Urban parks provide well-established benefits for the well-being of urban residents, including physical health, mental health, and social interaction. To maximize these health and social benefits brought by urban parks, numerous studies have uncovered physical environmental factors and their relationships with urban park use, supporting evidence-based park design and intervention.

With the advancement of information technology, urban digital infrastructures and digital terminals have shaped the city into a media space where media content and network connections are ubiquitous and ever-present. User-generated content (UGC) in the mobile internet era has become an important part of urban everyday life. The intervention of UGC may change the mode of embodied perception of urban parks, thus reshaping the known factors and mechanisms influencing urban park use. However, existing studies have primarily focused on the effects of physical environmental factors, with little known about the effects of UGC on urban park use.

Addressing the limitations of existing research, this study employed multi-source geographic urban big data to comprehensively analyze the effect size, effect pathway, and effect heterogeneity of UGC on urban park use. It aims to uncover the effects of UGC in the mobile internet era, as well as the changes in the link between urban park use and physical environmental factors by the intervention of UGC. The main research content and conclusions of this study are as follows:

The first case study examined the effect size of UGC on urban park use based on 372,879 park-related UGC from 253 urban parks. After controlling for the confounders, the hierarchical linear regression demonstrated the significant positive effects of UGC on urban park use, which was significantly higher than most physical environmental factors. In detail, the quantity of UGC may have a bi-directional association with park use. UGC rating, sentiment, and exposure were proved to be more effective metrics for assessing the effects of UGC. The significant standardized effects of rating, sentiment, and exposure on park use were 0.276 (p < 0.001), 0.204 (p < 0.001), and 0.095 (p < 0.01), respectively. In addition, the geotagged UGC had higher effects on park use, and such effects were higher for comprehensive parks than community parks.

The second case study explored the effect pathway of UGC on urban park use based on 372,879 park-related UGC from 253 urban parks. The latent moderated structural equation (LMS) model revealed that UGC had three different effect pathways on urban park use, and UGC changed the known effect pathways that influenced urban park use. Specifically, UGC sentiment had a significant direct effect on park use (standardized effect = 0.314, p < 0.001). Moreover, the direct effects of physical environmental factors on park use found in previous studies were transformed into a mediating effect via UGC when UGC was included in the model. In addition, the level of UGC exposure significantly affected the effect size of UGC sentiment on park use (i.e., moderating effect). Park use was more sensitive to the differences in exposure levels of negative UGC sentiment than to those in positive UGC sentiment. Solid evidence supported that UGC may affect park use because the spurious relationship arising from unmeasured confounders may not be moderated by UGC exposure.

The third case study targeted the effect heterogeneity of UGC on urban park use based on 1,771,093 park-related UGC from 874 urban parks. Via the Kruskal-Wallis test, Dunn-Bonferroni test, Getis-Ord Gi* model, and mixed effect model, this chapter revealed that UGC and physical environmental factors had significant effect heterogeneity and patterns of spatial clustering. High values of UGC and urban park use were significantly clustered in first-tier and new first-tier cities, while low-value clusters were found in non-first-tier cities. UGC rating, sentiment, and exposure had significant effects on park use across first-tier, new first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities in China; the effect of UGC rating was almost higher than that of other variables. The positive effect of UGC on comprehensive park use was higher than community park use at all city levels. In addition, the effects of UGC and physical environmental factors on park use demonstrated completely opposite heterogeneity trends across city levels. The effect size of UGC decreased with lower city levels, while the effect size of certain physical environmental variables increased with lower city levels.

Based on the above research findings, this study discussed the application suggestions for specific urban design and management from four aspects: 1) enhance urban park use via UGC; 2) optimize physical environmental factors; 3) differentiate design and management of various urban park types; and 4) differentiate design and management of urban parks across city levels. This study offered valuable insights and practical strategies for designing and maintaining urban parks to maximize their usage in modern society.