This chapter focuses on the individual scale, delving into how residents’ daily mobility interacts with their static residential and work environments to shape true green exposure and its equity. The research first tests a core hypothesis: can daily travel compensate for a lack of greenness in one’s static environment (e.g., residential area)? An analysis of GPS trajectories from Beijing residents reveals a key conclusion: rather than achieving a widespread compensatory effect, mobility often leads to a “Neighborhood Effect Polarization Problem” (NEPP). That is, individuals living or working in green-rich environments also tend to encounter more greenery during their travels, and vice versa. This phenomenon may stem from individual “self-selection” (people who prefer green choose green communities and green routes) and the mobility constraints of disadvantaged groups, ultimately causing daily travel to exacerbate, rather than alleviate, green inequity. Building on this, the study introduces a gender dimension. The results show significant gender disparities in green exposure. Men, due to longer travel distances, typically achieve a higher total green exposure; women, while having smaller activity spaces, often experience a higher quality of green exposure per unit of distance, indicating a preference for higher-quality green routes within their constrained areas. This difference reveals how spatiotemporal constraints, social roles, and landscape preferences jointly shape the green experiences of different genders. Finally, to probe the deep mechanisms of “polarization” and “compensation,” the research introduces a novel perspective: vegetation’s chromatic diversity. Using Shanghai as a case study, the research finds that when the metric shifts from a simple “Green View Index” (quantity of green) to the more perceptible “color diversity” (quality of green), the neighborhood effect fundamentally changes. At the community level, the distribution of color diversity is significantly inequitable; however, at the level of individual travel, this inequity disappears, demonstrating a “Neighborhood Effect Averaging Problem” (NEAP). This suggests that high-quality, ornamental landscapes (such as rich colors), compared to sheer greenness, are more effective at triggering compensatory behaviors in disadvantaged groups, prompting them to actively make up for their residential environment’s shortcomings through travel. In summary, the individual-level analysis reveals a complex picture of green equity. Daily mobility is a double-edged sword: it can worsen inequity but also holds the potential to achieve it. The policy implication is that to improve green equity, one must not only focus on the “quantity” of green space in disadvantaged communities but also strive to enhance the “quality” of the entire urban green infrastructure, particularly linear spaces like streets, by improving their ornamental value and color diversity. By creating more attractive and perceptible green environments, it is possible to guide compensatory behaviors and thus promote environmental justice at the level of individual, lived experience, while also fully considering the different travel patterns and needs of various gender groups.

Research Perspective on Individual-Scale Urban Green Space and Equity

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发表日期：

2026年

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Jiayu Wu

摘要

This chapter focuses on the individual scale, delving into how residents’ daily mobility interacts with their static residential and work environments to shape true green exposure and its equity. The research first tests a core hypothesis: can daily travel compensate for a lack of greenness in one’s static environment (e.g., residential area)? An analysis of GPS trajectories from Beijing residents reveals a key conclusion: rather than achieving a widespread compensatory effect, mobility often leads to a “Neighborhood Effect Polarization Problem” (NEPP). That is, individuals living or working in green-rich environments also tend to encounter more greenery during their travels, and vice versa. This phenomenon may stem from individual “self-selection” (people who prefer green choose green communities and green routes) and the mobility constraints of disadvantaged groups, ultimately causing daily travel to exacerbate, rather than alleviate, green inequity. Building on this, the study introduces a gender dimension. The results show significant gender disparities in green exposure. Men, due to longer travel distances, typically achieve a higher total green exposure; women, while having smaller activity spaces, often experience a higher quality of green exposure per unit of distance, indicating a preference for higher-quality green routes within their constrained areas. This difference reveals how spatiotemporal constraints, social roles, and landscape preferences jointly shape the green experiences of different genders. Finally, to probe the deep mechanisms of “polarization” and “compensation,” the research introduces a novel perspective: vegetation’s chromatic diversity. Using Shanghai as a case study, the research finds that when the metric shifts from a simple “Green View Index” (quantity of green) to the more perceptible “color diversity” (quality of green), the neighborhood effect fundamentally changes. At the community level, the distribution of color diversity is significantly inequitable; however, at the level of individual travel, this inequity disappears, demonstrating a “Neighborhood Effect Averaging Problem” (NEAP). This suggests that high-quality, ornamental landscapes (such as rich colors), compared to sheer greenness, are more effective at triggering compensatory behaviors in disadvantaged groups, prompting them to actively make up for their residential environment’s shortcomings through travel. In summary, the individual-level analysis reveals a complex picture of green equity. Daily mobility is a double-edged sword: it can worsen inequity but also holds the potential to achieve it. The policy implication is that to improve green equity, one must not only focus on the “quantity” of green space in disadvantaged communities but also strive to enhance the “quality” of the entire urban green infrastructure, particularly linear spaces like streets, by improving their ornamental value and color diversity. By creating more attractive and perceptible green environments, it is possible to guide compensatory behaviors and thus promote environmental justice at the level of individual, lived experience, while also fully considering the different travel patterns and needs of various gender groups.