Small Parks Research Articles

Analyzing usage patterns from video data through deep learning: The case of an urban park

Rapid urbanization, urban density, and COVID-19 effects have highlighted the need for high-quality urban parks within walking distance. A high-quality urban park maximizes a neighborhood's spatial, safety, and social potential, which are key factors to the well-being of its residents. Most studies evaluating urban parks rely on questionnaires, observations, interviews, and post-occupancy methods. These traditional methods are limited regarding the spatial and temporal dimensions as well as the size of the sample under investigation. In this paper, we demonstrate a new approach to evaluating urban parks by focusing on individuals' activity patterns, using big data extracted from city cameras by utilizing deep learning and computer vision. Our case study is a small urban park, Katznelson Garden, located in Or Yehuda, Israel. The imagery data is analyzed in relation to the gender of the parks' users, along with spatial and temporal analysis. Thus, activities during different hours of the day, days of the week, and in various parts of the urban park are identified. The results of our study revealed that females' and males' activity patterns are different and depend on the hour of the day and the type of park characteristics. Moreover, we found that activity levels and patterns varied according to the day of the week. As many cities seek to design better urban parks tailored to their residents' needs, these study findings can contribute to planning decisions by paving the way to customizing the design of urban parks in accordance with the revealed behavior.

Enhancing Bird Diversity in Urban Parks: Insights from the Futian Mangrove Ecological Park, Shenzhen

Small urban parks and green spaces, serving as essential recreational venues for city residents, also play a vital and irreplaceable role in maintaining urban biodiversity. It is of great importance to design and plan these areas in a way that integrates multiple habitats for various species while accommodating residents’ usage. This study, carried out at the Futian Mangrove Ecological Park located in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, chose birds as indicator species to assess biodiversity within the park. Site inventory was undertaken from May to September 2022 and from October 2022 to April 2023. We quantitatively described the park’s habitats by examining primary environmental factors, along with 3 primary environmental factors and 11 secondary factors. A correlation analysis was then performed between these factors and bird diversity to gain insights into birds’ habitat preferences across different habitat types and at a finer scale of plant communities. Furthermore, bird clusters in the study case were categorized by foraging guilds and foraging patterns, and their distributions were studied at both the habitat patch scale and the plant community scale. Our findings reveal that, at the habitat patch scale, water surface area and grass coverage significantly positively impact bird diversity. At the plant community scale, plant communities with different structural characteristics vary in their importance to bird clusters with distinct characteristics. In areas with high human disturbance, shrub coverage is crucial for bird habitat protection. Additionally, we discovered that the impact of anthropogenic sound differs among bird species, highlighting the complexity of human disturbance factors on bird habitat preferences. Accordingly, we proposed several design recommendations aimed at enhancing bird diversity in parks, including increasing water body areas, reducing the distance between habitats and water surfaces, enhancing herbaceous plant coverage, and controlling anthropogenic sound.

Using shared-bike orders to investigate the dynamicity of park service radii: Evidence from Shenzhen

This study offers a novel approach for examining the variations of effective park service radius (PSR) in parks with different sizes (small, medium, and large parks) and temporal conditions (weekday morning–noon (M–N), weekday afternoon–evening (A–E), weekend M–N, and weekend A–E). Using Shenzhen as an example and employing shared-bike order data, a detection tool was developed to identify the effective PSRs of 228 sample parks under different spatiotemporal conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate the variations in PSRs in parks of different sizes and periods and multiple linear regression models were built to investigate the influential mechanisms of PSRs for different sized parks. We found that: 1) the differences in the PSRs between medium and large parks were not statistically significant (p < 0.05), proving that the PSR did not increase stably with an increase in park size, and the gaps in PSRs between parks of different sizes were smaller than those of the values predefined in most planning codes; 2) the PSRs of different sized parks in all temporal conditions displayed statistically significant differences while only the PSRs of small parks demonstrated significant differences across different periods; 3) restaurants, water features, and attractions showed significant and positive effects on the PSR while sports fields and parking lots showed significant and negative effects on the PSR, and the influence of these factors differed significantly as park size varied. These findings can inform future decision-making and park planning in Shenzhen and other bike-friendly cities.

Towards social sustainability in urban communities: exploring how community parks influence residents’ social interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 outbreak and associated lockdowns have heightened the challenges of social isolation in urban communities. Social interaction is recognized as a key factor in promoting people’s health, wellbeing, and social sustainability within urban communities. Public open spaces serve as a vital link between communities’ environment and individuals’ wellbeing. However, there has been limited research exploring how community parks impact residents’ social interaction in urban communities during the pandemic, particularly a lack of in-depth qualitative research in this area. To address this gap, this research investigated the impact of community parks on social interaction in master-planned communities in Sydney, using a qualitative case study method. A total of sixteen residents living in two selected communities—Breakfast Point and Liberty Grove—were interviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. It was found that three themes and seven underlying subthemes of park-use factors influence residents’ social interactions: (1) quality of park spaces (rest spaces, BBQ/picnic recreation spaces, children’s playgrounds, sport facilities, and nature amenities), (2) pedestrian integration of parks (interconnected park network and well-dispersed small parks), and (3) pedestrian connectivity with surroundings. The findings provide theoretical, empirical, and practical implications for promoting social wellbeing and community sustainability in the post-COVID era.

Blockchain-based fast handover authentication protocol for Internet of Vehicles in small industrial parks

Autonomous vehicles safeguard the security and efficiency of Internet of Vehicles systems in small industrial parks by authenticating and exchanging real-time information with transportation infrastructure. Deploying a multi-server framework reduces the risk of message blocking and privacy information leakage from centralized services. However, in traditional handover authentication protocols, there are still potential security risks such as high-overhead performance issues and single point of failure attacks. Therefore, it is considered challenging to realize efficient authentication while protecting the privacy of vehicles. In this paper, we propose a secure and efficient handover authentication protocol for autonomous vehicles in a small industrial park to address the challenges. The protocol is based on blockchain and Pedersen verifiable secret sharing scheme, which not only ensures lightweight real-time interactions between autonomous vehicles and edge servers in multi-server environments, but also strictly protects the security and privacy of both vehicles and edge servers. We prove the semantic security of the protocol under the Real-Or-Random model and perform a informal analysis of its security attributes to show that it can withstand a wide range of malicious attacks. Performance evaluation shows that the proposed protocol satisfies more security requirements and has better computational efficiency and communication cost than other related protocols.

Residents’ perceptions of tourism development in the context of a new governance framework for Portuguese protected areas: The case of a small peripheral natural park

Historically, Portuguese protected areas (PAs) have been operating under top-down governance, often neglecting local communities. In 2019, the Portuguese government established a new governance model for PAs, based on co-management. The new co-management approach emphasises collaborative and participatory governance and positions sustainable tourism as a catalyst for territorial revitalisation and local development. However, local communities' attitudes and perceptions regarding tourism in these areas remain largely uncharted. This study focuses on the Alvão Natural Park (PNAL), a small rural and mountainous Portuguese PA, which is currently in the early stages of co-management implementation. Our goal was to investigate local residents' perceptions of tourism's impacts and identify potential divergence among resident groups and their level of support for tourism development. These insights are crucial because the active engagement of local communities is a key element for sustainable tourism development and the successful implementation of co-management. The study employed a self-administered survey, garnering responses from 250 PNAL residents representing over half of the park's population. Factor analysis identified four primary perceptual dimensions and cluster analysis classified residents into three distinct groups based on their tourism perceptions. While most PNAL residents express support for tourism development, there is a resounding call for new policies to revert the legacy of top-down governance. This research provides essential insights for shaping effective tourism policies, planning and development strategies, and ensuring the active involvement of local communities in co-management and sustainable development efforts within the PNAL. Moreover, this study demonstrates the applicability of this research approach in the context of evolving governance models with the potential for adaptation to other PAs across Portugal and other countries undergoing similar governance transitions.

Examining the nonlinear relationships between park attributes and satisfaction with pocket parks in Chengdu

Pocket parks have become a popular intervention for improving urban residents’ quality of life. Although previous studies have investigated how park attributes contribute to user satisfaction, most assume that they have a (generalized) linear relationship. The assumption may understate the importance of parking attributes that are nonlinearly associated with park satisfaction and misestimate the effects of other attributes, yielding flawed implications for park planning and design. In this study, we employed linear regression and gradient boosting decision trees sequentially on data from Chengdu, a typical large and developing city aiming to become a Garden City by 2035, to examine the associations between park satisfaction and park attributes, which were measured on a five-point scale. Both models showed that the most important correlate of park satisfaction is entrance location, followed by footpath design, trees and shrubs, safety, flowers, convenience for social activities, and greenness. Moreover, some attributes are nonlinearly related to park satisfaction. For instance, green spaces and flowers greatly contribute to park satisfaction only when they perform well (i.e., their performance scores exceed Scale 3 of the five-point scale). The attribute of trees and shrubs affects park satisfaction substantially only when its performance is inferior (i.e., its score is lower than Scale 3). Furthermore, some seemingly unimportant attributes (such as recreational facilities and park maintenance) impose a non-trivial detrimental impact on park satisfaction when park users are extremely dissatisfied with the attributes (i.e., their performance scores are at the lowest level). The nonlinear relationships offer nuanced insights on the design of small public parks in densely developed urban areas.

Leverage Effect of New-Built Green Spaces on Housing Prices in a Rapidly Urbanizing Chinese City: Regional Disparities, Impact Periodicity, and Park Size

While newly built urban green spaces aim to address environmental concerns, the resulting green gentrification and social inequality caused by escalating property values have become critical topics of urban socio-spatial research. To prevent green initiatives from becoming unaffordable for their intended beneficiaries in rapidly urbanizing cities, it is essential to examine the spatial and temporal relationships between the construction of new green spaces and rising housing prices. This study employs a difference-in-differences methodology to analyze regional disparities, impact periodicity, and the influence of park size on housing prices, using Nanjing, China as a case study. This result reveals that the introduction of new-built parks in Nanjing significantly impacts housing prices within an 800 m radius. The premium effect of these parks is substantially higher in urban core areas compared to suburban locales, demonstrating spatial differentials. Suburban parks temporally exhibit a prolonged lag and a shorter premium impact duration. Moreover, among various park areas, medium-sized parks demonstrate the most pronounced leverage effect, approximately double that of large parks, while small parks do not significantly affect housing prices. To mitigate the exacerbation of premium effects and enhance social justice in green strategies, we advocate prioritizing the development of small parks, particularly in urban core areas, and leveraging the temporal delay in new-built park impacts for urban policy interventions.

Domestic chicken predation and prey sharing by urban capuchin monkeys (Sapajussp.).

Capuchin monkeys are omnivorous platyrrhines with a high frequency of faunivory and can survive in urban forest fragments. Predation of wild vertebrates (high-quality foods) by capuchin monkeys has been frequently reported in many species of Cebus and Sapajus. However, predation of domestic animals is unknown. We describe a rare episode of predation, consumption, and sharing of an adult domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) by individuals from a social group of robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus sp.) living in a small urban park in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, southern Brazil. This relatively large prey is freely farmed at the study site. The capture, slaughter, preparation (removal of feathers from the body), and consumption of the prey by the capuchins lasted 22min. The dominant adult male ate the chicken's head and tolerated the approach of two juveniles. The juveniles shared the remainder of the prey after the adult abandoned it. These juveniles scared other group members that approached the carcass. We recorded an opportunistic hunt for easily accessible domestic prey, a case of human resource use by urban primates that shared passively the atypical and valuable food. Though a rare event, the predation on a domestic animal indicates a potential source of conflict with humans that can have negative impacts on urban primates.

Microhabitat coverage influences avian species composition more than habitat heterogeneity in Hong Kong urban parks

The relationship between habitat heterogeneity and diversity can underpin design of urban spaces for biodiversity conservation. The area-heterogeneity trade-off hypothesis predicts that higher habitat heterogeneity should result in an increase in species richness but only up to a point, beyond which habitat micro-fragmentation leads to decreases in species diversity. However, the strength of area-heterogeneity trade-offs at small spatial scales is not well studied. We studied the relationship between avian diversity and habitat heterogeneity in 16 small urban parks across Hong Kong during the winter dry season across 2016 and 2017 (ten repeated surveys in total for each park). Habitat heterogeneity was assessed by measuring the evenness of microhabitat coverage of seven habitats as well as vertical canopy cover. In total, 12,973 individuals of 73 bird species were recorded in the study. Habitat heterogeneity had a small but negligible effect on total bird species richness or abundance. However, water coverage was positively related to total, intermediately rare and habitat specialist bird species richness, and shrub coverage was positively related to total and common bird species richness. These results demonstrate that environmental heterogeneity had little effect on avian species richness in urban green spaces at small spatial scales. We also found that microhabitat coverage can affect avian diversity and abundance, and these effects are specific to certain groups of bird species. When managing urban green spaces for biodiversity conservation in densely urbanized cities, a decrease in management disturbance (e.g. tree topping or pesticide application) will likely benefit avian species. Together with the fact that some locally uncommon species were observed throughout the study, capacity exists for environmental enhancement of these small urban parks to contribute to local avian conservation.

Small parks in residential neighborhoods as habitats for ground-dwelling beetles, spiders, and ants

In residential landscapes, small neighborhood parks account for a considerable share of urban greenspaces. However, information on their significance for biodiversity conservation is limited. To determine the role of small neighborhood parks as habitat for ground-dwelling arthropods, we evaluated the effects of local and landscape factors on the diversity and traits of carabid beetles, spiders, and ants in small neighborhood parks in Niigata, Japan. Urbanization decreased carabid species richness and abundance, and it altered the species composition of carabids and spiders. The arthropods in urbanized sites were characterized by small-bodied, web-building, highly dispersive spiders, and possibly non-predatory carabids. In contrast, urbanization did not influence any diversity metrics of ants. At the local scale, ground cover, soil moisture, and park border permeability were the major drivers of arthropod diversity. Ground coverage with leaf litter was positively associated with ant occurrence. Soil moisture negatively affected carabid species richness and abundance, whereas it positively affected spider richness. Parks with humid soil conditions favored hunting, low-dispersive spiders. The low permeability of park borders decreased spider richness and altered community structure, which was characterized by highly dispersive, ballooning species. We conclude that small neighborhood parks support numerous species of habitat-generalist arthropods that are adapted to dry and open environments. These parks thus represent an important component of habitat networks in residential landscapes. Managing open environments, protecting litter layers, reducing artificial borders, and retaining other open greenspaces in the surrounding matrix can promote diverse arthropod communities. Such strategies are worth considering during urban planning.

The value of pocket parks in preserving urban butterfly diversity

Butterflies, valued for their aesthetic and ecological value, are key subjects in urban biodiversity research. Our study focused on the often-overlooked roles of pocket parks, which are micro-greenspaces and small amusement parks open to the public. Despite their limited size, pocket parks are vital in maintaining the diversity of urban butterflies. We contrasted pocket park diversity with urban parks in Beijing, China. Next, using hierarchical clustering, we classified butterflies into exploiters, adapters, and avoiders based on how well they adapted to urban environments. Finally, we used Logistic regression and Poisson regression to build generalised linear models for all species and each of the three groups separately, allowing us to investigate the differences in the effects of variables from food resources and shelters on various butterfly groups in pocket parks. The results showed that although the primary restrictions differ depending on the group, pocket parks can serve as habitats for most species. Management intensity, pocket park area and nectar plants were significant variables for all species. The tourist intensity and host plants were variables that affected the presence of exploiters. Host plants, nectar plants, and management intensity all affected adapter diversity. Pocket parks’ area was only affected avoiders significantly. These results suggest that pocket parks have roles as source and sink habitats for exploiters and adapters and as stepping stones and corridors for most butterfly species inhabiting cities.

Explorations on cooling effect of small urban linear park design in low-rise, high-density district: The case of Gyeongui line forest park in Seoul

Various types of urban parks provide a nature-based solution for mitigating urban heat islands and the cooling effect of urban parks has been extensively studied. However, there is a scarcity of cases involving small linear parks based on quantifiable unit, despite the expectation of their high cooling efficiency due to their unique form and characteristics. This study examined the cooling effect of urban linear park (LP) in low-rise and high-density districts with the longest urban park case in Seoul, South Korea, Gyeongui Line Forest Park, focusing on the influential factors related to park design. Thermal condition simulations and field measurements, including evaluations of thermal comfort, were conducted both inside and outside the LP. Park extensions with increased tree coverage ratio exhibit a consistent decline in thermal variables, with reductions of up to 11.25°C for mean radiant temperature (MRT), and 5.84°C for physiological equivalent temperature (PET). Peak cooling intensities are observed during the hottest time of day at 12 °C for MRT, with parallel wind further enhancing the cooling effect. In addition, LP cooling effect related to adjacent street types was investigated and appeared to be more pronounced in narrower streets. Strategies such as adding tall trees along adjacent streets and connecting cold airflows from the park to a street tree corridor may help to strengthen LP’s cooling effect. While direct comparisons are limited, initial findings suggest that small urban linear parks under specific conditions have significant cooling potential, possibly comparable to or exceeding that of other similar-sized small urban parks, needing further investigation.

Sustaining tranquility in small urban green parks: A modeling approach to identify noise pollution contributors

Noise pollution poses a significant environmental challenge in Iranian urban areas, particularly within Small Urban Green Parks (SUGPs). This study investigates the extent of noise pollution in SUGPs and identifies key contributors to elevated noise levels. A total of 94 SUGPs, with a mean area of 1.86 ± 0.99 hectares, were selected in Isfahan City, Central Iran, and subjected to 30-m Equivalent Sound Level (Lq30) measurements at their central locations. Explanatory variables were classified into two categories based on road density, traffic volume, proximity to roads, park vegetation, and physical characteristics. The relationship between noise levels and each explanatory variable was observed to be non-linear and polynomial (R2 < 0.334) in certain instances. Our modeling results using the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model (R2 = 0.936) indicate that average noise levels in these parks surpass international guidelines, averaging 65.97 ± 17.76 dB. Traffic volume and proximity to limited access roads were identified as primary factors influencing noise levels in SUGPs. It was observed that the design and layout of small urban parks may not effectively mitigate surrounding traffic noise, even with sufficient green barriers to absorb or block sound. Consequently, future efforts should prioritize strategic site selection for SUGPs to minimize exposure to major noise sources.

Examining the legacy of Disney artist Mary Blair

Few women working as illustrators, designers, and animators in the golden age of American animation are as memorable and recognisable as Mary Blair (1911–1978). Today, she is best remembered for her unique style and design work captured in the It’s a Small World park attraction, as well as her concept art for films including Cinderella (1950) and Alice in Wonderland (1951). While this article contextualises Blair’s artistic development and her contributions to various Disney projects, I primarily interrogate how Blair’s career and legacy have been narrativised, particularly in the decades following her death, by Disney-sanctioned writers and for readers of all ages. This paper invites us to consider why Mary Blair, more than any other woman active at Disney during the mid-twentieth century, has achieved more fame and fan recognition since her death than she did in life. The answer, I argue, lies in how Blair is positioned in writing.

A wind farm consisting of two turbines - The combined influence of turbine spacing and rotational direction

Large-eddy simulations are conducted to investigate the impact of an actual decrease in turbine spacing on the wake structure for a small wind park consisting of two wind turbines in a row with a given rotor diameter D. A systematic variation of the inflow conditions (near-neutral and veering inflow) and the rotational direction of the rotors (clockwise and counterclockwise) provides an initial overview of the atmospheric flow fields in the wakes of both turbines. Whereas a smaller turbine spacing under near-neutral conditions results in a decrease of the streamwise flow component and an increase of turbulence, the situation is much more complicated under veering inflow. If a clockwise (counterclockwise) rotating turbine interacts with a Northern Hemispheric Ekman spiral, the combination of a rotor-induced v-component, which reduces (slightly amplifies) the meridional inflow velocity component, leads to a weakening (slight intensification) of this meridional wind in the vicinity of the downwind rotor.

Visitation-based classification of urban parks through mobile phone big data in Tokyo

Urban parks, pivotal in fostering physical activity, mental well-being, and environmental stewardship, are integral to green infrastructure planning. Despite advances in georeferenced data applications, existing park classifications often overlook actual visitation patterns. This study reclassifies urban parks using over 5.9 million records from approximately 330 thousand visitors across 300 Tokyo parks, comparing with size-based park categorizations. We employed a range of analytical tools, including principal component analysis, Isolation Forest algorithm, various clustering algorithms, and the Gini index. Our findings first revealed four key visitation indicators, activity intensity, utilization efficiency, temporal occupancy, and revisit volume. These indicators uncovered parks with atypical visitation patterns within each size category, leading to three novel park classifications, everyday leisure parks, social destination parks, and seasonal activity parks. Moreover, we discovered notable disparities in distances traveled to parks, particularly during nights, weekends, and holidays, with pronounced inequalities in seasonal activity parks and smaller parks. The findings advocate for a nuanced park management strategy, prioritizing maintenance and amenity development aligned with observed visitation patterns to enhance recreational potential, thereby contributing insights to urban park research that support the advancement of green infrastructure planning and policy aimed at improving park utility and enjoyment.

Peningkatan Ekonomi Paska-Pandemi Melalui Pengembangan Ulat Hongkong pada Kelompok Masyarakat Pembudidaya Ikan Air Tawar “Sumber Duren” Kabupaten Malang

Senggreng Village is one of the areas in Sumber Pucung District, Malang Regency, promising to be developed in agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and agro-tourism. Abundant water resources mainly support the fisheries and agriculture potency due to its position near the Sutami Dam. One of the community groups in Senggreng Village, "Sumber Duren", is "engaged in developing a small amusement park that integrates culinary, fishing park and freshwater fish farming business, managed through a cage system. Regardless of its considerable potency, fish farming has not been carried out intensively, especially due to the high prices of commercial fish feed. Therefore, this community service team proposed a solution by initiating mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) cultivation as a cheap, high-protein, and sustainable source of fish feed to increase crop yields. Experienced mealworm practitioners also provided intensive mealworm cultivation education, training, and profitable business planning. Through this program, the community group "Sumber Duren" has been" successful in cultivating mealworms starting from the seedling phase to becoming broodstock and laying eggs. Based on the questionnaire data collection, most community group members stated that this community service activity helped provide new knowledge interested in cultivating alternative feeds, and 80% of respondents expected the activity to continue in the following years.

Economic of Small-Scale Hand Line Fishery Fleet Production Based On Driving Power in Every Season in The Small Island Park Conservation Area, Southeast Maluku Regency

The economic benefits of hand line production activities carried out by small fishermen utilizing some inputs to produce high economic value output each season in the Kei Kecil small island park (TPK) conservation area differ according to the driving power. Production cost efficiency, effectiveness of production results, and business profits are very important for the sustainability and development of small-scale hand-line fisheries. This study aims to analyze the economics of small-scale hand line production based on the driving power in each season in the TPK Kei conservation area. The type of data needed is primary and secondary data, and the collection method used is triangulation. The analysis used includes analysis of business profits, production cost efficiency, and effectiveness of production results. The results of the analysis show that the production of hand line carried out in the TPK Kei Kecil conservation area in each season is more efficient and effective in the hand line fishing fleet that uses hand line rowing and the highest business profit is the hand line fishing fleet that uses ketinting driving power. The production of small-scale hand lines in the TPK Kei conservation area is small in each season efficiently, effectively, and profitably.

Implementation of The Adiwiyata Program by The Principal to Foster Students’ Morals towards The Environment

This study discusses the Adiwiyata Program implemented at Junior High School (SMPN) 2 Tanon. Adiwiyata is an environmental program in Indonesia that aims to increase school environmental awareness. This program encourages schools to integrate or include environment-related education in the curriculum. This research is qualitative with field research with data collection using case study techniques. Interviewing, observing, and documenting were the methods used for data collection. Data were analysed using interactive data analysis: data collection, reduction, presentation, and conclusion drawing. This research aims to find out how the principal implemented the Adiwiyata Program to foster students' morals towards the environment. The results of this study indicate that the principal has several programs that can support the implementation of the Adiwiyata program at the school; the programs implemented include: Including Adiwiyata in the learning curriculum, incorporating Adiwiyata values into the independent curriculum P5 project, implementing PHBS (Healthy Clean Living Behavior) and Go Green to students and teachers, carrying out daily pickets, carrying out Friday Kelingan Taman activities, making small parks, utilising organic and non-organic waste, and planning new programs. These activities refer to implementing the school's vision and mission to realise a healthy Adiwiyata school and form school members to have morals of caring for the environment.