Urban Neighborhoods with Greater Access but Less Use of Nearby Parks: Case of Los Angeles, California.

This article investigates the spatial variability in the relationship between urban residents’ access to and use of nearby green spaces within the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area. Utilizing park boundary data from the Trust for Public Land and anonymized mobile phone visitation data from SafeGraph, the study applies geographically weighted regression (GWR) and multiscale GWR (MGWR) to identify neighborhoods where greater park accessibility does not correspond to higher park usage. Findings reveal that in some neighborhoods—often characterized by fewer White residents, lower educational attainment, younger populations, and fewer households with children—physical proximity and availability of parks do not translate into increased use. The study highlights that equitable distribution of green spaces alone may not ensure equitable utilization, emphasizing the need for urban planners to consider sociodemographic factors and local context when designing and managing urban green spaces.