Urban parks are central to public health and equity, yet less is known about how park travel distance, park “attractor” types, and time-of-day visitation rhythms co-evolved through and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using anonymized smartphone mobility traces for public parks in Las Vegas, USA (2018–2022), we construct weekly origin–destination flows between census block groups (CBGs) and parks and link origins to socio-economic indicators. We first estimate visitor-weighted mean travel distance with a segmented time-series model that allows pandemic-related breakpoints. Results show that average park-trip distance (≈8.4 km pre-pandemic), including a substantial share of long-distance trips (≈52% of visits), contracted sharply at the onset of COVID-19, and that both travel radii and seasonal excursion peaks only partially rebounded by 2022. Next, cross-sectional OLS/WLS models (R2 ≈ 0.08–0.14) indicate persistent socio-spatial disparities: CBGs with higher educational attainment and larger shares of Black and Hispanic residents are consistently associated with shorter park-trip distances, suggesting constrained recreational mobility for socially disadvantaged groups. We then identify a stable two-type park typology—local versus regional attractors—using clustering on origin diversity and long-distance share (silhouette ≈ 0.46–0.52); this typology is strongly related to visitation volume and temporal usage profiles. Finally, mixed-effects models of evening and late-night visit shares show that regional attractors sustain higher nighttime activity than local parks, even as citywide evening/late-night visitation dipped during the mid-pandemic period and only partly recovered thereafter. Overall, our findings reveal a durable post-pandemic re-scaling of park use toward more proximate, CBG-embedded patterns layered on enduring inequities in access to distant, destination-oriented parks. These insights offer actionable evidence for equitable park planning, targeted investment in high-need areas, and time-sensitive management strategies that account for daytime versus nighttime use.
20 April 2023 in Frontiers in Sustainable Development
In order to better meet the needs of the elderly, we provide them with a safe, comfortable and convenient living environment. We conducted a study on the application of virtual reality in the construction of ageing-friendly environment, from the perspective of ageing-friendly design with the concept of "ageing-oriented" design, to study how to adapt the environment to the physiological and psychological needs of the elderly through virtual reality technology and improve the quality of life of the elderly. By studying the impact of virtual reality technology on the aging-friendly environment, we conclude how virtual reality technology can be applied in the construction of aging-friendly environment. Although VR technology has been applied in the medical field, there are few studies that provide services and help for the elderly; the ability to enhance the comfort of the environment for the elderly through virtual reality is a major innovation of this project, which provides a new way of exploration for the field of aging-friendly research.