Leveraging Social Media to Track Urban Park Quality for Improved Citizen Health

To meet the needs of park users, planners and designers must know what park users want to do and how they want the park to offer different activities. Big data may help planners and designers gain this knowledge. This study examines how big data collected in an urban park could be used to identify meaningful implications for planning and design. While big data have emerged as a new data source, big data have not become an accepted source of data due to a lack of understanding of big data analytics. By comparing a survey as a traditional data source with big data, this study identifies the strengths and weaknesses of using big data analytics in park planning and design. There are two research questions: (1) what activities do park users want; and (2) how satisfied are users with different activities. The Gyeongui Line Forest Park, which was built on an abandoned railway, was selected as the study site. A total of 177 responses were collected through the onsite survey, and 3703 tweets mentioning the park were collected from Twitter. Results from the survey show that ordinary activities such as walking and taking a rest in the park were the most common. These findings also support existing studies. The results from social media analytics found notable things such as positive tweets about how the railway was turned into a park, and negative tweets about diseases that may occur in the park. Therefore, a survey as traditional data and social media analytics as big data can be complementary methods for the design and planning process.

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Conceptualizing Lenses, Dimensions, Constructs, and Indicators for Urban Park Quality

Environmental Justice ◽

10.1089/env.2018.0017 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 208-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elizabeth A. Corley ◽

Jeong Joo Ahn ◽

Yushim Kim ◽

Joanna Lucio ◽

Erin Rugland ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urban Park ◽

Park Quality

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Public perception matters: Estimating homebuyers’ willingness to pay for urban park quality

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening ◽

10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127275 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 127275

Author(s):

Kehao Zhou ◽

Yan Song ◽

Ronghui Tan

Keyword(s):

Willingness To Pay ◽

Public Perception ◽

Urban Park ◽

Park Quality

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Effects of Urban Park Quality, Environmental Perception, and Leisure Activity on Well-Being among the Older Population

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182111402 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (21) ◽

pp. 11402

Author(s):

Yu-Ting Chu ◽

Dongying Li ◽

Po-Ju Chang

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Leisure Activity ◽

Well Being ◽

Environmental Perception ◽

Urban Park ◽

Environmental Perceptions ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Park Quality

Previous studies have shown that natural environments and leisure activities can reduce depression and increase well-being. Urban parks are important for the psychological well-being of middle-aged and older adults. However, it remains unknown whether the relationship between environmental perceptions, leisure activity, and well-being is affected by the quality of park environments. This study uses a cross-level framework to examine the effects of urban park quality on middle-aged and older adults’ environmental perceptions, leisure activity, and well-being. The Neighborhood Green Space Tool was used to assess the environmental quality of 19 parks, and 380 individuals aged 55 years and older were interviewed in each park using an on-site questionnaire. The results reveal that the associations between environmental perception and well-being were moderated by the quality of park accessibility, amenities, and incivilities; the effect of environmental perception on depression was moderated by the quality of incivilities in parks; and the effect of frequency of leisure activities on depression was moderated by the quality of park accessibility.

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF URBAN PARKS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: A CASE STUDY IN CHANGKAT PUBLIC PARK, BATU GAJAH, PERAK

PLANNING MALAYSIA JOURNAL ◽

10.21837/pm.v18i14.824 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (14) ◽

Author(s):

Shamirah Rosli ◽

Oliver Hoon Leh Ling ◽

Nurhazlin Amira Mohd Adzmi ◽

Marlyana Azzyati Marzukhi

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Time Allocation ◽

Urban Parks ◽

Urban Park ◽

Statistical Relationship ◽

Public Park ◽

Recreation Areas ◽

Park Quality

Nowadays, people, especially urban dwellers were not active. Physical inactivity will lead to an unhealthy body. Previous research found that physical activity will contribute to a healthy life. Based on the previous research, high-quality recreation areas, including urban parks and playgrounds can provide a wide variety of opportunities for physical activity and have the potential to help community in leading a more active lifestyle. However, the statistical relationship between the quality of urban parks and physical activity is yet to be examined, especially for Malaysia. Due to the gap, a study was conducted in Changkat Public Park (Taman Awam Changkat), Batu Gajah, Perak Darul Ridzuan with the aim to examine the statistical relationship between quality of the urban park and physical activity. The park quality was evaluated based on five (5) aspects which were facilities and amenities, accessibility, informative (signage), safety, as well as attraction. Pertaining to physical activity, this study focussed on time allocation, as well as frequency and type of activity of the park visitors. Data were obtained through a questionnaire survey among visitors. The relationship between urban park quality and physical activity in the study area was analysed using a correlation test. The study found that the quality of the park was moderately corrected to the active level of the respondents. As an implication, urban parks require serious concern by the designers and managers to uphold the quality for visitors.

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