Economic impacts of a linear urban park on local businesses: The case of Gyeongui Line Forest Park in Seoul

This study aims to explore the economic impacts of urban open spaces using the sales data of local small businesses. A new urban park could attract more visitors and lead to neighborhood revitalization, especially in distressed neighborhoods. In order to explore this mechanism, this study analyzes the case of the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, a previously underutilized railroad that was converted to a linear urban park. A difference-in-difference approach was applied to evaluate the change in the sales of local businesses before and after the park's opening using credit card and cash sales data provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Big Data Campus. The results showed that urban linear parks could have positive effects that lead to the neighborhoods' economic vitality. However, the economic impacts could vary depending on neighborhood contexts. Specifically, economically distressed neighborhoods could benefit more from the opening of a park. This study directly captured the revitalization impact of the Gyeongui Line Forest Park using actual sales data instead of analyzing indirect outcomes such as property values, thereby providing an alternative approach to measure the economic impacts of parks.