Analysis of the number of users of urban parks from smartphone users’ information during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Case studies of urban parks in Tokyo Metropolitan Area
2023 Volume 22 Issue 2 Pages 239-244
Details
2023 Volume 22 Issue 2 Pages 239-244
The purpose of this study is to examine the functions of parks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The target period was set for 852 days from April 1, 2020 to July 31, 2022. The analysis was conducted from two perspectives: 1) the statistical relationship between the number of COVID-19 infections and park area at the regional level, 2) user trends in individual parks. Using the BYM model, it was found that the impact of park area on the increase in COVID-19 cases was smaller than that of commercial business areas. It was revealed that park users increased by nearly double from the second wave to the period between the second and third waves. Particularly, urban parks in Chiyoda-ku saw an increase in users from suburban areas. It is speculated that this is due to employees who temporarily returned to the office during the end of the COVID-19 outbreak to perform essential business tasks using the parks.
