Outdoor physical activity for older people—the senior exercise park: Current research, challenges and future directions

Abstract

The inclusion of outdoor equipment for older people in public spaces or urban parks is important and careful consideration needs to be taken by local/public authorities to provide access, amenities and safety for all as well as activities to suit all ages. SO WHAT?: Seniors' exercise parks can be installed in public places and may provide an enjoyable and effective approach to engage older individuals in a more active and healthier lifestyle.

Sustainable Development Research on the Spatial Differences in the Elderly Suitability of Shanghai Urban Parks

“…Finally, Zhai [20] found that, as long as the destination is attractive, 23.4% of elderly people would visit high-quality parks that are far away from home. All of these studies also indicate that the elderly have stricter requirements and needs in terms of usability [19], accessibility [19], safety [16], comfort [15], and entertainment [20] in parks than younger people.On the whole, much research has been conducted on how urban planners should design suitable parks for the diversified needs of the elderly based on their health conditions [13][14][15], behavioral abilities, and characteristics [7,[13][14][15][16]. However, there is still no research on the spatial difference of the elderly suitability of parks in a single city or in certain kinds of cities.…”

“…Finally, Zhai [20] found that, as long as the destination is attractive, 23.4% of elderly people would visit high-quality parks that are far away from home. All of these studies also indicate that the elderly have stricter requirements and needs in terms of usability [19], accessibility [19], safety [16], comfort [15], and entertainment [20] in parks than younger people.…”

“…Gibson [15] contends that a natural environment in a park is an important prerequisite for the elderly to meet their autonomous needs and that, when these needs are met by a park, the elderly will want to visit again. Levinger [16] points out that urban public spaces should provide special outdoor sports equipment for the elderly while local authorities should consider how to provide safe access to the equipment. Zhai [17,18] demonstrated that the elderly prefer parks which have soft or even flat footpaths, along which there are benches, flowers, and light.…”

“…The representation of a park by its geometric center (or centroid) [41] or its boundary [42] may lead to an underestimation or overestimation of park accessibility. Some studies have also proposed that the actual entrance point of the park represents the park [34], but we believe that this method is too complex and will greatly reduce the efficiency of the evaluation.The aforementioned literature [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] reflects not only the stricter requirements of the elderly for park green space than those of younger people but also the preferences of the elderly for specific attributes of urban parks (including spatial and nonspatial aspects). Similar to these studies, Jin [43] considered that functional requirements, microclimate environment, appropriate enclosure, and management policy were the key factors concerning the improvement of the elderly suitability of urban micro-space through the survey of urban micro-space (including 18 factors of location, landscape, and environment).…”

“…Based on the physiological and psychological characteristics of the elderly, Deng [44] proposed that comfort, identifiability, safety, space variety, and communicativeness are the optional indicators for evaluating the elderly suitability of the urban public space. According to Chen [45] and Levinger [16], accessible facilities; a well-lit, suitable spatial scale; activity centers for the elderly and children; resting seats; toilets; and cover/shade (preferably waterproof coverage) are the characteristics of age-friendly parks.Based on the geographical location of the research area, this paper selected parks (including comprehensive parks, community parks, special parks, strip parks, street greenbelt, etc.) that meet the definition of the "Classification Standard of Urban Greenbelt in China" (No.…”