Elderly Residents’ Uses of and Preferences for Community Outdoor Spaces during Heat Periods

Xiaolin Yang, Yini Fan, Dawei Xia (), Yukai Zou and Yuwen Deng
Additional contact information
Xiaolin Yang: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Yini Fan: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Dawei Xia: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Yukai Zou: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Yuwen Deng: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-20

Abstract: The downtown cores of many cities are characterized by aged communities that tend to host a relatively high population of elderly retirement residents. The availability and usage of outdoor spaces within these communities play a crucial role in promoting active aging, providing essential locations for rest, activities, and social interaction among the elderly. However, in the planning and design of these spaces, attention is often focused on the safety and mobility requirements of the elderly population, while a lack of research is apparent in the area of elderly-specific preferences for spaces designed for relaxation and communication. In this study, we selected an aging community as the research target and conducted a detailed investigation of the outdoor spaces where the elderly residents gather and build up spontaneously in summer. Our objective was to evaluate the environmental factors influencing the selection of these outdoor spaces by the elderly for relaxation and communication. We analyzed the correlations between these factors and the number of occupants in these spaces and developed predictive models accordingly. The findings indicate that the environmental factors impacting the utilization of outdoor spaces by the elderly during heat periods within the community are, in order of importance: temperature, relative humidity, human traffic flow, and noise levels. These factors include physical and social aspects; temperature is a negative correlation factor affecting the use of outdoor space by the elderly, and the rest are positive correlation factors. This shows that the elderly like to gather and chat in a cool, crowded, and lively environment. Through the data analysis, it was determined that the random forest regression model was the most effective in predicting the number of residents remaining in these spaces. With a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 0.7958, the model can assist in community update planning and design, help in selecting outdoor spaces, and improve the quality of the outdoor environment. This study discusses the factors influencing the elderly’s use of community outdoor space from the physical and social levels, and the prediction model is significant for the optimization of spatial elements and spatial location.

Keywords: elderly resident; community outdoor space; environmental factor; preference; correlation and prediction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11264/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11264/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:11264-:d:1197751

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().