develop their attachment to the exhibition. Their psychological perception of the exhibition gradually changed from a functional business place to an important event that stimulates their personal and corporate growth. This study provides empirical evidence for the nature of liminality and expands our understanding of exhibition attachment. In addition, the transformation of brand identity before exhibition into exhibition identity after exhibition provides theoretical reference and practical guidance for the exhibition's organization and management.

Gated Recurrent Unit Coupled with Projection to Model Plane Imputation for the PM2.5 Prediction for Guangzhou City, China

Air pollution is generating serious health issues as well as threats to our natural ecosystem. Accurate prediction of PM2.5 can help taking preventive measures for reducing air pollution. The periodic pattern of PM2.5 can be modeled with recurrent neural networks to predict air quality. To the best of the author’s knowledge, very limited work has been conducted on the coupling of missing value imputation methods with gated recurrent unit (GRU) for the prediction of PM2.5 concentration of Guangzhou City, China. This paper proposes the combination of project to model plane (PMP) with GRU for the superior prediction performance of PM2.5 concentration of Guangzhou City, China. Initially, outperforming the missing value imputation method PMP is proposed for air quality data under consideration by making a comparison study on various methods such as KDR, TSR, IA, NIPALS, DA, and PMP. Secondly, it presents GRU in combination with PMP to show its superiority on other machine learning techniques such as LSSVM and two other RNN variants, LSTM and Bi-LSTM. For this study, data for Guangzhou City were collected from China’s governmental air quality website. Data contained daily values of PM2.5, PM10, O3, SOx, NOx, and CO. This study has employed RMSE, MAPE, and MEDAE as model prediction performance criteria. Comparison of prediction performance criteria on the test data showed GRU in combination with PMP has outperformed the LSSVM and other RNN variants LSTM and Bi-LSTM for Guangzhou City, China. In comparison with prediction performance of LSSVM, GRU improved the prediction performance on test data by 40.9% RMSE, 48.5% MAPE, and 50.4% MEDAE.

The experiences of people with type 2 diabetes in communicating with general practitioners in China \u2013 a primary care focus group study

BackgroundWith the implementation of health care reforms in China, primary care is on a journey to provide care for most patients with type 2 diabetes. While Chinese general practitioners (GPs) have described challenges in communication with diabetes patients in their daily practice, little is known about patients’ experiences in communicating with their GPs.MethodsFive focus groups (of 4–5 participants each) were used to explore views from patients with type 2 diabetes. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a spread of participants from general practices in Guangzhou city, China. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed using the Framework Method.ResultsTen males and 12 female patients from five general practices participated in focus group discussions, with a mean age of 57.3 years and 7.3 years of diabetes duration. Five main themes emerged: patients’ understanding about diabetes, diabetes medication, communication with GPs, physician-patient relationships, and healthcare systems and context. Patients generally searched for information on the internet, but they weren’t always sure if it was trustworthy. Several communication needs were described by diabetes patients, such as explanation of blood glucose monitoring, medication information support, communication in the risk of diabetes complications and cardiovascular disease, and language barriers. Communication was frequently brief and not tailored to their concerns, and some described being scolded or panicked by GPs. Participants acknowledged the pressures within the health system, such as short consultation times, an incoherent GP-hospital interface and high demand.ConclusionsKey issues from the patients’ perspective for the development of primary care based management of diabetes in China were identified. People with type 2 diabetes require more access to trustworthy diabetes information and wish for better channels of communication with their GPs. Strategies may be required to improve GPs’ communication skills with their patients that also consider the context of the wider health system environment in China.

A framework to evaluate the accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of green-blue spaces (GBSs) related to pedestrian movement

The planning of green-blue spaces (GBSs) requires considering the pedestrian needs in their walking routes for improving the walking experience. Incorporating the quantitative spatial characteristics of pedestrian movement is essential for pedestrian-friendly urban planning, which however received insufficient attention. Based on the space syntax theory, this study provided three indicators – accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility – to demonstrate the needs of physical access, visual access, and spatial cognition, respectively, in pedestrian movement. Measuring these three indicators, this study exemplified the planning of pedestrian-friendly GBSs using Guangzhou, China as a case study. Spatial design network analysis was used to quantify heterogeneous values of accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of each GBS throughout the city. Moreover, we used principal component analysis to identify the leading indicators based on their weightings and then to calculate the scores to compare these three aspects of GBSs. The measurements of accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of each GBS were then averaged across urban administrative districts for evaluating city-scale GBSs. The findings showed that GBSs in central districts were most accessible and visible but least intelligible. In contrast, the overall intelligibility of GBSs throughout the city was the greatest but the visibility was the least. Furthermore, intelligibility, as a more important factor than accessibility and visibility, should be particularly emphasized in future planning of pedestrian-friendly GBSs. Pedestrians from the central districts of Guangzhou city were most satisfied with the walking experience, in terms of accessing to, viewing, and cognizing the GBSs. ‘Yuexiu’, ‘Huadu’, and ‘Nansha’ districts were found as the key places where improved accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility were particularly needed to improve the GBS pedestrian-friendliness throughout the city. In summary, this study not only demonstrated a human-scale GBS evaluation framework for improving the human walking experience but also provided empirical evidence for building pedestrian-friendly green-blue spaces at the city scale.