Exploring the factors influencing visits to urban parks: A case study of Beijing's central urban area

Abstract

Urban parks play a vital role in improving the urban ecological environment and promoting residents' physical and mental well-being. This study investigates the factors influencing visits to nature parks, comprehensive parks, community parks, and special parks in Beijing's central urban area while also examining spatial variations in these effects. An indicator system for park characteristics is developed, encompassing three dimensions: landscape attributes, accessibility, and surrounding environmental conditions. Mobile signal data are used to accurately quantify daily park visits. XGBoost and SHAP are then applied to analyze the importance of factors and the pathways through which they influence visitor flow. The findings highlight several key insights: (1) Parks in Beijing's urban area are densely distributed in central regions but sparsely distributed in peripheral areas; (2) comprehensive parks attract the highest number of visits, whereas community parks receive fewer visitors; (3) population density and public service facilities have the greatest impact on park visitation; and (4) park features exert nonlinear effects on visitation, with threshold effects observed. These findings provide valuable insights for park planning strategies aimed at increasing overall utilization rates.