Temporal and spatial assessment of urban park visits from multiple social media data sets: A case study of Shanghai, China

摘要

To inform ways of developing urban parks in rapidly urbanizing metropolitans, park use patterns need be explained and understood. The objective of this study was to assess urban park visitation in temporal and spatial domains using multiple social media data (SMD) sources. It focused on 300 urban parks in Shanghai, quantified their visit number and intensity, and characterized park visitation patterns for the city. The findings showed that park visit patterns in Shanghai had uneven spatial and temporal distribution. In general, people preferred parks in downtown districts in space and preferred visiting parks in the season of spring and on non-workdays temporally. Spatio-temporally, parks in downtown have higher visitation at all seasons and days, especially for non-workdays. Locating parks with good star ratings outside downtown may not decrease attraction but reduce the downtown congestion. Moreover, this study compared park visitation assessing performances among different SMDs. The similarities and differences in park visit patterns represented by different SMDs indicated that using multiple SMD sources may help obtain more comprehensive and systematic results and achieve better understanding of park usage. Through this study, methods of using SMD were also developed to assess urban park visitation patterns in temporal and spatial domains to achieve more comprehensive and systematic results. The results inferred explanations and advices for more reasonable park distribution regulation and better green space management and urban development, and would offer a starting place for urban planners, landscape designers, and policy-makers. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.