Concatenating Daily Exercise Routes with Public Sports Facilities, Bicycle Lanes, and Green Spaces: A Feasibility Analysis in Nanjing, China

Abstract

Public sports facilities have the potential to improve their functions as active living infrastructures (ALIs) in combination with bicycle lanes and green spaces. A favorable sequence of exercise intensities in different scenes is important for individuals to take physical activity scientifically. Our research aimed to explore the feasibility of promoting and consolidating this sequence using reasonable daily exercise routes concatenated by public sports facilities, green spaces, and bicycle lanes. Taking 25 major public sports facilities in Nanjing as an example, we obtained the cycling routes from open-source data and delineated the facilities’ cycling catchment areas to assess the coordination of bicycle lanes and facilities. Further, we evaluated the potential interactions between facilities and green spaces by checking the spatial intersections between park entrances and the above routes. The results revealed that with the integration of bicycle lanes, public sports facilities could provide services to most residential areas, and potential interactions between the facilities and parks existed already. Therefore, it was feasible to design reasonable daily exercise routes coupled with the existing facility layout. Moreover, the service gaps and potential interactions were affected by the layout of the facilities, the density of the bicycle lanes, the configuration of green spaces, and the official planning proposals. This research advances the understanding of how public sports facilities can be pivotal to the cooperation of ALIs with other infrastructures.