ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geoscience and Society
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1627827
Spatial distribution and service equity of sports venues in central China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
- 2Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
- 3Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
As a key emerging pillar, the sports industry plays a significant role in promoting the high-quality development of regional and national economies. However, research on the spatial distribution characteristics of sports stadiumsvenues is insufficient, particularly when considering population size and density. This study focuses on the six provinces in central China, examining the spatial distribution features of sports stadiumsvenues and the balance in service population coverage. Using point of interest (POI) data for sports stadiumsvenues, the seventh national census data, and population density data, this study employs GIS spatial analysis methods such as mean nearest neighbor distance, kernel density estimation, and overlay analysis. The findings reveal that sports stadiumsvenues in the six central provinces exhibit a pattern of high-density clustering in provincial capital. The spatial distribution of sports venues is most influenced by permanent population and GDP, while showing little correlation with land area. Most of these facilities are concentrated in areas with high population densities, particularly in the capital cities.However, the current distribution of stadiumssports venues and gymnasiums in many cities across the six provinces does not adequately meet the needs of the local population. To address this imbalance, it is recommended that the number and placement of sports facilities in the six central provinces should fully account for the distribution and density of the local population. While prioritizing development in provincial capitals, efforts should also be made to accelerate the construction of sports venuesstadiums and gymnasiums in sub-high-density core areas, especially in economically underdeveloped cities. Furthermore, the development of sports venues in towns and townships should be leveraged to promote local leisure sports and sports tourism.
Keywords: Stadiumsports venues, Ppopulation size, Ppopulation density, Sspatial distribution, Equity
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kou, Liu and Zhai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiahao Zhai, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.