Is perceived safety a prerequisite for the relationship between green space availability, and the use and perceived comfort of green space?

In recent years, many researchers have argued that both the availability of green space (GS) and perceived neighbourhood safety may be prerequisites for the use of GS, but empirical findings remain inconsistent. This study explores how perceived neighbourhood safety moderates the associations between the availability of neighbourhood GS and residents’ use of GS, using survey data collected in Guangzhou, China. The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (overall amount of greenness), park accessibility and a measure of Street View Greenness (eye-level greenness) were used to estimate two types of GS availability (overall vs. eye-level). As shown by the results of the multilevel models, eye-level greenness was positively associated with the use of and perceived comfort of GS for those respondents with a higher level of perceived neighbourhood safety; it was negatively related to the use and perceived comfort of GS in the case of respondents with a lower level of perceived neighbourhood safety. In addition, the overall amount of greenness was positively associated with the use and perceived comfort of GS regardless of the level of perceived neighbourhood safety. Our findings suggest that perceived safety may be a potential prerequisite for positive associations between the availability of GSS at eye level and the use of and perceived comfort of GS.