Beyond a Single Story: The Complex and Varied Patterns of Park Accessibility Across China’s Emerging Cities
Abstract
1. Introduction
- (1)
- How does urban park accessibility vary across 10 s-tier provincial capitals in China?
- (2)
- How do contextual characteristics influence the spatial patterns of park accessibility observed in different cities?
- (3)
- How do the relationships between housing prices and park accessibility differ among these second-tier cities, and what insights do these patterns offer regarding potential issues of social equity?
2. Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Data Description
2.3. Data Analysis
2.4. Accessibility Index
2.5. Home-Price-to-Disposable-Income Ratio
3. Results
3.1. Urban Park Accessibilities Among Cities
3.2. Accessibility Distribution Within the Cities Based on Housing Prices
4. Discussion
4.1. Diverse Pathways of Park Accessibility Across Cities
4.1.1. Economic Performance
4.1.2. Strategical Position
4.1.3. Geographical Context
4.2. Explaining Varying Patterns of Accessibility–Housing-Price Patterns
4.2.1. Socioeconomic Development and Disparities
4.2.2. Natural Environment and Uniformity
4.3. Social Equity, Urban Change, and the Reproduction of Inequality
4.4. Study Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Area | City | Province | Administrative Areas (km2) | Park and Green Land Area (ha) | Green Covered Areas as % of Completed Areas (%) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total City | City Districts | Built-Up Area | |||||
North | Shijiazhuang | Hebei | 15,848 | 2240 | 312 | 5003 | 42.85 |
Taiyuan | Shanxi | 6988 | 1500 | 340 | 4716 | 46.59 | |
Northeast | Shenyang | Liaoning | 12,860 | 5116 | 563 | 8115 | 40.82 |
Harbin | Heilongjiang | 53,076 | 10,193 | 446 | 5153 | 34.22 | |
East | Fuzhou | Fujian | 12,255 | 1756 | 301 | 5273 | 45.40 |
Jinan | Shandong | 10,244 | 8376 | 716 | 7833 | 40.85 | |
Nanchang | Jiangxi | 7195 | 2777 | 297 | 3814 | - | |
Central South | Nanning | Guangxi Zhuang AR | 22,245 | 9947 | 320 | 4640 | 41.14 |
Southwest | Guiyang | Guizhou | 8043 | 2525 | 369 | 5269 | 41.80 |
Northwest | Lanzhou | Gansu | 13,192 | 1574 | 235 | 2912 | 40.03 |
Data Type | Sources | Purpose of Utilization |
---|---|---|
Park POI and AOI | AMAP | Spatial location and boundary data for accessibility calculations |
Housing prices and residential community locations | Lianjia Platform | Real estate pricing and geocoded residential communities |
Road network data | OpenStreetMap | Network analysis and routing analysis to determine the accessibility indicators |
Statistical data | Chinese Statistical Yearbook | City-level socioeconomic indicators |
Indicators | Classification | Score |
---|---|---|
P—Proximity, distance to the nearest park, meter | P > 1500 | 1 |
1500 ≥ P > 1000 | 2 | |
1000 ≥ P > 500 | 3 | |
500 ≥ P | 4 | |
S—Size, size of the nearest park, ha | 1 > S | 1 |
5 > S ≥ 1 | 2 | |
10 > S ≥ 5 | 3 | |
S ≥ 10 | 4 | |
D—Density, number of parks within 15 min walking distance | D = 0 | 1 |
D = 1 | 2 | |
1 > D ≥ 3 | 3 | |
D > 3 | 4 |
City | Mean | Median | SD | Skewness | Kurtosis | % of Good Accessibility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fuzhou | 0.45 | 0.44 | 0.20 | –0.13 | –0.42 | 42.33 |
Shijiazhuang | 0.44 | 0.50 | 0.23 | –0.10 | –0.72 | 52.51 |
Guiyang | 0.38 | 0.38 | 0.20 | 0.01 | –0.46 | 39.60 |
Harbin | 0.37 | 0.37 | 0.21 | 0.26 | –0.48 | 49.78 |
Taiyuan | 0.36 | 0.37 | 0.22 | 0.19 | –0.85 | 37.49 |
Nanchang | 0.36 | 0.33 | 0.22 | 0.23 | –0.38 | 26.50 |
Shenyang | 0.35 | 0.33 | 0.20 | 0.15 | –0.56 | 24.63 |
Jinan | 0.34 | 0.33 | 0.19 | –0.02 | –0.46 | 20.54 |
Nanning | 0.30 | 0.37 | 0.20 | 0.30 | –0.30 | 20.65 |
Lanzhou | 0.29 | 0.25 | 0.22 | 0.57 | –0.47 | 22.45 |
City | Average Price (CNY/m2) | Disposable Income 2022 (CNY) | Regional GDP | Price-to-Income Ratio (/m2) | Price-to-Income Ratio (/90 m2) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shijiazhuang | 12,585.65 | 44,745 | 52,589 | 0.28 | 25.31 |
Taiyuan | 9132.43 | 43,694 | 90,968 | 0.21 | 18.81 |
Shenyang | 9013.03 | 44,003 | 77,777 | 0.20 | 18.43 |
Harbin | 7888.44 | 43,981 | 55,175 | 0.18 | 16.14 |
Fuzhou | 26,312.95 | 53,817 | 120,879 | 0.49 | 44.00 |
Jinan | 16,358.4 | 59,459 | 106,469 | 0.28 | 24.76 |
Nanchang | 11,185.57 | 52,622 | 100,415 | 0.21 | 19.13 |
Nanning | 11,335.73 | 42,636 | 61,738 | 0.27 | 23.93 |
Guiyang | 8490.99 | 46,242 | 81,995 | 0.18 | 16.53 |
Lanzhou | 12,142.7 | 45,277 | 75,217 | 0.27 | 24.14 |
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Liu, M.; Terada, T. Beyond a Single Story: The Complex and Varied Patterns of Park Accessibility Across China’s Emerging Cities. Land 2025, 14, 1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081552
Liu M, Terada T. Beyond a Single Story: The Complex and Varied Patterns of Park Accessibility Across China’s Emerging Cities. Land. 2025; 14(8):1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081552
Chicago/Turabian StyleLiu, Mengqi, and Toru Terada. 2025. "Beyond a Single Story: The Complex and Varied Patterns of Park Accessibility Across China’s Emerging Cities" Land 14, no. 8: 1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081552
APA StyleLiu, M., & Terada, T. (2025). Beyond a Single Story: The Complex and Varied Patterns of Park Accessibility Across China’s Emerging Cities. Land, 14(8), 1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081552