Disparities in Urban Park Visitation Patterns among Socioeconomically Vulnerable Communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jae Ho Lee, Yonghan Ahn, Dongryeol Kang () and Hyunsik Kim ()
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Jae Ho Lee: Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Seoul, Seolusiripdae-ro 163, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea
Yonghan Ahn: School of Architecture & Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University ERICA, Ansan 15588, Republic of Korea
Dongryeol Kang: Department of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University ERICA, Ansan 15588, Republic of Korea
Hyunsik Kim: Department of Civil Engineering, Korea National University of Transportation, Chungju 27469, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Urban parks played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic among urban dwellers. Numerous studies have shown that park visitations increased or decreased during the pandemic depending on the parks’ contexts, locations, and populations. However, a lack of research has been conducted regarding the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable and non-vulnerable communities. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the differences between socioeconomic levels in responses to COVID-19′s impact on urban park visits. To observe park users’ movements in real-world scenarios, mobile signaling data were used to capture their movements. Then, using Repeated Measures ANOVA (RM ANOVA), the effectiveness of park visit patterns was statistically verified by considering two variables: “time” and “vulnerability”. The results showed that park visits increased during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of the vulnerability. As COVID-19 spread, underserved communities experienced decreased park visits, demonstrating park inequality after the pandemic. The comparisons in this study provide recommendations for park managers and policymakers in terms of reducing park inequality.

Keywords: elderly population; park inequality; park visitation; socially vulnerable communities; urban parks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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