Citation: Lai, S.; Zhu, Y.; Deal, B. Did COVID-19 Reshape Visitor Preferences in Urban Parks? Investigating Influences on Sentiments in Shanghai, China. Sustainability 2023, 15, 16396. https://doi.org/10.3390/su 152316396 Academic Editors: Tang Tang and Jun Zhang Received: 4 November 2023 Revised: 18 November 2023 Accepted: 23 November 2023 Published: 28 November 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Did COVID-19 Reshape Visitor Preferences in Urban Parks? Investigating Influences on Sentiments in Shanghai, China Siqi Lai 1, * , Yifan Zhu 2 and Brian Deal 1 1 Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign, IL 61820, USA; deal@illinois.edu 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, 17 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; yifan.zhu@yale.edu * Correspondence: siqilai2@illinois.edu Abstract: Urban parks can be critical components of city landscapes. In the wake of COVID-19, understanding the role of urban parks in helping to elicit positive sentiment and improve the overall well-being of visitors has gained new traction in the literature. This research distinctively investigates whether the COVID-19 pandemic altered preferences regarding urban parks and identifies the key landscape attributes and environmental factors that influenced positive visitor sentiment, thereby addressing a critical gap in understanding the evolving dynamics of urban green spaces in the post-pandemic era. We use a mixed methods approach that includes natural language processing techniques to analyze crowd sourced data across more than 100 urban parks in Shanghai, China. Not surprisingly, our results highlight a post-pandemic rise in preferences for neighborhood parks and features typically associated with neighborhood parks, such as walking accessibility and surrounding residential densities. In addition, we found six park features, the presence of grasslands, water bodies, walking paths, and proximity to shopping facilities, significantly impacted the ways in which people perceived their park experience. These insights can guide urban park planning, design, and management in our evolving post-pandemic landscape to help ensure that urban parks continue to serve as essential urban spaces. Keywords: sentiment; social media data; urban parks; COVID-19; park types 1. Introduction Urban parks can be critical components of city landscapes [1]. In an increasingly fast- paced and stressful urban living environment, urban parks serve a vital role in promoting positivity [2], human health [3,4], well-being [5], sentiment [6], and happiness [7,8]. They can also offer recreational opportunities [9], foster community interaction [10], and con- tribute to local climate regulation by mitigating urban heat island effects [11]. The recent COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed substantial changes in public life, including how urban green spaces are perceived and utilized [12,13]. With its attendant social distancing mea- sures and lockdowns, the pandemic fundamentally disrupted the regular patterns of park use [14,15]. Are there long-term implications to this disruption? Has it also impacted the way people are affected by their parks? Research is emerging on questions of how COVID-19 disruptions have impacted our relationship with urban green spaces [16] including the increased reliance on local parks during lockdowns [17], and the therapeutic role of green spaces in pandemic-induced mental health challenges [18]. According to [19], what is missing is the influence of diverse park features—from natural landscapes to recreational facilities—on visitor sentiment within the context of post-pandemic urban life. The pandemic has served as a crucial catalyst for re-evaluating the role of urban parks, highlighting their value not only as recreational spaces but also as essential components of urban resilience [20]. City planners, equipped with insights into how park features influence visitor sentiment, can better design Sustainability 2023, 15, 16396. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316396 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability