Characteristics of urban park recreation and health during early COVID-19 by on-site survey in Beijing.

The positive health effects of green space have received increasing attention, however, on-site surveys and city-level research to reveal the relationship between urban park recreation and urbanite health in metropolitan areas during a post-pandemic period are lacking. We conducted an on-site survey using a questionnaire with 225 respondents from 22 urban parks distributed across the metropolitan area of Beijing during the early COVID-19 eased period with another 1346 respondents in 2021 to make verification. We identified factors that could influence public perceptions of park quality and human health (i.e., physical, mental, and social health) and revealed gender differences in perceptions of park characteristics. The correspondence pattern of perceived urban park quality with social health is distinct from that of physical and mental health. Due to the strict social distancing policy in early COVID-19 period, urban parks in different levels of urbanization environment could exert varied health effects.

Climate change adaptation measures conflicted with the recreational demands on city forests during COVID-19 pandemic.

Recurrent droughts in southwest Germany threaten the city and community-owned forests (CCF). At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for recreation in CCF of southwest Germany. We interviewed stakeholders from different interest groups to critically analyze their opinion on how the high recreation demand on CCF due to the pandemic can be ensured along with implementing climate change adaptation measures in CCF in Karlsruhe, Germany. We found that stakeholders particularly highlighted the importance of the recreational function of the CCF during the pandemic. However, the behavior of visitors was criticized by the stakeholders. We showed that demand for the recreational use of CCF conflicted with climate change adaptation measures such as sanitary and forest restoration actions, creating a dilemma among stakeholders. Therefore, enhancing citizens' knowledge of forests' recreation functions and the need for climate change adaptation through communication and education should be prioritized.

High public appreciation for the cultural ecosystem services of urban and peri-urban forests during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) of urban and peri-urban forests (UPF) contribute to the urban population's health and well-being. However, UPF face numerous threats from increasing urbanization and climate change. A comprehensive understanding of the flow of the forests' CES between urban and peri-urban areas was lacking. Further, there is little empirical evidence of how people valued and used UPF during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we assessed residents' perceptions of CES provided by UPF, and their spatial distribution in Karlsruhe and Rheinstetten, Germany, using a participatory map-based questionnaire survey. Respondents (n=501) were asked to indicate five preferred locations of UPF and to rate the individual UPFs’ importance concerning various CES. Heatmaps were created to visualize the results, and normalized ratings of the perceptions were examined. The study demonstrated that residents prefer nearby locations for all studied CES but place a higher value on peri-urban forests regardless of their frequency of use. The survey results show an increase in visits to UPFs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of urban forest for citizens’ stress reduction during the pandemic was highlighted by the participants. We recommend considering these findings in urban forest planning.