From scale to context: rethinking “just green enough” through Shanghai’ park-led upgrading

The “just green enough” approach advocates for the provision of small-scale parks to mitigate green gentrification. Previous studies have explored the effectiveness of this strategy by combining park characteristics and location, but they have largely overlooked the impact of socioeconomic circumstances with varying initial accessibility to parks on green gentrification, necessitating further empirical validation. This study examined the green gentrification associated with newly built parks in Shanghai from 2010 to 2020, considering park scale, function, location, and the moderating effect of initial park accessibility. Our findings revealed that new parks induced gentrification in nearby areas, although the extent varied across park scale, function, and location. Furthermore, we found that the mediating effect of initial park accessibility varied in different park types and locations. This study enriches empirical research on green gentrification and offers policy recommendations for equitable urban green space planning.