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Land
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Green Exposure, Public Space Usage, and Travel Behavior: Strategies for...
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Green Exposure, Public Space Usage, and Travel Behavior: Strategies for Building Inclusive Cities and Supporting Vulnerable Groups

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 2762

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yuxiao Jiang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Urban and Rural Planning, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China
Interests: urban vibrancy; spatial heterogeneity; street view images; built environment; computer vision; urban agglomeration; heritage landscape
Dr. Jie Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Urban and Rural Planning, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China
Interests: urban park use; green space usage; sustainable urban development
Dr. Long Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Interests: urban environmental health; GIS applications in urban planning; transportation modeling
Prof. Dr. Yi Lu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Interests: urban health; green exposure; sustainable urban planning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As urbanization accelerates globally, cities face growing environmental and social challenges, particularly in the context of climate change, aging populations, and the rising needs of vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities. Enhancing green exposure, improving public space accessibility, and understanding urban travel behavior have become central to building inclusive, healthy, and resilient cities.

Urban green spaces and parks play an essential role in supporting physical and mental health, promoting social interactions, mitigating urban heat island effects, and improving accessibility for vulnerable populations. However, disparities in green space distribution, park usability, and mobility constraints remain significant issues across cities.

This Special Issue aims therefore to advance interdisciplinary research on the interactions between green exposure, public space usage, and travel behavior, with particular focus on equity and inclusiveness. We seek contributions that explore how green spaces influence daily mobility patterns, how public spaces can better serve vulnerable groups, and how planning and policy interventions can enhance accessibility, environmental justice, and urban sustainability.

This Special Issue will focus on the following key themes:

  • Health Benefits of Green Exposure and Public Space Usage: Analyzing the impact of urban green spaces and parks on the physical and mental health of different populations, with particular focus on vulnerable groups.
  • Travel Behavior and Green Exposure for Vulnerable Groups: Exploring how improving the accessibility and quality of urban green spaces and public spaces can optimize the travel experience and accessibility for vulnerable groups (e.g., children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities).
  • Inclusive Urban Design and Social Justice: Investigating the concept of inclusive urban design, focusing on how the planning of green exposure and park facilities can enhance social equity, particularly in low-income and marginalized communities.
  • Interaction Between Green Space and Travel Behavior: Exploring how green exposure influences daily travel behaviors through case studies, especially in unmotorized and walking travel modes.
  • Policies and Practices: A Policy Framework for Enhancing Green Exposure and Travel Behavior: Proposing multi-dimensional strategies based on research findings that combine urban planning, transportation policies, and social welfare policies to improve green exposure and travel behavior for vulnerable groups.

We welcome studies employing GIS, spatial modeling, remote sensing, big data analytics, machine learning, behavioral analysis, surveys, experiments, and other interdisciplinary approaches. We also welcome the submission of original research articles and review papers for this Special Issue. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Health benefits of green exposure and urban public space design;
  • Travel behavior analysis and improvement strategies for vulnerable groups (including children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities);
  • The interaction between urban green spaces and travel behavior;
  • Inclusive urban planning and support policies for vulnerable groups;
  • Green exposure and social justice—policy recommendations for enhancing green space accessibility;
  • Green exposure, public space usage, and climate adaptation strategies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yuxiao Jiang
Dr. Jie Chen
Dr. Long Chen
Prof. Dr. Yi Lu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • public space
  • travel behavior
  • inclusive urban design
  • vulnerable groups
  • urban health
  • social justice

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 9965 KB  
Article
Accessibility and Social Equity of Urban Park Green Spaces in Megacities from an Environmental Justice Perspective: A Case Study of the Six Central Districts of Beijing
by Tingting Ding, Chang Wang, Bolin Zeng, Yuqi Li and Yunyuan Li
Land 2026, 15(3), 484; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15030484 - 17 Mar 2026
Viewed by 458
Abstract
Against the backdrop of rapid development in megacities, urban park green spaces serve as essential public resources whose accessibility and equity directly affect residents’ quality of life and broader social justice. This study addresses the imbalance between the spatial distribution of green space [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of rapid development in megacities, urban park green spaces serve as essential public resources whose accessibility and equity directly affect residents’ quality of life and broader social justice. This study addresses the imbalance between the spatial distribution of green space resources and the socio-demographic characteristics of different population groups in megacities. It takes the six central districts of Beijing as the study area and integrates data from 457 urban parks. The research applies the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area (G2SFCA) method and bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis (Moran’s I) to systematically evaluate the equity of urban park green space provision across multiple social dimensions, including economic status, educational attainment, and vulnerable groups. The results indicate that urban park green spaces in Beijing’s six central districts exhibit a pronounced central and northern advantage, with significant deficits in southern and peripheral areas. High accessibility and greater per capita green space are concentrated in core and high-housing-price districts, overlapping with high-income and highly educated populations. In contrast, vulnerable groups and migrant workers are more likely to reside in green-space-deficient areas, facing a structural “high population density–low green space provision” disadvantage, reflecting clear social inequities. In addition, inequity is more pronounced at the walking scale than at the cycling scale. The study reveals a dual mismatch in green space provision across both spatial and social dimensions within a megacity context. The findings suggest that future urban planning should shift from quantitative expansion to the optimization of existing green space resources. Planning strategies should prioritize vulnerable groups and adopt a people-oriented approach. Policymakers should allocate greater support to southern and peripheral areas, increase the provision of pocket parks, and improve slow-mobility systems. These measures can more precisely safeguard equitable access to green space for disadvantaged populations and promote the realization of spatial justice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Exposure, Public Space Usage, and Travel Behavior: Strategies for Building Inclusive Cities and Supporting Vulnerable Groups)
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29 pages, 10840 KB  
Article
Who Truly Benefits from Community Walkability? Social Differentiation of the Walking Environment in Kunming, China
by Siyu Cheng, Zhenhai Xiang and Pengfei Ban
Land 2026, 15(2), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020283 - 9 Feb 2026
Viewed by 497
Abstract
Inequity in urban walking resources has been garnering increasing scholarly attention. However, there is still no widely accepted tool for assessing walkability, making results difficult to compare across studies. In addition, the ways in which walkability equity is typically defined and measured often [...] Read more.
Inequity in urban walking resources has been garnering increasing scholarly attention. However, there is still no widely accepted tool for assessing walkability, making results difficult to compare across studies. In addition, the ways in which walkability equity is typically defined and measured often overlook China’s local context. Therefore, this study develops a comprehensive walkability evaluation framework for Kunming’s main urban area using open-source data and census information, synthesizing 15 indicators across five dimensions (connectivity, accessibility, suitability, sociability, and aesthetics) analyzed through the Catastrophe Theory models (CT models). Furthermore, spatial autocorrelation, the Concentration Index (CI), and an interpretable machine learning framework (Random Forest-SHAP) are employed to examine the relationships between community walkability disparities and socio-economic factors for a spatial justice assessment. The results show the following: (1) Community walkability in the main urban area of Kunming exhibits a “core–periphery” spatial distribution pattern, where connectivity, accessibility, and sociability follow the general pattern, while suitability and aesthetics display heterogeneous spatial distributions. (2) The social differentiation characteristics of community walkability in Kunming’s main urban area correlate significantly with age structure, hukou registration, and social status, but show limited association with ethnicity and economic status. These findings challenge Western-centric social differentiation paradigms and underscore the context-specific nature of walkability equity in China, thus providing new perspectives for the understanding of built environment justice in the context of Chinese cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Exposure, Public Space Usage, and Travel Behavior: Strategies for Building Inclusive Cities and Supporting Vulnerable Groups)
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26 pages, 3375 KB  
Article
Is More Green Space Always Better for Healthy Aging? Exploring Spatial Threshold and Mediation Effects in the United States
by Jing Yang, Pengcheng Li, Jiayi Li and Jinliu Chen
Land 2026, 15(2), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020207 - 24 Jan 2026
Viewed by 540
Abstract
Green space equity is increasingly recognized as a critical environmental condition for healthy aging, yet existing research often overlooks how different green space attributes—accessibility and diversity—are associated with distinct dimensions of older adults’ health. Limited attention has been paid to their nonlinear threshold [...] Read more.
Green space equity is increasingly recognized as a critical environmental condition for healthy aging, yet existing research often overlooks how different green space attributes—accessibility and diversity—are associated with distinct dimensions of older adults’ health. Limited attention has been paid to their nonlinear threshold effects or to the social pathways through which green spaces influence health outcomes. Using the United States county-level panel data from 2020 to 2023, this study integrates fixed-effects models, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and mediation analysis to examine the associations between green accessibility measured by the Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) method, and green diversity measured by the Shannon Index, on the general, physical, and mental health of older adults. Findings indicate that (1) higher green accessibility is associated with better general health, whereas green diversity shows a stronger association with physical health, reflecting its link to more heterogeneous ecosystem service environments. (2) Green accessibility demonstrates the threshold effect, in which the strength of association with health becomes steeper once accessibility approaches higher levels. (3) Green space equity is linked to health partly through social structures. Education clustering and marital stability mediate the associations with general health, while mental health appears to depend more on the social interaction opportunities embedded within green environments than on their physical attributes alone. The study proposes an integrated “physical environment–social structure–health outcome” framework and a threshold-oriented spatial intervention strategy, highlighting the need to prioritize improvements in green accessibility in underserved areas and prioritizing green diversity and age-friendly social functions where accessibility is already high. These findings offer evidence for designing inclusive, health-oriented urban environments for aging populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Exposure, Public Space Usage, and Travel Behavior: Strategies for Building Inclusive Cities and Supporting Vulnerable Groups)
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24 pages, 22308 KB  
Article
Urban Park Accessibility for the Elderly and Its Influencing Factors from the Perspective of Equity
by Ning Xu, Kaidan Guan, Dou Hu and Pu Wang
Land 2026, 15(1), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15010141 - 10 Jan 2026
Viewed by 707
Abstract
A well-designed layout for urban parks plays a crucial role in constructing livable cities and enhancing residents’ well-being. The provision of age-friendly park access is fundamental to building an elderly-friendly city. However, previous studies have lacked comprehensive analyses that integrate the distribution of [...] Read more.
A well-designed layout for urban parks plays a crucial role in constructing livable cities and enhancing residents’ well-being. The provision of age-friendly park access is fundamental to building an elderly-friendly city. However, previous studies have lacked comprehensive analyses that integrate the distribution of the elderly population, park accessibility, park quality, environmental characteristics, and social equity within a unified framework. Specifically, the supply–demand imbalance mechanism underlying the spatial variations in accessibility has not been adequately addressed. This study employs an improved two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, combined with Lorenz curves and urban park-adapted Gini coefficients, to examine the supply–demand relationship and allocation differences between the elderly population and parks at the neighborhood and community levels. The analysis highlights issues related to equity and accessibility and explores their spatial disparity and influencing factors. The key findings are as follows: (1) The classic 2SFCA model exhibits significant biases in evaluating park supply–demand relationships, accessibility, and equity at a fine-grained scale, indicating the necessity of high-precision modeling. (2) Park accessibility in the Old City of Nanjing follows a dual-ring pattern of high accessibility, contrasted with clustered areas of low accessibility, while accessibility equity shows a central–peripheral gradient. Overall equity is relatively low, with good walking accessibility within only about one-third of communities. (3) Park supply levels, neighborhood construction year, and plot ratios are the primary factors influencing park accessibility for elderly residents. The comprehensive aging index is positively correlated with the equity in park layout, whereas housing prices and neighborhood size do not exhibit a simple linear relationship with park accessibility or equity for elderly residents. These findings provide a comprehensive and realistic perspective for understanding elderly park accessibility and equity, offering decision-making references for enhancing urban livability, managing an aging society, and formulating spatial equity policies in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Exposure, Public Space Usage, and Travel Behavior: Strategies for Building Inclusive Cities and Supporting Vulnerable Groups)
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