Are All Urban Parks Robust to the COVID-19 Pandemic? Focusing on Type, Functionality, and Accessibility

Hyungun Sung, Woo-Ram Kim, Jiyeon Oh, Samsu Lee and Peter Sang-Hoon Lee
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Hyungun Sung: Department of Urban and Regional Development, Graduate School of Urban Studies, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Woo-Ram Kim: Department of Urban and Regional Development, Graduate School of Urban Studies, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Jiyeon Oh: Department of Urban and Regional Development, Graduate School of Urban Studies, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Samsu Lee: Land and Housing Institute, Daejeon 34047, Korea
Peter Sang-Hoon Lee: Department of Urban and Regional Development, Graduate School of Urban Studies, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Many people visited urban parks during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the negative effects of lack of physical activity, social isolation, anxiety, and depression. It is unclear whether all parks are robust against the pandemic, helping people sustain healthy daily living through the diverse activities within them. Nevertheless, few studies have identified the specific relationship between park visits and the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate how physical features such as type, functionality, and access influenced daily visiting to parks during the pandemic, using mobile phone data at a micro level. This study first classified urban parks as point-type parks with an area of less than 1 ha, plane-type parks with 1 ha or more, and line-type parks with elongated shapes, while measuring accessibility to residential, employment, transportation, and auxiliary facilities within the park. The study employed the multi-level regression model with random intercept to investigate the effects of differing park visits, focusing on Goyang city, South Korea. Our analysis results identified that easy access from home was more important than the park size during the pandemic. If we look at the types of parks, the use of both plane- and point-type parks increased more than that of line-type parks. However, line-type parks near homes, along with shopping and sports facilities, were found to be more robust to the pandemic. These findings can be informative to provide specific guidelines to fulfill the enhanced role of parks in sustaining public health during an infectious disease pandemic that may strike again.

Keywords: mobile phone data; multi-level regression model; park type; physical feature of urban park; urban park visit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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