Conducting A Recreation Opportunity Spectrum And Optimizing Design On Xi’an Bahe Riverside Greenway

The process of rapid urbanization has resulted in environmental pollution and the reduction of urban green spaces.Simultaneously,as living standards continue to improve,urban residents increasingly demand diverse and high-quality outdoor recreational environments.Riverside greenways,as linear urban green spaces,possess several advantageous features,including a shared and accessible layout,a beautiful environment,and the ability to contribute to the construction of urban ecological environments.Additionally,these greenways serve as important locations for residents’ recreation and entertainment.Thus,there is a pressing need to balance the protection of river corridors with greenway recreation development,in order to provide diverse and high-quality recreational opportunities and services to greenway users.Addressing this issue represents a vital research direction for the transition from a focus on quantity construction to one of quality improvement of urban greenways.This study focuses on the central section of Ba He urban greenway in Xi’an City and applies the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum theory to evaluate the recreation environment.The study selects 19 environmental factors from the material,social,and management dimensions using the grey statistics and factor analysis methods,and establishes a recreation environment evaluation system.Through various methods such as literature analysis,field investigation,questionnaire,and Arc GIS and thermal map analyses,three types of greenways with different levels of recreation opportunities were identified: Comprehensive leisure type,daily recreation type,natural experience type.The study also analyzes the recreation behavior and preferences of greenway users to identify the inherent law of interaction between environment and behavior.Based on this,the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum of Ba He urban greenway in Xi’an was constructed,and the existing problems of the greenway’s recreation environment were investigated.In conclusion,based on the principle of landscape optimization,this study proposed five comprehensive optimization management suggestions to address the existing environmental problems of the urban greenway of Bahe River.These suggestions include strengthening greenway connectivity,diversified spatial design,intelligent greenway construction,ecological greenway construction,and local culture integration.Different recreation environment construction objectives were established for the comprehensive leisure greenway,daily recreation greenway,and natural experience greenway,and specific landscape optimization strategies were proposed for each type.This study utilized the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum theory to address the development of small and medium-sized riverfront greenways in urban areas,with the aim of expanding the localized application of this theory and enhancing its feasibility and applicability.From a recreation perspective,the research methodology for riverfront greenways was enhanced,thereby providing theoretical backing for their planning,design,and management.This research sought to facilitate a positive interaction between recreation activity development and environmental protection,thereby promoting sustainable urban riverfront greenway development.