A Study on Accessibility of Urban Park in Hefei City Intergrating Space Syntax and Baidu Heatmaps

(Background and Purpose) Parks represent a vital component of public open spaces. The spatial accessibility of urban parks serves as a key metric for measuring a city's comprehensive strength, living environment, and residents' well-being.
Space syntax theory provides a lens through which we can explore urban park accessibility based on spatial structure or morphology, inheriting the objectivity and stability of topological relationships. Currently, research on the overall accessibility of urban parks, especially regarding their actual usage rates, is limited. Therefore, this study conducts a comprehensive assessment of urban park accessibility in Hefei City, building on space syntax theory and real-time human movement data from Baidu Heatmaps. (Methods) This study begins by measuring the global and local accessibility (theoretical accessibility) of 84 urban parks in Hefei City's central area using space syntax theory. Next, Baidu Heatmap data, integrated with urban road network data, assesses the potential usage intensity (actual accessibility) of urban parks in Hefei City. Finally, the integration results from space syntax theory are compared and analyzed in light of population activity patterns revealed by Baidu Heatmap data. (Results) Firstly, areas with high park accessibility and a high population density are primarily concentrated within the first ring of Hefei City, including the Sanxiaokou commercial district, government centers, the eastern administrative sector, and the Binhu commercial district. Secondly, regions with high park accessibility but lower population density are mainly located near Huizhou Avenue, Baohe Avenue, and Shanghailu Road in the Luogang area. Thirdly, areas with low park accessibility and low population density are mainly found near segments like Dazhong Road, Huanhubei Road, and Botanical Garden Road. (Conclusion) Firstly, both the overall and local accessibility of urban parks in the main urban area of Hefei are relatively good, although significant differences exist among parks of different types and in various regions. Secondly, there is a partial "mismatch" between urban parks and spatial regions with high urban accessibility. Thirdly, the results of actual park accessibility and theoretical accessibility generally align, with slight discrepancies at the local scale. This study represents a significant integration of spatial syntax theory and Baidu heatmap data, providing crucial insights into assessing the accessibility of all urban parks in the city. Spatial syntax, analyzing the accessibility of spatial elements from the perspective of physical spatial topology, and Baidu heatmap data, representing actual human mobility patterns, serve to evaluate the accessibility of urban parks in terms of human movement patterns and trends. This alignment between theory and empirical data enhances the study's real-world relevance, offering valuable data support for future park site selection, layout, renovation, and maintenance in Hefei City.