“Seeing the City from a Meter Height”: Evaluation of Enjoyment of Comprehensive Parks from a Child-Friendly Perspective

Abstract

A green space for children’s outdoor activities is an important measurement indicator for building a child-friendly city. The construction of child-friendly cities in China has gradually shifted from theoretical research to practical exploration. As an important public space for urban children to have contact with nature and engage in outdoor activities, comprehensive parks should give special consideration to the needs of children . Children’s behavioral psychology is closely related to enjoyment in the activity space. Studying the relationship between children’s activities and enjoyment of parks from the perspective of behavioral psychology corresponds with the child-friendly city construction principle of “seeing the city from a meter height”. This evaluation and analysis of enjoyment in comprehensive parks is expected to provide a useful reference for the design optimization of child-friendly comprehensive parks. Based on determined behavioral and psychological characteristics of preschool children, the factors influencing  enjoyment in comprehensive parks are divided into three types according to the behaviors and psychology of preschool children, including the perceptual type, sports type, and social type. Based on relevant studies, 29 representative sample sites were chosen in the Pengpu Four Seasons Park in Shanghai for field survey using the Public Space & Public Life (PSPL) survey method, behavior mapping, questionnaire survey, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and other methods. To screen evaluation factors that influence enjoyment of comprehensive parks, an evaluation model for enjoyment of comprehensive parks was constructed. Enjoyment of comprehensive parks was evaluated from five dimensions, including space, facilities, plant configuration, waterscape design, and landscape culture. Differences in enjoyment among the same type of sample sites were analyzed and problems in enjoyment of comprehensive parks were explored. Finally, the corresponding  optimization  suggestions were proposed to  solve  shortcomings— such  as the landscape and space sites not being novel enough, the science popularization of natural education needing to be improved, and the existence of single interaction modes— aiming to enrich landscape design strategies of comprehensive parks from the perspective of children. Based on the status and enjoyment evaluation of comprehensive parks, some optimization suggestions were proposed in combination with children’s behavioral and psychological needs. Based on the results of a field survey and interviews with parents, the basic principle of children participating in construction under the premise and guarantee of their safety was proposed. It is suggested that children’s ideas be incorporated throughout the construction of parks. To better meet the behavioral and psychological needs of children, some specific suggestions to optimize the enjoyment of comprehensive parks were proposed according to the results of evaluating landscape elements in different dimensions. For example, the space site should meet the needs of activities, facilities should cooperate with natural elements,  and landscape design should promote perceptual interaction. This study has some innovations: for example, typical sample sites were screened and classified to realize the modularization and visualization of space studies. Furthermore, based on existing studies, the degree of naturalness of materials was introduced into the enjoyment evaluation system of comprehensive parks, which supplements existing studies. However, this study still has some limitations. It is difficult to get rid of subjective factors in surveys of the activity preferences of children. Furthermore, only one park was chosen as the research object, but commonalities and differences in parks in different regions have not been explored deeply. This will be discussed in the next stage.