Urban green space (UGS) provides a range of services to visitors and is particularly important for recreation and well-being. There are a number of approaches to research visitor accessibility, but implications for demographic differences of users are typically ignored. In order to more precisely model usage of UGS regarding visitor preference, this study used Guangzhou (China) as a case study, concentrating on residents’ visitation to parks and their factors across different groups (for example, by gender, education level, age and visiting frequency). Online questionnaires from 2360 adults were collected on visiting preferences, such as traveling time, visiting frequency, visit duration within parks, visiting reasons and barriers. Results indicate that women were less likely than men to undertake longer walking trips to access parks (over 40 min). Elderly people tended to have longer visit durations, and lower-educated people tended to have shorter visiting times (particularly less than 15 min) in parks. Visit duration in parks had a positive association with walking time and a negative association with visiting frequency. Furthermore, the proportion of people visiting parks to relieve stress declined with increasing age. Infrequent park users (visiting parks less than once a month) rarely visited to gain inspiration or to socialize with strangers. Barriers to use of parks were correlated with socio-demographic factors, highlighting that older people identified poor quality of parks and long walking times as critical barriers. This study provides evidence that there is no one-size-fits-all modeling approach for UGS usage; instead, it demonstrates the importance of considering the socio-demographic characteristics of users.

As one form of urban green infrastructure, city parks provide essential ecosystem services and serve as a vital link connecting citizens with natural ecosystems. The public, as the primary beneficiaries of urban park ecosystem services, plays a crucial role in guiding the improvement and development trends of urban park planning. Most existing studies assess the comprehensive value of green spaces from a macro scale, with few focusing on the cultural and regulatory ecosystem services of urban parks and public perception of these services at the park level. This study targets 11 typical urban parks in Luoyang City, collecting 771 samples through field mapping and surveys. It analyzes users’ socio-demographic characteristics, perception abilities, usage preferences, and service satisfaction, linking these subjective factors with objective elements of the park environment, such as fitness and recreational facilities. The results indicate that respondents with knowledge of ecosystem services are better able to evaluate and understand services such as air pollution reduction and noise reduction in parks, while those without such knowledge tend to focus more on services that they can intuitively perceive, such as biodiversity conservation and microclimate regulation. Additionally, the middle-income group exhibits a higher level of awareness of park ecosystem services, which depends on their active social participation. The findings of this study suggest that enhancing public understanding of ecosystem services through environmental education is key to improving the quality of urban ecosystems.

Traditional villages are an important cultural heritage left by China’s agrarian civilization and serve as a testament to the historical development of the Chinese nation. The study of spatial and cultural differentiation in traditional villages is significant for their future preservation and development. Existing studies predominantly adopt a macro perspective, focusing on large-scale regions, and lack investigations from a micro perspective in medium- and small-scale areas. This study utilizes ArcGIS 10.8 for spatial analysis, multi-factor geographic detectors, and cultural geography spatial zoning methods to explore the spatial structure and cultural differentiation of 305 traditional villages in western Henan. The results indicate that the distribution of traditional villages in this region is significantly clustered and uneven, primarily concentrated in specific districts of Sanmenxia and Luoyang. Per capita GDP and the distance to roads are negatively correlated with the distribution of traditional settlements, reflecting the positive impact of lower economic levels and remote locations on village preservation. The spatial layout of traditional villages in western Henan exhibits clustering patterns, with cultural zoning characterized by distinct residential forms. This study, through the analysis of the spatial structure characteristics and influencing factors of traditional villages in the western Henan region, provides a new perspective on the formation and evolution of traditional villages, revealing the cultural differentiation characteristics of western Henan. The research results offer directional guidance for the conservation strategies of traditional villages in western Henan and provide a decision-making reference for cultural heritage conservation practices in similar regions.