Association of Environmental Elements with Respondents’ Behaviors in Open Spaces Using the Direct Gradient Analysis Method: A Case Study of Jining, China

Following rapid urban development, higher demands are now being placed on urban open spaces in China, and the relationship between environmental elements and respondents’ behaviors in open spaces has become a common concern for researchers. Current research using geographic information systems has yielded macroscopic portraits of the behavioral trends and outcomes of research subjects, but evaluating their actual needs is complex. This paper proposes a new method to analyze the relationship between open spaces and respondents’ behaviors from a detailed perspective. Direct gradient analysis was employed with stratified sampling to select sample points in open spaces. Environment quality, ancillary facilities, and canal culture were selected as subjective evaluation factors. The greatest advantage of the proposed procedure is that it produces a ranking diagram, which compensates for the shortcomings of research methods that cannot directly express the actual needs related to respondents’ behaviors. From a case study in Jining, China, a location’s environmental quality and ancillary facilities were found to have the greatest influence on the behaviors of those using open spaces. Finally, strategies for improving environmental quality in open spaces are proposed.