Influences of built environment on the use of urban greenways: A case of Qinghe greenway, Beijing

Abstract

Introduction

Due to the significant health and social benefits of greenways, developing effective planning and design strategies to promote greenway use is an important concern in urban research and practice. Most previous studies have examined greenways from various regions or cities, which might face challenges in controlling for surrounding regional factors. Furthermore, the refined design factors rather than overall features of built environment along urban greenways have been rarely studied.

Methods

This study selected the case of the Qinghe greenway in Beijing, which is an ideal case for controlling regional factors due to its notable segmental differences within one single greenway. We collected 264 valid questionnaires from greenway users, and performed regression models to investigate the influences of personal factors, greenway design factors, and road access factors on three independent variables: the total weekly duration of greenway use, the frequency of greenway visits, and the average duration per visit.

Results

The results revealed that users who travel longer distances to the greenway tend to spend more time on the greenway. The length and width of the greenway, and the presence of natural riverbank are significantly associated with greenway use. Users who access the greenway via arterial roads, living streets, and lanes spend less time on the greenway than those who use internal road access.

Conclusions

To improve the greenway use, more attention should be paid to building continuous, wide and natural greenway sections. Additionally, opening up more internal roads that directly connect to greenways in nearby communities could also help increase greenway use.