Spatial pattern of leisure activities among residents in Beijing, China: exploring the impacts of urban environment

Abstract This paper explores the spatial patterns of daily leisure activities by walking of Beijing residents using 2010 Beijing Official Household Travel Survey and the methods of graph theory and negative binomial regression model, with a particular focus on the impacts of sociodemographic and built environment characteristics. It contributes to the literature by 1) accurately exploring the spatial patterns of leisure activities with a 24-hour travel diary recall method at the city-scale; 2) and eliminating the self-reported bias effect and capturing individuals’ exposure to urban environment more accurately with Point of Interest (POI) data. Results indicate that most of Beijing residents’ leisure activities are within walking distance from home and primarily concentrated in the urban core and the district centers of the suburban area. Individuals tend to conduct daily leisure activities in walkable local neighborhoods in close proximity to parks and leisure attractions or with a high density of street intersections. Individuals that live with family members tend to conduct more leisure activities, but individuals that earn a medium and high annual income conduct fewer leisure activities. Our analysis contributes to a better understanding of the spatial characteristics of leisure activities and how the sociodemographic and built environment characteristics influence residents’ leisure activities in the context of Chinese cities. The obtained knowledge can further support the relevant urban planning and policy-making to encourage residents’ participation in leisure activities in Chinese cities as well as those in other countries with a similar urban context.