Perceived leisure service benefits of peri-urban community green Spaces: Impact of visual environment during day and night

Abstract

Community green spaces play a crucial role in providing leisure services by offering accessible areas for recreation, relaxation, and social activities. However, little is known regarding their impact on leisure service benefits perception (LSBP) in peri-urban areas over space and time. Taking Huadu District of Guangzhou in China as a case study area, this research assesses community green space quality, estimating LSBP with human-centric green space images and deep learning. Desktop mapping is employed to explore the spatial distribution of perceived leisure benefits, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) is adopted to examine the associations between the visual environment and LSBP. The results indicate that generally more leisure benefits (i.e., physiological, psychological, social, and cognitive benefits) of community green spaces are perceived during the day than at night. Some community parks and blue spaces demonstrate significant transitions from high LSBP during the daytime to low LSBP at night. Further, the five environmental visual elements, including green views, sky visibility, landscape diversity, walkability, and visual crowdedness, show varying associations with LSBP across both space (e.g., in high-quality residential areas and along community main roads) and time (e.g., during the day and at night). The findings provide empirical evidence for improving the planning of all-day leisure services in peri-urban community green spaces so that residents’ well-being and life satisfaction can be enhanced.