Recreational Green Space Service in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area: A Multiple Travel Modes Perspective

Recreational green space (RGS) offers the most intuitive place for urban residents to get in touch with nature. The service radiation of RGS is related to the travel mode, however, residents’ travel behavior has long been ignored in the study of RGS services. This paper considers the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), uses multi-source data, refines the spatial distribution of residents, extracts and classifies the RGS into three categories (township (TRGS), country (CRGS), and urban (URGS)), and analyzes the spatial distribution of the three types of RGS. Using the travel isochrone, the RGS services coverage (including spatial and population coverage) in 11 cities within the GBA is defined by multiple travel modes. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation of the RGS services in the GBA is conducted based on the residents’ transportation choice willingness and recreational selection. The results showed that: (1) TRGSs are mainly distributed in the suburbs, URGSs are mainly concentrated in the mid-western and southern regions, and CRGSs are mostly concentrated in the center of the GBA. (2) For daily travel (15-min and 30-min travel modes), the coverage of the RGS services is unevenly distributed, while under the 60-min travel mode, the RGS services can almost fully cover the residents in the GBA (SPURGS > 99%). (3) The RGS service of the central cities (Hong Kong, Macau) is better than that of the edge cities (Zhaoqing, Jiangmen), and the different city types should adopt different RGS planning and management strategies. This study provides a reference for RGS refined planning and maintenance in mega-urban agglomerations