Urban planners and urban forestry researchers use various methods to evaluate how well different populations access the benefits of parks, often by assessing park distribution in relation to the social and economic conditions of surrounding neighbourhoods. However, without precise visitation data, it remains unclear whether proximity to parks translates into actual use. This study analyses the social and spatial factors influencing park visitation using real-world data across multiple urban and ecological contexts. We utilised smartphone mobility to capture visitation counts for over 14,000 parks across 10 US metropolitan areas, representing populations from more than 26,000 census block groups (CBGs). By integrating census data with spatial models, we examined the relationships between park visitation, proximity of parks to visitors' home neighbourhoods, and socio-economic variables such as race and ethnicity. Our analysis revealed that park visitation increases with proximity to visitors' home neighbourhoods. We also found positive associations between visitation rates and factors such as population density, median income, and park coverage in visitors' home neighbourhoods. Additionally, we identified significant correlations between park visitation and the racial and ethnic composition of these neighbourhoods. These findings confirm the assumption that closer proximity to parks enhances visitation rates. We recommend that park visitation data be considered alongside distributional analyses when planning for park accessibility.

中文翻译：

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美国 10 个都会区的公平性、旅行和公园参观量：一项智能手机移动性研究


城市规划者和城市林业研究人员使用各种方法来评估不同人群从公园中受益的程度，通常是通过评估公园分布与周围社区的社会和经济条件的关系。然而，如果没有精确的访问数据，目前尚不清楚靠近公园是否会转化为实际使用。本研究使用跨多个城市和生态背景的真实数据分析了影响公园参观的社会和空间因素。我们利用智能手机移动性来捕获美国 10 个大都市区 14,000 多个公园的访问量，这些公园代表了来自 26,000 多个人口普查区块组 （CBG） 的人口。通过将人口普查数据与空间模型相结合，我们研究了公园访问量、公园与游客家乡社区的接近程度以及种族和民族等社会经济变量之间的关系。我们的分析显示，公园访问量随着游客家庭社区的接近而增加。我们还发现，访问率与游客家乡社区的人口密度、收入中位数和公园覆盖率等因素之间存在正相关。此外，我们还确定了公园参观与这些社区的种族和民族构成之间存在显著相关性。这些发现证实了离公园更近会提高访问率的假设。我们建议在规划公园可达性时，将公园访问数据与分布分析一起考虑。