Search Results (2)

With the increasing demands of urban populations, achieving a balance between the supply and demand in the spatial allocation of urban green park spaces (UGSs) is essential for effective urban planning and improving residents’ quality of life. The study of UGS supply and demand balance has become a research hotspot. However, existing studies of UGS supply and demand balance rarely simultaneously improve the supply side, demand side, and transportation methods that connect the two, nor do they conduct a comprehensive, multi-dimensional supply and demand evaluation. Therefore, this study evaluates the accessibility of UGS within Hefei’s built-up areas, focusing on age-specific demands for UGS and incorporating various travel modes, including walking, cycling, driving, and public transportation. An improved two-step floating-catchment area (2SFCA) method is applied to evaluate the accessibility of UGS in Hefei’s built-up areas. This evaluation combines assessments using the Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, location entropy, and local spatial autocorrelation analysis, utilizing the ArcGIS 10.8 and GeoDa 2.1 platforms. Together, these methods enable a supply–demand balance analysis of UGSs to identify areas needing improvement and propose corresponding strategies. The research results indicate the following: (1) from a regional perspective, there are significant disparities in the accessibility of UGS within Hefei’s urban center, with the old city showing more imbalance than the new city. Areas with high demand and low supply are primarily concentrated in the old city, which require future improvement; (2) in terms of travel modes, higher-speed travel (such as driving) offers better and more equitable accessibility compared to slower modes (such as walking), highlighting transportation as a critical factor influencing accessibility; (3) regarding population demand, there is an overall balance in the supply of UGS, with local imbalances observed in the needs of residents across different age groups. Due to the high specific demand for UGS among older people and children, the supply and demand levels in these two age groups are more consistent. This study offers valuable insights for achieving the balanced, efficient, and sustainable development of the social benefits of UGS. Full article

The influx of seasonal migrants has a significant impact on public services in destination places and may reshape the spatial accessibility and equity patterns of park green space (PGS). However, the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method and its extended forms neglect discrepancies between the travel behaviors of seasonal migrants and native residents and thus fail to delineate variations in PGS accessibility and equity in areas with seasonal migrants. To avoid this issue, this study drew on the case of Sanya, a city with large numbers of Houniao, who are primarily retirees leading seasonal migration between the north and the south of China. A multi-group, multi-mode Gaussian-based 2SFCA method was also proposed to evaluate the PGS accessibility and equity before and after the Houniao influx. The method considered the changes in the COVID-19 restrictions from a refined perspective, with fine-scale residential areas being the research units and travel time requested from the web map application programming interface. The results showed that most residential areas were found to have relatively low PGS accessibility and equity levels, except for those in the south-central and southwestern urban areas of Sanya. Both the Houniao influx and lifted COVID-19 restrictions affected the spatial patterns of PGS accessibility and equity. PGS accessibility and equity were decreased by the Houniao influx, whereas walking and public transport within a few residential areas outside Houniao gathering spots improved. This study can serve as a basis for the reasonable planning of PGS and other public services in cities receiving seasonal migrants, such as Sanya. Full article