Spatial Structure of Urban Residents' Leisure Activities: A Case Study of Shenyang, China

The spatial characteristics of residents’ leisure activities not only reflect their demand for urban leisure space but also affect the urban spatial layout. This study takes Shenyang, China as an example and analyzes the characteristics of residents’ leisure activities through questionnaires. On this basis, it uses point of interest data and mobile phone signaling data to identify various types of residential and leisure functional relationships, and uses spatial analysis and community detection to assess the distance characteristics, flow patterns, and community structure of residents’ leisure activities, so as to discuss the spatial structure of residents’ leisure activities in Shenyang. The results showed that: 1) in addition to leisure at home, Shenyang residents mainly went to shopping malls, supermarkets,and parks for leisure activities, and the proportions of residents of the two types of leisure activities were approximately equal; 2) the average distances that residents traveled for shopping and park leisure were near in the middle and far in the periphery, and the travel costs of peripheral residents for centrally located leisure were higher than those for residents in central areas; 3) the flow patterns of the residential-shopping and residential-park functional relationships displayed clustering mode characteristics, and Shenyang presented a significant monocentric structure; and 4) residents’ shopping activities were concentrated in the southern community, and walking in the park activities were concentrated in the western community. Residents’ leisure activities were characterized by centripetal agglomeration,which was prone to problems such as traffic congestion and big city diseases. The spatial expansion process in the city was characterized by obvious directional inheritance and path dependence, and the construction of sub-cities is needed to improve the related service facilities.