User-generated content affects urban park use: Analysis of direct and moderating effects

Urban parks contribute to sustainable urban development by bringing various social and environmental benefits; understanding the factors influencing park use is important for informing evidence-based park design and intervention. Although there are increasing number of studies using user-generated content (UGC) as a proxy of park use, few studies have examined how UGC influences park use. Therefore, we selected 221 urban parks in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China, with multisource geographic data and collected 153,479 UGC from influential social media platforms. We discovered that UGC sentiment and park use were positively correlated, which was moderated by UGC exposure. In addition, park shape, vegetation and water coverage, land cover mix, parking lot density, and surrounding socioeconomic status, had indirect effects on park use via UGC sentiment. Solid evidence supports that UGC may affect park use because the spurious relationship arising from unmeasured confounders may not be moderated by UGC exposure. We recommend that UGC should be more carefully used as a proxy; its effect should be considered in future studies. In addition, we propose a tentative theoretical framework associating park use, UGC, and other key factors. This research provides a reference for future research and optimizing park use in the modern digital society.