The driving factors of recreational utilization of ecological space in urban agglomerations: The perspective of urban political ecology

Understanding factors driving the recreational utilization of ecological space in urban agglomerations is crucial for the sustainable management of regional systems. However, existing literature focuses on the provision, distribution, and accessibility of urban green space at small scales, lacking explorations into ecological recreational spaces at an urban agglomeration scale. The current study explores the recreational utilization of ecological space in the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration in China by using panel data regression and field investigations from the perspective of urban political ecology. The results show that the forest area proportion, natural reserve area proportion, fiscal revenue, and tourist numbers all have a positive effect on the recreational utilization rate of ecological space; the fixed assets investment exerts unstable prohibitive impacts on the RUoES rate, and the wetland area proportion presents a negative effect on the RUoES rate; land use rights and regional governance structure exacerbate the imbalanced distribution of the rate across different cities. The research contributes to the existing literature by researching urban ecological space from a recreational perspective and at a broader spatial scale, thereby promoting the theoretical integration of recreational geography and political ecology.