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 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-report bias effect and capturing individuals’ exposure to the urban environment more truthfully with Point of Interest (POI) data. Results indicate that Beijing residents’ leisure activities primarily take place within walking distance from home and concentrate in the urban core and the district centers of the suburban area. Individuals tend to conduct daily leisure activities in neighborhoods that are close to parks and leisure attractions or with dense street intersections. Individuals that live with family members more actively engage in leisure activities, but individuals with 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 could guide urban planning and policy efforts to promote leisure activity participation in Chinese cities as well as other cities with similar contexts.