Spatial decay of recreational services of urban parks: Characteristics and influencing factors

•Recreational services of urban parks delivered outward into different directions decay with different rates.•The size of parks and the availability of certain facilities are important to attract more distant visitors.•Fast facilities of transportation benefited distant residents visiting parks, while walking to the park was more popular among older people.

Recent research on factors influencing park accessibility, equity and efficiency of park use has received increasing attention. These factors are mainly determined by the maximum distance to urban parks and associated park-based and user-based factors. Variations of recreational services caused by the spatial relationship between urban parks and residences are almost ignored. This paper investigates how recreational services decay from urban parks to residences and how this spatial decay is affected by factors relating to the service delivery. In this context, spatial decay means that the radiation strength of park services decline in dependancy of the spatial organization of the surrounding urban space. The results of this study highlight that the spatial distribution and distance as well as factors such as park space, the availability of other services, transport facilities and preferences, and age and gender of park visitors are related to the recreational services of urban parks. Our findings suggest that the quantification of spatial decays and the identification of relevant factors can help to avoid unfavorable spatial distributions of parks, so that an equitable and efficient park system can be achieved for all urban residents.