Changing Trends in Utilization Preference of Urban Green Space and Heterogeneous Effects on Ecological Well-Being Pre- and Post-Pandemic in Beijing

Major public health events pose a huge challenge to the sustainable improvement of city dwellers’ ecological well-being, hindering the achievement of urban ecological construction goals. In the context of resilient city and all-aged friendly city construction, age factor is given special consideration in urban green space management to meet the heterogeneous demands and preferences of city dwellers for urban ecological benefit. However, young, middle-age and elderly city dwellers’ utilization of urban green spaces during different periods of pandemic are poorly known. Meanwhile, insufficient discussion on the differences in ecological well-being contributions of different types of urban green spaces has led to difficulties in effectively connecting urban green space management planning with the city dwellers’ demands for ecological well-being. To help fill this gap, this study utilizes field study data on urban ecological construction and urban landscape and greening in Beijing from 2019 to 2023 to analyze the evolution and differences in utilization behaviors of urban green space among different age group city dwellers. Furthermore, this study applies the ordinary least square regression model (OLS) to explore the differences in the impact of various types of urban green space on the ecological well-being of city dwellers. The results revealed significant age effects in the utilization of urban green space during 2019–2023. It outlines the increased time spent in urban green space by younger city dwellers. In addition, the results demonstrated that the utilization behavior of park green space has a significant positive impact on the ecological well-being level of city dwellers, and the impact of utilization behavior on the ecological well-being level of city dwellers varies depending on the type of green space. Compared with community green space, the impact of park green space utilization behavior on the ecological well-being level of city dwellers is more significant. The conclusion from the main urban area of this Beijing case study contributes to the international discussion on urban green space management and urban green resilience governance in metropolitan areas worldwide as they add additional insights on the change and difference in the utilization behavior of urban green spaces, particularly looking at elderly, middle-aged and young city dwellers as well as the importance of a timely response to the heterogeneity preference of city dwellers’ ecological well-being demand.