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Article

The Places–People Exercise: Understanding Spatial Patterns and the Formation Mechanism for Urban Commercial Fitness Space in Changchun City, China

by
Shibo Gao
1,
Chenggu Li
1,*,
Yuefang Rong
2,
Qing Yan
3,
Wei Liu
1 and
Zuopeng Ma
4
1
School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
2
School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China
3
College of Geographic Sciences, Changchun Normal University, Changchun 130032, China
4
Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1358; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031358
Submission received: 26 October 2021 / Revised: 18 January 2022 / Accepted: 18 January 2022 / Published: 25 January 2022
Browse Figures
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Abstract

:
The fitness industry is rapidly developing due to the demand for fitness activities, and a large number of commercial fitness spaces have emerged in Changchun city. The distribution of commercial fitness spaces in the city is not chaotic; different types of fitness spaces should have different spaces to choose from. The purpose of this article is to summarize the spatial distribution characteristics and laws of urban commercial fitness spaces, to help better develop commercial fitness spaces. Using Changchun (a central city in northeastern China) as an example, the article divides commercial fitness spaces into five categories. Then, GIS tools are used to analyze the distribution patterns, level distributions, and agglomeration characteristics of commercial fitness spaces. The city’s commercial fitness space distribution patterns are subjected to further study, along with the influencing factors and forming mechanisms of the pattern. Moreover, based on the research results, this study provides targeted suggestions for the development of fitness spaces. The study found that the commercial fitness space in Changchun city has formed a multi-core spatial pattern. Various types of fitness spaces show significant spatial differentiation in many aspects, such as “center-periphery” characteristics, the spatial distribution form, and the specialized characteristics of each block unit. Fitness needs, national policies, transportation accessibility, spatial agglomeration, land rent, urban population distribution, etc., are the main factors affecting the spatial distributions of fitness spaces.

1. Introduction

Urban populations have long been living in heavy working environments, primarily due to the increasing pressures surrounding work and life. Poor living environments have led to a large number of people in these environments living in sub-healthy states. “Lack of exercise” has effectively become an epidemic that has spread/is spreading across the world. Approximately two million deaths per year are attributed to physical inactivity. This finding has prompted the World Health Organization to issue a warning that a sedentary lifestyle could very well be among the 10 leading causes of death and disability in the world [1,2,3]. Fitness is one of the most important factors in improving human health; thankfully, the demand for fitness facilities has increased [4,5,6].
In China, the development of the social economy and lifestyle changes have led to transformations in the consumption behaviors of urban people [7]. How to reshape the relationship between man and land through consumption behavior has become a human geography research subject [8]. As income increases and the demand for fitness increases, fitness consumption is accounting for an increasing proportion of expenditures. The fitness and leisure industry has become a major consumer industry in cities, and is an important part of the modern service industry. To a certain extent, this reflects the development level of a city’s modern service industry. Groups with different incomes have different consumption preferences [9]. Simple fitness spaces, such as parks and squares, are obviously not adequate to meet diverse fitness needs. This situation provides fertile ground for commercial fitness spaces. In recent years, the commercial fitness space within Changchun city has developed rapidly, and the amount of space has increased each year. However, the rationality and fairness of the spatial distribution of a commercial fitness space is open to question. Studying the spatial pattern and formation mechanism of the commercial fitness space in a city will help solve the growing fitness needs of urban residents. provide scientific guidance and suggestions, and faster development of the urban commercial fitness space.
The urban commercial fitness space pattern and system—in line with the rapid growth and spatial agglomeration of commercial fitness venues in big cities—have also been formed. Urban commercial fitness spaces have become new, functional spaces in cities, and should be regarded as research fields of concern for disciplines (such as urban science, urban planning, and geography). As presented in this article, we believe that scholarly research into commercial fitness spaces is mainly conducted to grasp the overall spatial patterns, analyze the spatial agglomeration statuses and development stages of various commercial fitness spaces, and study the hierarchical structures. In this study, we divide the commercial fitness spaces by type, and present the spatial differentiations of different types of commercial fitness spaces. The formation mechanisms of commercial fitness spaces are also discussed, and the influencing factors in the process of commercial fitness space formations are explored.
Based on the above, this article proposes the following research questions:
(1)
What are the distribution patterns of commercial fitness spaces in cities?
(2)
How are the distribution patterns of commercial fitness spaces in a city formed?
(3)
How can planners optimize and adjust currently unreasonable commercial fitness spaces to meet the increasing demands of society?
This article uses Changchun city, China, as an example, aiming to answer the above questions. Changchun is a regional central city in northeast China and one of China’s megacities, with a total population of 4.7 million and a total regional output value of RMB 590.41 billion. The research area of this paper was the downtown area of Changchun, where the total population is 3.43 million, and the total area covers 612.08 km2. There are nearly 1000 commercial fitness spaces, and more than 30,000 people are engaged in commercial fitness activities, making Changchun city an obvious choice for this study.
In the second section of this article, we review the related literature on fitness spaces. Section 3 explains the research data sources and research methods. Section 4 describes the overall distribution of commercial fitness spaces in Changchun. Section 5 explores the agglomeration characteristics of different types of commercial fitness spaces. Section 6 discusses the formation mechanism of the distribution patterns of commercial fitness spaces. Section 7 presents relevant suggestions on the optimization and adjustment of commercial fitness spaces and summarizes the research of this article.

2. Literature Review and Theoretical Analysis

2.1. Literature Review

Leisure studies from Western countries is one of the oldest branches of social sciences, with a history dating back more than 100 years [10]. As a kind of leisure activity, fitness activities have been studied by international scholars. Some scholars have focused on the connections between the conditions of people and fitness activities. For example, regarding people of different ages [11,12], many researchers believe that fitness spaces in the community have more of a direct impact on the health of the elderly [13,14,15,16,17,18]. City parks are directly related to children’s sports activities [19,20]. Fitness spaces around children’s communities or schools can significantly affect children’s fitness activities, thereby directly affecting their health [21,22,23,24,25]. Many studies have shown that children with access to nearby parks and recreational facilities are more active than other children [26,27]. Some scholars have conducted research from the perspective of gender [11,28,29,30]. Due to differences in social status and family responsibilities, women are often more restricted in their fitness activities [31]. Occupation, education, physical defects, etc., are also among the main factors affecting fitness activities [32,33].
The conditions that make the production of fitness spaces possible have always been valued by geographers [34]. They generally believe that factors, such as land use [35], traffic accessibility [13,35,36,37,38], residential density [13,35], crime rate [13,39,40,41], and neighborhood environment [42,43], have greater impacts on the development of fitness spaces in cities. The formation of fitness spaces have direct impacts on the fitness activities of urban residents. Scholars have found that the availability of fitness spaces in a city promotes fitness activities among residents [22,26]. Traffic accessibility is usually defined as the distance or proximity from a residence to the fitness space [44]. Urban residents living near a fitness space carry out more fitness activities [45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53]. Some studies directly link the fitness activities of residents with the presence of fitness facilities near the residences, the density of fitness facilities, and the area of the fitness space within a specific radius of the residences [54,55]. The quality of fitness facilities, road conditions, land use patterns, and community environments also directly affect the fitness activities of residents [56,57]. Social conditions, such as poverty, unemployment, and crime, may also have negative impacts on the use of fitness spaces [58,59].
Scholars have also focused on the fairness of the distribution and availability of fitness spaces. Some studies have found that fitness spaces in cities are not always fairly distributed [60,61,62,63]. Class, race, and cultural background also affect the distribution of fitness spaces in a city [64]. In the United States, scholars have discovered that the suburbs (where high-income white residents live) have the best fitness spaces in the city [63]. Communities with lower socioeconomic statuses tend to only provide poor parks and fitness trails [65].
Fitness spaces have become important parts of urban spaces and are closely related to the lives of urban residents. Fitness spaces not only provide places for urban residents to exercise, they are also places for people to rest and communicate with others. Diversified fitness activities can help people relieve work and life pressures, thereby playing an important role in improving the quality of life and the happiness of individuals. The reasonable and scientific distributions of fitness spaces in a city not only help to promote the fitness and social activities of residents, but also further improves the mental health of residents [34,66].
International scholars have carried out many related studies on fitness spaces, but those studies tend to focus on public fitness spaces, such as parks, squares, and green areas in cities; less attention is devoted to commercial fitness spaces [67]. This paper is written from the perspective of commercial fitness spaces, with some innovations. Scholarly research on fitness spaces mostly involve exploring the impacts of fitness spaces on residents’ activities and the fairness of urban fitness space distributions, but there is a lack of “agglomeration” research regarding urban fitness spaces. Less attention has been placed on the spatial combinations of various fitness venues, the formation and changes of fitness spaces, etc. This article believes that the formation and development of commercial fitness spaces within cities involve a scientific process. Different types of commercial fitness spaces follow certain rules in spatial layouts. The empirical research on commercial fitness spaces in Changchun city has played a role in enriching the research results of global fitness spaces and, at the same time, it has important significance in improving urban spatial distributions and the rational planning of urban residential and public spaces.

2.2. Theoretical Analysis

In this study, the authors, by sorting through relevant literature at home and abroad, interpret commercial fitness spaces as leisure activity places that, for the purpose of making a profit, provide people with fitness and entertainment services and facilities. The types of commercial fitness spaces include indoor venues, outdoor sports fields, and other types. Commercial fitness spaces are not only considered leisure spaces in a city, they are also consumption spaces. Commercial fitness spaces are different from free and open parks and green spaces. Commercial fitness spaces have commercial attributes, and the spatial formations and distributions of such spaces will be affected by the market economy.
Heavy daily workloads cause the physical quality of people to gradually decline. More people are in sub-healthy states; these people need more fitness activities to make their bodies healthier. There are not enough open fitness spaces (such as parks and green spaces) in cities to meet the fitness needs. Under the conditions of this imbalance of supply and demand in cities, commercial fitness spaces are gradually appearing. Although commercial fitness spaces cost a certain amount of money, they provide more options to people who want to exercise [59,68].
With the increase in urban residential incomes, the “levels” of their fitness needs are also increasing. Fitness activities are not limited to “walking”, “running”, and other activities to acquire basic health needs; people are now more interested in using a variety of fitness facilities to get in better shape, for their beauty, leisure, and social needs. These “higher-level” needs are often only met by commercial fitness spaces. This is because, compared with open, free, public fitness spaces, commercial fitness spaces have more types of fitness facilities, better environments, more thoughtful services, and more private spaces.
Different groups of people have different fitness consumption needs [69]. For example, older people usually engage in physical activity and physical fitness through simple fitness exercises, such as walking and running. Younger people are more inclined to get in shape by using various fitness facilities. Urban residents have different income levels and different needs for fitness activities. Higher-income groups usually engage in more expensive fitness activities to achieve relaxation and social interaction, such as golfing and horseback riding. Residents with lower incomes tend to choose more economical fitness activities, such as badminton and swimming. There are a wide variety of commercial fitness spaces that can better meet the fitness needs of different groups.
Land rent is the remuneration that land owners receive from land users by virtue of land ownership. Land rent is also a major factor affecting the distribution of commercial fitness spaces [70,71]. In the interior areas of cities, land rents in different regions vary greatly. Different types of commercial fitness spaces have different footprints. To ensure profitability, fitness spaces are often distributed in different locations in a city. The distributions of other commercial spaces in a city will also affect the distributions of commercial fitness spaces. According to the theory of agglomeration economy, the spatial agglomeration of industries can increase the degree of specialization of a region, save costs, and obtain more profits [72]. Commercial fitness spaces, as types of consumer spaces, are usually distributed and clustered around major commercial districts in cities [73].
Commercial fitness spaces are involve a combination of fitness facilities and urban spaces. Different types of commercial fitness facilities have different needs for spaces, and their spatial forms have obvious differences. Fitness sports, such as golf, require a lot of space and have higher requirements in terms of the surrounding environments. They tend to exist independently on the periphery of the city and are relatively scattered. Badminton, billiards, and other fitness sports are less constrained with regard to their locations. Most of the facilities that host these activities are used as auxiliary facilities and are concentrated in urban commercial complexes. Commercial fitness facility spaces require large “flows” of people, and spatial location attributes, such as urban residential and commercial areas, have attractive effects on the formation of commercial fitness facilities.
The level and number of fitness facilities are gradually increasing due to market competition and increasing fitness needs. Unlike traditional fitness spaces, today’s commercial fitness spaces are more modern. Service groups have also shifted from low-income groups to middle- and high-level groups. Fitness spaces now present trends of diversification and individualization, with greater abilities to combine fitness and interests, thus meeting the needs of more (and different groups of) people. Commercial fitness spaces are not only considered consumption spaces in a city, they are also important parts of urban public facilities. Commercial fitness spaces are now the fastest growing public facilities, with demand increasing rapidly over the past few years. More consideration should be given to demand and industry development in urban planning.

3. Research Methods and Data

3.1. Data Sources

Through remote sensing image registration, this study digitally acquired the main traffic road network, water area, and green space. Based on the vector data of the city’s arterial roads, the downtown area of Changchun city was divided into several traffic analysis zone (TAZ) grid cells. The POI data in this article come from the Gaode map open platform, and the acquisition time was May 2020. The data include five major categories: (1) sports leisure service places, (2) sports venues, (3) entertainment venues, (4) leisure places, and (5) scientific, educational, and cultural venues, as well as several sub-categories of data types. In this research, we mainly selected commercial fitness spaces, and screened and eliminated non-commercial fitness spaces, such as sports venues inside schools, squares, and parks in the city. After space matching, de-duplication, and deleting low-recognition commercial fitness spaces, a total of 857 valid POI data were obtained (Figure 1). The effective data were reclassified, and the commercial fitness spaces were divided into five categories: swimming places, ball places, exercise places, stadiums, and sports training places.

3.2. Research Methods

The kernel density analysis method, circle layer analysis method, and location entropy analysis method were selected in this study to analyze the research data and to solve the problems raised above.
Kernel density analysis was used to explore the overall distribution patterns of commercial fitness spaces. Kernel density analysis is one of the most popular nonparametric forms of test analyses. This method is widely used in public affairs, geographic information, and other fields. Kernel density analysis can easily and quickly complete complex nonlinear fitting, and the results are more accurate, which is the reason kernel density analysis was chosen for this study.
Circle analysis can intuitively observe the changes in the distribution of certain types of things in a region, from the center to the periphery. Location entropy is usually used to measure the spatial distributions of elements in a certain area or to reflect the degree of specialization of a certain element. These methods are widely used by geographers to study spatial distributions [74,75,76]. Among them, the circle layer analysis method is used to analyze the distribution law of the fitness space “center-periphery”. The location entropy analysis method is used to explore the spatial differentiations of different types of fitness spaces. By analyzing the distributions of different types of commercial fitness spaces in different regions, this study will discuss how the distribution patterns of commercial fitness spaces are formed.

3.2.1. Kernel Density Analysis

In the spatial agglomeration analysis of point features, the kernel density estimation method was used to reflect the relative concentration of the spatial distribution of the features, mainly with the aid of a regular moving sample square, which was used to estimate the agglomeration degree of the spatial point feature distribution. This article uses nuclear density analysis to measure the spatial densities of commercial fitness spaces. The calculation formula is as follows:
f s = ∑ i = 1 n 1 h 2 k s − c i h
Here, f(s) is the kernel density calculation function at the spatial position s; the k function is the spatial weight function, h is the distance attenuation threshold, and n is the number of element points whose distances from position s are less than or equal to h.

3.2.2. Circle Analysis Method

Circle analysis refers to a circle that is centered on a certain point in the core area of the city and extrapolated with a fixed radius. In this article, the People’s Square in Changchun city was chosen as the center of the circle, with the fixed radius from the center to the periphery; there was a buffer zone every 2 km. Then, the number of commercial fitness spaces inside each circle was counted, and the distribution of commercial fitness spaces in each circle of the city “center-periphery” was analyzed. The study area covers approximately 612 km2, and there are 857 valid POI data. According to the distribution of the POI data in the study area, we believe that a buffer zone of 2 km can effectively show the distribution characteristics of the commercial fitness space’s “center-periphery”.

3.2.3. Location Quotient Analysis Method

This article uses location quotients to analyze the degree of specialization, of commercial fitness spaces, in different TAZ block units. The higher the value of the commercial fitness space’s location quotient, the higher the degree of specialization of the type of commercial fitness space in the area. When the location quotient index Q > 2, this indicates that this kind of commercial fitness space has a high degree of specialization in this block unit, forming a cluster of industry advantages. When 1 < location quotient index Q < 2, the industry advantage of this category of commercial fitness space in the block unit is not very significant. When the location quotient index Q < 1, the commercial fitness space of this category does not have industry advantages in the block unit. The calculation formula is as follows:
Q = E K − A / E K
Here, Q is the location quotient and EK−A is the ratio of the number of commercial fitness spaces of type A in area K to the number of all commercial fitness spaces of type A in the entire area. Moreover, EK is the ratio of the total number of commercial fitness spaces in area K to the number of commercial fitness spaces in the entire area.

4. Spatial Pattern of Commercial Fitness Space

4.1. Overall Pattern of Spatial Distribution

The kernel density analysis method was used to further analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of the commercial fitness space. The spatial distribution of commercial fitness spaces in Changchun city initially formed a spatial pattern of a multi-center agglomeration, including three high-density agglomeration areas (People’s Square, Changchun City Stadium, and Silicon Valley Square) and eight medium-high-density agglomeration areas (Guilin Road, Joy City, Satellite Square, Ecological Square, Centrino Jingyue University Town, Dongsheng Eurasian Supermarket, Jingyang Square, and Warm Garden), as well as several medium-density agglomeration areas (Figure 2).
The high-density areas of commercial fitness space are mainly distributed in the core area of the city. The distribution density presents a gradually decreasing characteristic, from the central area to the peripheral area. A number of medium–high-density agglomeration areas have also formed on the periphery of the city. The three high-density areas of People’s Square, Changchun City Stadium, and Guilin Road in the central area of the city are connected and form the largest agglomeration center in the main urban area of Changchun city. In the southwest of the city, in the high-density agglomeration areas, Silicon Valley Square is connected to the medium–high-density agglomeration areas of Joy City, forming the secondary agglomeration center. On the city’s periphery, various medium- and high-density areas are scattered, forming multiple small-scale agglomeration points. On the whole, the commercial fitness space of Changchun city is mainly concentrated in the core area of the city. With the development of the outer area of the city, the fitness space is spreading outwards, forming a new gathering center of fitness spaces in the outer area of the city. As can be seen from the figure, the places in which the fitness spaces gather are often densely populated areas. The city center has a large number of shops along the street and convenient traffic conditions, and a huge flow of people move through this area every day. The southwest of the city has many high-tech zones. The technology industry also attracts a large number of technicians. However, high-density populations and convenient transportation are the main factors affecting the distribution of commercial fitness spaces.

4.2. Spatial Agglomeration State

To explore the spatial agglomeration and developmental stages of commercial fitness facilities in Changchun, grid units were divided, based on the city’s arterial roads. Spatial autocorrelation analysis was used to analyze the agglomeration characteristics of commercial fitness space distribution. The global Moran index of the spatial distribution of commercial fitness space is 0.146, which passes the test at the significance level of 0.01. This finding shows that the commercial fitness space’s spatial distribution has a significant positive spatial correlation. The results of the distribution of cold and hot spots in the local GI index of a commercial fitness space show that there are significant hot spots and cold spots in the commercial fitness space distribution, based on road grid units (Figure 3). The hot spots are mainly distributed in the core area of the city, People’s Square, Guilin Road, Changchun Stadium, and other areas. There are also obvious hot spots in the Ecological Square in the southeast. These are all areas where commercial fitness spaces in Changchun city are highly concentrated; the “high–high” type grid also has obvious characteristics of agglomeration. Both the area itself and the surrounding neighboring areas show high-density situations, indicating that the spatial agglomerations of these areas are in relatively mature stages of diffusion. The hotspot area of Silicon Valley Square, the secondary agglomeration center in the southwest, is not obvious. The commercial fitness space of Silicon Valley Square has a higher density, but the density of commercial fitness spaces in the neighboring area is lower. This finding shows that the commercial fitness space’s spatial agglomeration is still in a relatively preliminary stage of agglomeration. The distribution of cold spots is mainly in the northeast and southwest areas of the periphery of the city. Commercial fitness space is less distributed in the northeast and southwest of the city, and the allocation of such spaces is insufficient. The hot spot appears in the core area of the city, and its location roughly overlaps with major business districts. This finding shows that Guilin Road and other commercial districts in the city center have had greater impacts on the formation of commercial fitness spaces. Among them, the “high–low” agglomeration type had more grids. This finding shows that, although commercial fitness facilities have agglomerated, most of them are still at relatively preliminary stages of development. The emergence of relatively obvious cold and hot areas indicates that the commercial fitness space in the city is extremely unevenly distributed. There is too much—and even a wasteful amount—of commercial fitness space in the central area of the city. However, in the urban fringe areas, there are not enough commercial fitness spaces to meet people’s needs.

4.3. Grade Structure Status

This section analyzes the identified medium- and high-density hotspots, calculates the total area, the POI data, and the average nuclear density. Statistical results are used as variables to perform a cluster analysis in ArcGIS, and NO_SPATLAL_CONSTRAINT is selected as the spatial constraint parameter. The city’s commercial fitness space is divided into two levels: city-level center and district-level center (Table 1). From the clustering results, the multi-center pattern of commercial fitness space has initially taken shape. The multi-center pattern includes three city-level centers (People’s Square, Changchun City Stadium, and Silicon Valley Square) and eight district-level centers (Guilin Road, Joy City, Satellite Square, Ecological Square, Centrino Jingyue University Town, Dongsheng Eurasian Supermarket, Jingyang Square, and Warm Garden). From the perspective of the scale and density of each center, the advantages of the three city-level centers (People’s Square, Changchun City Stadium, and Silicon Valley Square) are more obvious, far exceeding other district-level centers. Judging from the area of each center and the POI data distributed, although each is a city-level center, the numbers and areas of POI data in the center of People’s Square far exceed those of Changchun City Stadium and Silicon Valley Square. District-level centers, such as Warm Garden and Happy City, have specific difficulties, including small-scale and weak competitive advantages. These findings show that the multi-center structure of the commercial fitness space in Changchun is still at a relatively early stage. The gap between the centers is obvious. Commercial fitness spaces are mostly concentrated in the People’s Square in the core area of the city and nearby areas. Although a district-level center is formed on the periphery of the city, the agglomeration advantage is not obvious. The grade structure needs improvement.

5. Spatial Differentiation of Functional Types of Commercial Fitness Space

5.1. Spatial Differentiation of “Center-Periphery” Functional Types

To study the “center-periphery” differences in the quantity and density distributions of commercial fitness spaces in Changchun city, the People’s Square in the center of the city was used as the center. According to the size of the study area, concentric circles with a radius difference of 2 km were made and used as the buffer zones. The commercial fitness space in Changchun city is mainly distributed within a 14 km circle, with the People’s Square as the center. The “center-periphery” spatial differentiation characteristics of various commercial fitness spaces are remarkable (Figure 4). The following characteristics were observed: (a) the distribution densities of various commercial fitness spaces as a whole show a gradual decrease from the center to the periphery. (b) Stadiums have the widest distributions, and there are still a certain number of distributions in the outermost areas of the city. The circle layer distribution density has two peaks, one at 4 km and one at 10 km. (c) The circle layer distribution trends of exercise places and swimming places are similar, showing an “M” shape distribution. Two peaks are formed, one at 6 km and one at 10 km. (d) The circle layer distributions of ball places and sports training places show an inverted u-shaped trend. (e) From the perspective of the distribution of various commercial fitness spaces, the city center is mainly composed of swimming places, ball places, and exercise places. The periphery of the city is dominated by stadiums and sports training places. This finding shows that the high-density population and location advantages in the city center are more suitable for the development of exercise places, ball places, and swimming places. Meanwhile, the low-cost rents on the periphery of the city are more suitable for the development of stadiums and sports training places.
From the perspective of the density distribution of various commercial fitness spaces (Figure 5): (a) various commercial fitness spaces have formed significant density distribution centers. (b) Obvious differences exist in the distributions of the different types of commercial fitness spaces. High-density areas with ball places, swimming places, and stadiums are mainly concentrated in the core area of the city. The density of commercial fitness space in the outer area of the city is low. This finding shows that commercial fitness space is greatly affected by the location advantages of the city center and the high-density population. Due to the need for larger venues for sports training places, high-density agglomeration areas are mainly located on the periphery of the city, due to the impact of land rent. A spatial distribution pattern of a “low core-high peripheral” has been formed. (c) The agglomeration characteristics of stadiums and swimming places are more obvious, mostly concentrated in the density center, and relatively less distributed on the periphery. Exercise places, ball places, and sports training places form a number of relatively obvious density centers; other areas also form many denser clusters, with obvious spatial diffusion characteristics.

5.2. Spatial Differentiation of Types of Commercial Fitness Spaces

Judging from the characteristics of the specialized functional areas of various commercial fitness spaces—ball places and sports training places form multiple highly specialized functional areas, while the numbers of other types of highly specialized functional areas are relatively small (Figure 6). From the perspective of the spatial layout of various industries, which are affected by factors, such as tight land use in the center of the city and high housing rents, more land is used for stadiums and sports training venues. Highly specialized functional areas are also mostly formed on the periphery of the city. Ball places and swimming places with lesser land demand form highly specialized functional areas in urban centers. This finding is generally consistent with the “center-periphery” spatial characteristics of various commercial fitness spaces. Regarding the density distribution in conjunction with various types of commercial fitness spaces, the spatial distribution characteristics of the highly specialized functional areas of swimming spaces and sports training spaces are similar to the spatial distribution characteristics of their high-density hot spots. The high-density areas occupied by stadiums, ball places, and exercise places do not show characteristics of high degrees of specialization. This finding shows that these three types of commercial fitness spaces are more dispersed throughout the city.

6. Formation Mechanism of Commercial Fitness Space

6.1. The Urban Population Has Strong and Diverse Fitness Needs

As life pressures increase and physical fitness declines, more urban residents are looking to get involved in physical fitness and sports. According to a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2014, for people aged 20–69, 51% of people in China practiced fitness exercises. That figure represents an increase of 1.5 percentage points from 2013. Since 2011, the number of people who have regularly participated in physical exercises in China has increased. In 2015, the number of people who regularly participated in physical exercise was close to 400 million. Changchun city, as the central city of northeast China, has a population of 4.7 million (and it is still growing). The large fitness population brings a huge level of demand to the fitness industry.
With improvements in living standards, the levels of people’s fitness needs are also increasing. Fitness spaces are also now considered more important. Fitness spaces are not just places for physical exercise, they are also used to make friends, to decompress, and for leisure and entertainment activities. Fitness is no longer limited to just running outdoors; people are now more inclined to look for more exclusive activity spaces with more concentrated populations and better fitness facilities. The emergence of commercial fitness spaces have “broken through” the monotonous outdoor fitness activities conducted in the past. New commercial fitness spaces provide people with a wealth of exclusive fitness facilities, satisfying diverse fitness needs, in areas such as socializing and leisure.

6.2. National Policy Support for the Fitness Industry

In 1952, the Chinese government put forward new comprehensive fitness guidelines. In October 2014, the national fitness policy was upgraded to a national strategy. This strategy proposed that the fitness and recreation industry should be seen as a green industry or a sunrise industry that the government would foster and support. It is now required that relevant government agencies vigorously cultivate fitness service industries, including fitness and leisure areas, competition performances, venue services, and intermediary training. Changchun city supports the fitness industry in terms of investment management, taxation, land use, and talent guarantees. In terms of investment, the city encourages social capitalists to set up fitness and leisure industry development investment funds in a market-oriented way, in order to promote the development of government and social capital cooperation demonstrations. In terms of taxation, subsidies are provided to sports venues owned by public institutions, residents’ committees, and village committees. Appropriate reductions and exemptions are in place for real estate and land used for sports activities, including exemptions from real estate taxes and urban land use taxes. In terms of land use, the city actively guides the fitness and leisure industry to control land use scale and scientific site selection. Reasonable arrangements are also made for related sites in terms of all levels of local land use planning. In terms of talent protection, school–enterprise cooperation is encouraged. Application-oriented professionals are cultivated in areas, such as business planning, operation management, and the skilled operations of various fitness and leisure projects. The vocational training of practitioners is being strengthened, and steps are being taken to improve the service levels and professional skills of staff in fitness and leisure places. National policy support has therefore greatly accelerated the development of commercial fitness spaces.

6.3. Traffic Accessibility of Commercial Fitness Space

Transportation cost is one of the factors that influences urban residents to choose particular fitness spaces. If a destination is easy to reach, this usually affects one’s travel plans. Commercial fitness spaces have high demands for pedestrian flow, and as such, commercial fitness space facilities are usually built in places that have convenient access to transportation. Such areas are mainly distributed along the main roads and traffic nodes of a city. Taking the main roads of the city as a benchmark, and by conducting a buffer analysis, one can find that approximately 30% of all commercial fitness spaces are located within 100 m of a city’s main roads (Table 2). That figure has increased to 80% within a range of 300 m. Thus, traffic accessibility has a greater impact on the distribution of commercial fitness spaces within a city.

6.4. Spatial Agglomeration of Commercial Fitness Space

In recent years, the trend towards fitness consumption has become more obvious. Fitness consumption has been included in the business scopes of urban commercial centers. A large number of commercial fitness spaces have been set-up in urban commercial complexes. To attract more people, various types of commercial facilities tend to be concentrated in specific locations, in order to obtain agglomeration benefits. Under the guidance of this kind of agglomeration, the commercial fitness space also shows a trend of agglomeration in a space. However, the transportation needs of different types of commercial fitness spaces, the space requirements of different types of places, and the breadth of needs are all different. The spatial distribution is also different. Compared with fitness activities, such as golfing and shooting, which are needed and used by relatively few people, there are more people who engage in fitness activities, such as billiards, swimming, and badminton. Those types of facilities are often attached to commercial complexes in cities, and they agglomerate in space. As shown in Figure 2, the surrounding areas of comprehensive commercial centers, such as Guilin Road, Joy City, Dongsheng Eurasian Supermarket, Jingyang Square, and People’s Square in Changchun city, have formed medium- and high-density clusters of commercial fitness spaces. In addition to commercial centers, the centralized construction of universities also drives the geographical concentrations of commercial fitness spaces. Since 2000, Jingyue Development Zone of Changchun city has successively built many new university campuses. Now, this area has begun to take shape, forming a university town. The agglomeration of universities has led to the formation of high-density agglomeration areas of two commercial fitness spaces in the surrounding area, namely the Ecological Square and Centrino Jingyue University Town. These commercial fitness spaces have high passenger flow requirements; there is also a certain amount of distribution around various large enterprises and high-end communities. For example, Silicon Valley Square, in the high-tech development zone where companies gather, and the Warm Garden area, where residential buildings in the north of the city are concentrated, have formed a high-density cluster of commercial fitness spaces. The formation of an “agglomeration” area not only attracts more commercial fitness spaces, but also promotes the development of other related industries, such as the catering industry and retail industry. The virtual circle, with each driven by the other, causes the commercial fitness space to develop faster.

6.5. The Rent-Seeking Ability of Commercial Fitness Space

Urban land rent is one of the important factors affecting the distribution of a commercial fitness space. The house rental costs in different parts of the city are also different. Land rent prices in the central area of the city are higher; conversely, land rent costs in the outer area are lower. Overall, land rent shows a decreasing trend from the center to the periphery. Different types of commercial fitness spaces have significant differences in site construction, equipment procurement, and operation management. The profits obtained are also very different. Annual rent costs for street-side shops in the Guilin Road business district in the downtown area of Changchun can reach more than RMB 300,000, or approximately 10 times the annual rent in the city’s peripheral areas. Businesses often choose industrial locations based on the income capacity of the fitness space. Small commercial fitness spaces, such as billiards halls, badminton halls, and fitness centers, require smaller venues and make higher profits. They can afford the relatively high site rental costs, and they also require more in the way of passenger flow and convenient traffic conditions. The site selections of such venues are often in the central areas of cities. Some sports training venues and large venues, such as golf courses, occupy much larger land areas. To reduce costs, they usually form gathering points in the outer areas of cities, where rental costs are much cheaper.

6.6. Population Distribution Affects the Distribution of Commercial Fitness Space

The emergence of commercial fitness spaces is required to meet the fitness needs of urban residents. As such, population distribution has a great influence on the distribution of commercial fitness space. Demographic factors mainly affect the location choices of commercial fitness spaces, from the aspects of population size, age structure, and other factors. From the perspective of the population distribution of Changchun city, the urban population of the city is mainly concentrated in the areas within the third ring road. The population density within the third ring road is 7100 people/km2, which is 2.17 times the population density of the outlying areas. A dense population requires and attracts a lot of commercial fitness space. The number of commercial fitness spaces within the third ring road is 1.87 times that of peripheral areas. The distribution of commercial fitness space and the distribution of the population show high degrees of consistency. From the perspective of age structure, the elderly in Changchun city are mainly concentrated in the area enclosed by Fanrong Road-East Third Ring Road-Taipei Street-West Third Ring Road. The young and middle-aged populations have gradually gathered in the Jingyue National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in the southeast, the Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone in the southwest, and the Changdongbei area in the northeast. Compared with the elderly, young people are the main consumers of commercial fitness spaces. The shift—of the youth population to the periphery of the city—has enabled the development of commercial fitness spaces in the city’s periphery. High-density gathering areas of commercial fitness spaces, such as Ecological Square, Centrino Jingyue University Town, and Silicon Valley Square, have been formed.

7. Discussion and Conclusions

7.1. Discussion

Many research results have indicated that most places with consumption attributes (such as commercial fitness spaces) are distributed in city areas with highly-concentrated populations [76]. The formations of such places are usually affected by urban traffic [32,37,38]. The findings of these studies are very similar to the results of this article. Many commercial fitness spaces in Changchun are distributed near major business districts and dense residential housing areas. This is the same as the results presented by many scholars [67,68,77]. These fitness spaces are usually ball game areas, fitness venues, and swimming facilities. They rely more on dense populations, convenient transportation, and being closer to residents [66]. These spaces tend to appear in high-density forms, in areas, forming clusters and attracting more fitness spaces. However, there are exceptions. Stadiums and sports training venues showed different results in this study. The impact of urban land rent is fully reflected in these two types of fitness spaces. Such facilities need large venues, and the venue cost is the first element that must be considered. For this reason, such facilities are usually distributed in the city’s periphery, where the population is sparse, but the price of land is cheap enough.
The current commercial fitness space inside the studied city cannot meet the needs of urban residents. According to the results of POI data crawling, the number of commercial fitness spaces in downtown Changchun is approximately 800. The population of the central area of Changchun city is approximately 3.5 million. Obviously, then, the existing commercial fitness spaces cannot meet the fitness needs of urban residents in Changchun city.
The distribution of commercial fitness spaces is unfair. In the context of the promotion of national policies and the growing demand for fitness among urban people, commercial fitness spaces have developed rapidly in many cities in recent years. However, in the site selection and construction of these commercial fitness spaces, the first consideration is often related to how to maximize profit, while less consideration is given to space fairness. Under the regulation of the market, commercial fitness spaces are often concentrated in the core areas of cities. Residents in peripheral areas of cities often have to spend more on transportation to enjoy fitness services. This brings great inconvenience to many urban residents who want to engage in fitness activities.
According to the above situation, the relationship between commercial fitness spaces and free facilities should be appropriately handled. The layout of the city’s functional areas should be adjusted. The city should also encourage the spread of commercial fitness facilities to outer areas. The government should appropriately add public fitness spaces (such as squares, parks, fitness trails, etc.) based on actual conditions, to alleviate the problems of insufficient fitness spaces and uneven spatial distributions. At the same time, some relevant policies have been introduced to effectively guide the spread of commercial fitness spaces to the outer areas of the city, thereby helping to meet the fitness needs of residents in various regions of the city.
More consideration should be given to public fitness spaces in urban planning. The guarantee of land use should be specified in urban planning. For cities of different sizes, different requirements for the ratios of public fitness spaces are proposed, e.g., focusing on public fitness spaces in the planning and in the design of new residential areas. In built-up residential areas, a portion of the public space should also be divided up and allocated to build an independent outdoor fitness space.
This article only studies the commercial fitness space in one city. However, Changchun city, as the capital city of Jilin province in China, is similar to many large cities in China, in terms of urban development, economic level, and population. Using Changchun city as an example to carry out research, therefore, has a certain reference significance for other cities in China. China’s economic system is different from that of Western countries; the level of economic development and the stage of urbanization are also quite different. Under the private economic system of Western countries, the role of the market economy will be more obvious, the “polarization” phenomenon of the commercial fitness space will be more prominent, and the problems of unfair distribution will be more severe. It is hoped that the research in this paper can provide some help to those responsible for the development of commercial fitness spaces in Western countries.

7.2. Conclusions

This article classifies the various types of commercial fitness spaces. Using POI geospatial data, the spatial patterns of commercial fitness spaces in downtown Changchun were analyzed, and the spatial distribution and agglomeration characteristics of various commercial fitness spaces were discussed. The research indicates the following:
Commercial fitness spaces are integral parts of urban public spaces and important supplements to urban fitness spaces. Commercial fitness spaces also occupy increasingly important positions in urban public spaces. With a gradual increase in consumer and employment populations, commercial fitness spaces have become important parts of the modern urban service industry. Commercial fitness space facilities, in addition to promoting the consumption of urban residents, provide a large number of jobs.
Different types of commercial fitness spaces present different forms of space. Some commercial fitness spaces, for example, hosting golf, shooting, horse riding, and other fitness activities, are in demand by only a few people, exist independently, and are widely scattered. Most commercial fitness spaces exist as ancillary facilities of urban commercial complexes, forming industrial clusters in a city’s main business district. The “center-periphery” differentiation of different types of commercial fitness spaces is obvious. Ball places, fitness places, and swimming places are mostly densely distributed in the core circle. Sports training places and stadiums are mostly located in the outer areas of the city.
Significant differences exist in the specialized functional blocks of various types of commercial fitness spaces. Ball places have the largest number of highly specialized functional areas. Ball places are widely distributed and have obvious competition. Highly specialized functional areas of small fitness spaces (such as swimming places) are mainly distributed in the city center. Highly specialized functional areas of other fitness spaces, such as stadiums and sports training places, which have large demands for venue spaces, are mainly distributed around the city’s periphery.
The main reasons for the emergence of commercial fitness spaces are the growing and diverse fitness needs of people. National policy support has accelerated the development of commercial fitness spaces. The layout and space selections of commercial fitness spaces in cities are mainly affected by traffic accessibility, spatial agglomeration, rent-seeking ability, and urban population distribution. Commercial fitness spaces are usually located in densely populated areas with convenient transportation. The role of spatial agglomeration plays a guiding role in commercial fitness space. Different types of commercial fitness spaces are distributed differently within cities, according to the rent-seeking abilities.
This article has a number of shortcomings, namely: (a) the information provided by POI data are very limited. We could only obtain the location information of the fitness spaces. Information regarding the fitness spaces’ establishment times, scales, construction quality, and other information, was simply not available. (b) This article pays more attention to the distribution law and formation mechanism of fitness spaces, but it does not conduct in-depth research on the supply and demand relationship between urban residents and different types of fitness spaces. (c) The amount of data are limited, and the classifications of fitness spaces may not be accurate enough; further research is therefore required. (d) This study only examines the distribution of fitness spaces at a specific time, but it does not study the evolution of fitness space.
As people’s fitness needs continue to increase, fitness spaces will occupy increasingly important positions in urban spaces, and are, therefore, worthy of further research. The fairness of the allocation and development of fitness space deserves more attention. At the same time, comparative research should be emphasized, such as comparisons between different cities or the evolution of fitness spaces in the same city.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, S.G., C.L., Y.R. and Q.Y.; Formal analysis, S.G.; Funding acquisition, C.L.; Investigation, S.G.; Methodology, S.G.; Writing—original draft, S.G., W.L. and Z.M.; Writing—review & editing, S.G. and Z.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

The study was supported by “the National Natural Science Funds of China” (Grant No.41871158, No.42171191).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. The spatial distribution of POI points in a commercial fitness space in Changchun city.
Figure 1. The spatial distribution of POI points in a commercial fitness space in Changchun city.
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Figure 2. Distribution of commercial fitness space density in Changchun city.
Figure 2. Distribution of commercial fitness space density in Changchun city.
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Figure 3. Distribution of cold and hot spots in commercial fitness spaces in Changchun city.
Figure 3. Distribution of cold and hot spots in commercial fitness spaces in Changchun city.
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Figure 4. Distribution of point density circles of commercial fitness space in Changchun city (unit: %/km2).
Figure 4. Distribution of point density circles of commercial fitness space in Changchun city (unit: %/km2).
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Figure 5. Distribution of core density of various commercial fitness spaces. (a) Stadiums. (b) Fitness places. (c) Ball places. (d) Swimming places. (e) Sports training places.
Figure 5. Distribution of core density of various commercial fitness spaces. (a) Stadiums. (b) Fitness places. (c) Ball places. (d) Swimming places. (e) Sports training places.
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Figure 6. The distribution of various specialized commercial fitness spaces. (a) Stadiums. (b) Fitness places. (c) Ball places. (d) Swimming places. (e) Sports training places.
Figure 6. The distribution of various specialized commercial fitness spaces. (a) Stadiums. (b) Fitness places. (c) Ball places. (d) Swimming places. (e) Sports training places.
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Table
Table 1. Summary of various hot spots in the commercial fitness space of Changchun city.
Table 1. Summary of various hot spots in the commercial fitness space of Changchun city.
GradeAgglomeration AreaNumber of POIArea (ha)Mean Nuclear Density
City-levelPeople’s Square85734.2410.12075
Changchun Stadium34281.4810.943321
Silicon Valley Square37263.2410.813173
District-levelGuilin Road29244.088.630015
Satellite Square23198.88.719329
Ecological Square20141.688.15323
Centrino Jingyue University Town17105.567.263222
Dongsheng Eurasian Supermarket15172.87.799028
Jingyang Square10101.687.241602
Warm Garden836.886.85539
Joy City965.726.69743
Table
Table 2. Proportion of commercial fitness spaces in the buffer zones of main roads in cities.
Table 2. Proportion of commercial fitness spaces in the buffer zones of main roads in cities.
Distance (m)AllStadiumsExercise PlacesBall PlacesSwimming PlacesSports Training Places
10035.47%29.51%33.09%36.26%37.04%41.35%
20062.43%44.26%62.45%64.04%64.20%66.35%
30081.10%67.21%85.50%80.99%79.01%79.81%
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Gao, S.; Li, C.; Rong, Y.; Yan, Q.; Liu, W.; Ma, Z. The Places–People Exercise: Understanding Spatial Patterns and the Formation Mechanism for Urban Commercial Fitness Space in Changchun City, China. Sustainability 2022, 14, 1358. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031358

AMA Style

Gao S, Li C, Rong Y, Yan Q, Liu W, Ma Z. The Places–People Exercise: Understanding Spatial Patterns and the Formation Mechanism for Urban Commercial Fitness Space in Changchun City, China. Sustainability. 2022; 14(3):1358. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031358

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Gao, Shibo, Chenggu Li, Yuefang Rong, Qing Yan, Wei Liu, and Zuopeng Ma. 2022. "The Places–People Exercise: Understanding Spatial Patterns and the Formation Mechanism for Urban Commercial Fitness Space in Changchun City, China" Sustainability 14, no. 3: 1358. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031358

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