Growth in surrounding consumer amenities: The economic externality of urban parks

Many cities in China have issued various policies aimed at strengthening the investment and construction of urban parks to promote ecological development. An urban park is often considered by scholars and policy makers only in terms of its ecological and social values. However, its economic externalities have not been studied fully. This paper adopts Points of Interest data to identify and measure the impact of urban park opening on surrounding consumer amenities, based on a difference‐in‐differences model. The empirical results show that the newly built parks in Guiyang, also known as the “Thousand‐park City,” promote the surrounding consumer amenities, especially dining and daily‐life services. Besides, parks in different locations and with different characteristics show heterogeneity in this spill‐over effect. This study enriches the understanding of the economic roles of urban parks, provides references for the planning of urban green space, and supports the urban synchronous economic and ecological development mode to some extent.