Leisure is an important way for residents to achieve well-being. As urbanization continues to accelerate and residents’ spiritual and cultural needs gradually increase, urban park leisure is becoming increasingly prominent in daily recreation, and recreational activities that meet residents’ short-term and frequent needs for leisure are becoming preferred. In this article, based on structural equation models, four representative urban parks in Beijing were selected as study areas to explore the relationships among three variables: leisure involvement, flow experience, and place attachment. The results showed that (1) leisure involvement had a significant positive effect on flow experience, (2) flow experience had a significant positive effect on place attachment, and (3) leisure involvement had both a significant direct effect on place attachment and an indirect effect mediated by flow experience. In addition, according to the empirical analysis of the influence of leisure behavior characteristics on leisure benefits, it was found that 1–3 h of leisure time in the park had the best leisure benefits. Therefore, a higher level of leisure involvement and a stronger flow experience can help to enhance residents’ place attachment; foster self-expression, identity, and self-actualization; and boost the benefits of leisure, which will eventually improve personal well-being and quality of life, construct and strengthen a sense of urban community, and fulfill people’s aspirations for a better life.

The concept of destination attachment originates from the “people-people” attachment research but has not been investigated from this perspective, resulting in a substantial research gap. This study applied the concept of adult attachment to conceptualize, classify, and measure destination attachment. Different formation mechanisms, the effect range of the destination attachment representations of first-time and repeat tourists, and the relationships between the destination attachment representations and general attachment representations of tourists were examined. The findings were in line with the theoretical expectations. This study is innovative because it expands the research scope of destination attachment, proposing the necessity of developing formative measurement dimensions of destination attachment and elucidating the meanings of the relationship between the attachment representations of first-time and repeat tourists in tourist loyalty research. Managerially, this study has practical value for shaping destination attachment and attracting/cultivating repeat tourists.

The pandemic has resulted in a further reduction in travel distance, recreational radius of destinations and other levels of tourism activity, making “local people traveling locally” a new feature. From the perspective of localization of urban residents’ recreation, this paper describes a moderated mediation model based on temporal self-regulation theory. Five representative urban parks in Beijing were selected as study areas, and data collected through a questionnaire were used to discuss the behavioral characteristics of localized recreation and the formation mechanism of sense of place among urban residents in Beijing. The results showed that: (1) connectedness beliefs and temporal valuations positively influenced sense of place, and had a positive indirect effect on sense of place through the mediating role of recreation involvement; (2) recreation benefits positively influenced sense of place; (3) recreation benefits reinforced the direct and mediating role of recreation involvement. Based on these findings, the paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical value and practical implications, as well as future research directions for park and city management.