AccScience Publishing / DP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/DP025110020
ARTICLE

Evaluation of recreational suitability of urban waterfront green spaces: A case study of Calligraphy Square in Linyi, Shandong, China

Haixia Chen1 Qianda Zhuang1*
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1 Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Agriculture and Forestry, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong, China
Received: 14 March 2025 | Revised: 16 June 2025 | Accepted: 11 July 2025 | Published online: 7 August 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

Urban waterfront green spaces are key elements in the urban framework, enhancing city livability. Centered around water bodies, they often form the most vibrant open spaces in cities. They offer people leisure, entertainment, fitness, and other diversified activities, enriching the cultural life of citizens. In addition, developing waterfront green spaces helps enhance a city’s image and foster residents’ sense of belonging and pride. At present, there is limited research on evaluating the recreational suitability of urban waterfront green spaces. This study aims to establish an evaluation system for recreational suitability tailored for Linyi’s waterfront green spaces. The Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process were employed to screen evaluation indicators and determine their weights, constructing the evaluation system. The evaluation standards were clarified, and Linyi Calligraphy Square was evaluated as an example. Data were gathered through questionnaires, on-site surveys, and reviews. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method showed that the recreational suitability score of Linyi Calligraphy Square is 4.004, indicating a high level of recreational suitability. Among these, the evaluation results rated the facility (0.42), recreational experience (0.484), and location and transportation (0.375) as “very good,” the environment (0.503) and landscape (0.391) as “good,” and the resources (0.439) as “average.” Based on these results, suggestions were made for Linyi Calligraphy Square, including increasing children’s activity facilities and venues, strengthening safety measures for water-related recreation, and providing reasonable and effective references for future development and construction.

Keywords
Analytic hierarchy process
Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
Linyi Calligraphy Square
Recreational suitability
Urban waterfront green spaces
Funding
The research was funded by the Linyi University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program: Research on Recreational Suitability Evaluation of Urban Waterfront Green Spaces – A Case Study of Linyi Calligraphy Square (Project No.: X202410452462).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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