The Digital Life of Parisian Parks: Multifunctionality and Urban Context Uncovered by Mobile Application Traffic

TL;DR

This study uses refined mobile traffic data to uncover the multifunctionality and diverse usage patterns of Parisian parks, revealing how urban context influences park activities and visitor motivations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to isolate park-specific mobile traffic and applies it to analyze park functions and visitor behaviors in Paris.

Findings

Distinct mobile traffic signatures for different park types

Identification of three park usage clusters: lunchbreak, cultural, recreational

Suburban parks reflect local demographics and preferences

Abstract

Urban parks support public health, but landscape architecture typically examines them through form and function. Prior equitable access research focused on park form, while functional studies relied on small-scale surveys, movement data, or broad usage metrics, missing specific activities and visit motivations. This gap limits our grasp of parks' functional diversity. We address this with a novel method refining mobile base station coverage via antenna azimuths to isolate park-specific traffic from surroundings. Using Paris as a case study, we process 492 million hourly per-app mobile records (35% market share) from 45 urban parks. We test the central-city hypothesis (multifunctional parks in dense, high-rent zones due to land constraints) and socio-spatial hypothesis (parks reflecting neighborhood routines and preferences). Results reveal parks' unique mobile traffic signatures, distinct from urban contexts and each other. Clustering by temporal and app patterns identifies three types: lunchbreak, cultural, and recreational parks, linked to health-promoting visitation motives. Central parks show diverse apps and peak usage; suburban recreational parks mirror local demographics, like income-aligned app preferences. This demonstrates mobile traffic's power as a proxy for urban green space activities, with key implications for park design, public health, and well-being strategies.