热带地理

TROPICAL GEOGRAPHY ›› 2019, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (2): 247-253.doi: 10.13284/j.cnki.rddl.003116

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Influence of Built Environment on Urban Greenway Use from the Perspective of Greenway-Neighborhood Relationships: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China

Zhu Zhanqiang1, Huang Cunzhong2, Liu Lin3,4 and Liu Xuan5   

  1. (1. School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; 2. Zhongshan Urban Planning & Research Center, Zhongshan 528400, China; 3. Center of Geographic Information Analysis for Public Security, School of Geographic Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China; 4. Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH45221-0131, Ohio, USA；5. School of Public Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China)
  • Online:2019-03-05 Published:2019-03-05

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Abstract:

In recent years, a large scale of greenways was constructed in China, which provides many new leisure and fitness spaces for citizens. Because residents in cities became the main users of these greenways, the spatial differentiation of greenway usage should be critically evaluated to obtain an optimized use pattern. From the perspective of greenway-neighborhood relationship, built environment surrounding greenways is assumed to serve as a potential source of users as well as a destination that attracts greenway use. To explore the association of greenway usage with properties of built environment surrounding greenways, this paper takes a typical urban waterfront greenway of Guangzhou as a case. Data such as greenway usage, activity type, etc. were collected by using floating bicycle technology. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to explore the potential association of greenway usage with properties of built environment. Results show that there was a significant correlation between greenway usage and the surrounding built environment. Among the selected properties of the built environment that might influence the users’ travel behavior, population density and characteristics of land uses were the principle factors causing utilization differentiation by segment. The larger the population density or the larger the variation in land use, the higher the rate of utilization for walking and bicycling. In addition, social-economic characteristics, including age and income in the area accessible by walking and bicycling, impacted greenway use significantly, as did the land-use mixture and prevalence of richer or younger groups. Day-of-the-week also had an influence on usage of greenways, i.e., weekdays attracted more neighborhoods onto the urban greenway than weekend during peak hours for walking and bicycling. These findings may help with urban greenway construction and provide insights for greenway route optimization.

Key words: urban greenway use, neighborhood, built environment, accessibility, Guangzhou