Assessing urban park services for children's wellbeing using user-generated content (UGC): A case study of Shanghai, China

Urban parks play a crucial role in children's development. With UGC demonstrating their value in capturing granular user experiences, they have become an increasingly important data source in park research. However, their application remains preliminary and challenging when studying children. This study investigates urban park services related to children's wellbeing through user-generated content from 46 parks in Shanghai. It developed a structured lexicon by integrating 11 established audit tools with UGC, quantifying public perception of services across 9 dimensions (including 44 indicators) of children's well-being. Through BERT sentiment analysis, regression modeling, and machine learning, this study assessed service performance, identified key services influencing perceptions of children's wellbeing, and captured their non-linear and interaction patterns. Findings indicate that Education services show substantial variation across parks; Safety, Nature, Comfort, and Play services significantly influence perceptions, with Play dominating in parks with sufficient facilities. Interaction effects between Play-Nature and Play-Safety combinations highlight the importance of integrated design. Additionally, the analysis revealed a conflict between safety management practices and user expectations in Shanghai parks, suggesting a shift from restrictive to supportive safety practices. These findings provide practical insights for park optimization and demonstrate the potential of UGC in child-friendly environment research.