Older adults use playspaces too

A man is enjoying himself on exercise equipment in a playspace for older adults. Play is often associated with children, but play is for everyone. We know that grandparents take their grandchildren to playspaces to spend time with them. But older adults use playspaces too – that is, if they include the right design elements.  The Auckland Design Manual has a new resource – Designing Play Spaces for Older Adults. The nicely designed 10 page document has great pictures of older people enjoying themselves. The concept of universal design is translated into the adult playspace context:
      • Safety
      • Be Active
      • Connect Me
      • Take Notice
      • Give

A group of Maori women are exercising together in the playspace.There is a new concept, “take notice”, which means being present, aware and mindful, all of which have mental health benefits. Parks are also places where people can volunteer so that brings in the concept of “give”. 

Auckland City Council’s research found that fear of being a victim of crime and fear of falling prevent park use by older adults. Consequently, recommendations for safety include:
      • Ensure the environment is well maintained and well lit
      • Provide accessible parking, toilets and drinking fountains close to the play area 
      • Ensure paths, handrails, seating and signage follow universal design guidelines. Seating should have back and arm rests.
      • Position the play space so it is visible from surrounding buildings and well connected with short direct paths that are not steep
      • Allowance for a food truck or coffee cart to facilitate activity and increase passive surveillance
      • Consideration for pandemic safety with wide paths and sanitiser stations.
A nice addition to the Auckland Design Manual that has a section on universal design that leads to other sections.  The Everyone Can Play guideline also promotes the concept of playspaces for all ages. 

Parks that everyone can use

A young woman and man are walking their dog in an urban park.People use green spaces in cities in different ways depending on their community’s historical experience and cultural standards. But the mere existence of a park does not ensure a community benefits from it. We need to be designing parks that people use. Access to parks is strongly linked with better health outcomes so it is important to design them in context. In an article for The Conversation, Thaisa Way covers the history of parks, importance of easy access and cultural relevance.  Lots of links to research papers within the article titled: “Parks work for cities, but only if people use them”. And that is a question of design. 

“Let’s go to the park”

An older woman walks on a bitumen path in a park. Two older men are sitting on a seat along the pathway.The design of parks and playgrounds are often considered from the perspective of children and younger adults. But what about older adults? An Australian study by Stephen Gibson looked at this issue and found that the motivations to visit parks differed between older and younger adults. Natural environment, and park amenity was the strongest predictor of encouraging older adults to visit parks. The recommendation is that park design must be specific to older adults to entice and encourage them to visit. The title of the article in Landscape and Urban Planning is,” “Let’s go to the park.” An investigation of older adults in Australia and their motivations for park visitation”.  You will need institutional access for a free read of the full text, or find a free read on ResearchGate. Of course, taking the perspective of older adults does not exclude other age groups. Toilets, seating, shade, level footways, and wayfinding are good for everyone. 

From the abstract

What motivates older adults to visit and use parks? Do older adults access parks for different reasons than younger adults? Prior studies determine age influences park visitation, but we know little about why. Older adults are particularly disadvantaged if their preferences, or constraints in frequenting parks are not considered.

This study focuses on fulfillment of autonomy, competence, and related needs in older adults as a precursor to motivation for park visitation. To build deeper understanding the study develops and tests a theoretical model of motivation for park visitation.

Findings indicate that older adults differ from younger adults in the level and type of motivation to visit parks. Specifically, older adults are motivated to revisit parks that fulfill their autonomy needs. Natural environment, a common park amenity, was the strongest predictor of autonomy need fulfillment in older adults, followed by location elements of convenience and community. Results confirm that park design must be specific to older adults to entice visitation.

Danish study about green

A study from Denmark shows that children like to be surrounded by green. The study used satellite data to show a link between growing up near green space and issues with mental health in adulthood. They found that children under 10 years who had greater access to green space may grow up to be happier adults. Data was correlated between the child’s proximity to green space during childhood and that same person’s mental health later in life. The more green space they had access to, the less likely they were to have mental health issues later. The title of this interesting article is “Kids surrounded by greenery may grow up to be happier adults“.