According to statistics, the global, population aging problem is severe and growing rapidly. The aging problem is most obvious in some European countries, and most of them are developed countries, such as Japan, Italy, Germany, France, etc. The current internal and external environments of parks in China are complex. The inefficient utilization of space in urban parks is a prominent problem. The design of public spaces that only considers the visual experience is incomplete. Based on the optimization of urban park space planning principle, this study examined a new measure of the acoustic environment in elderly public activity space and designed a new elderly healthy urban park environment. Methods: Using the main parks in Shenyang (Zhongshan Park, Nanhu Park, Youth Park, and Labor park) as the study sites, this study analyzed problems in the acoustic environmental data through on-site inspection, questionnaire survey, and physical data collection. By using general linear regression and multiple regression methods, this study analyzed the impacts of plant density, site elevation, structure enclosure, functional mixing degree on the acoustic environment, and elderly population activities. Based on the acoustic environment, we propose improvements and construction ideas, as well as technical methods, for urban elderly public activity space planning. The utility of the “elderly public activity space planning principle” was also considered. Results: Elderly activity space in urban parks was affected by three main factors—plant density, degree of structural enclosure, and function mixing degree. These factors should be optimized to construct healthy acoustic environments and attract different types of people. Discussion: Compared to past studies, the new influencing factors of the planning principle for elderly public activity space found in this study, would benefit the urban park environment for the elderly and support sustainable development of cities. Conclusions: This study proposes three optimizations to the elderly urban park space planning principle and builds four healthy models of elderly urban space activity.
The rapid urbanization and over-crowded urban environment have caused a serious public health crisis. Numerous studies have found that public green spaces can benefit human health and well-being. Therefore, a short supply or an inappropriate planning of public green spaces would exaggerate the health crisis. For all these reasons, how to create health-promoting greenways in urban areas becomes a critical and pressing challenge for urban sustainability. To address this challenge, we conducted a photograph-survey study of a greenway to examine the relationship between place preference, perceived health benefit, and environmental perception. Through a set of linear regression analysis, we found that: place preference is significantly and positively associated with six specific perceptions, including relaxation when walking alone, cheering of one’s mood, being away from daily life, traffic safety, recovery from stress, and mental fascination. Furthermore, we identified the important environmental perception elements that have significant positive or negative associations with each identified perception; these were carefully planned. This study is an initial effort to examine a critical urban land-use issue: appropriate planning of greenways in the city to promote public health and well-being. The research findings provide strong and clear guidance on planning strategies for urban greenways and shed light on future studies.
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