Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health

Kaidi Zuo; Lihua Wei; Yanguo Cong

doi:doi:10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health

Kaidi Zuo, Lihua Wei, Yanguo Cong

Published in Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 5, Issue 4)

Received: 11 November 2020 Accepted: Published: 16 December 2020

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Abstract

Children’s health includes physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioral and other aspects of health. Playing in nature has been demonstrated to have irreplaceable benefits for children’s health. However, the urban built-up environment devours the natural play space and aggravates children’s problems. Since the 1990s, people have gradually realized the importance of nature and play, thus began to explore the natural children’s playground. The COVID-19 pandemic also makes people pay greater attention to the natural and healthy living environment. The urban park is an important place for children to play freely. It is of great significance to explore the natural design of its playground. Starting from the connotation and function of nature, games and playgrounds, this paper analyzes children’s preference for playgrounds. In addition, combined with the previous researches, five thoughts on the planning and design of natural playgrounds in urban parks are summarized: (1) The natural environment should be accessible and approachable; (2) The original natural objects and the natural products are suitable to coexist; (3) The undulating terrain can be combined with the flat grassland; (4) The dynamic and diversity of natural elements is very important; (5) The balance between safety and adventure is also needed. Finally, it is proposed that children’s choice priority and use characteristics of various play elements can be further studied to guide planning and design more accurately.

Published in	Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
Page(s)	122-131
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Natural Playgrounds, Urban Parks, Children’s Health

References

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Kaidi Zuo, Lihua Wei, Yanguo Cong. (2020). Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health. Urban and Regional Planning, 5(4), 122-131. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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Kaidi Zuo; Lihua Wei; Yanguo Cong. Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health. Urban Reg. Plan. 2020, 5(4), 122-131. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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AMA Style

Kaidi Zuo, Lihua Wei, Yanguo Cong. Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health. Urban Reg Plan. 2020;5(4):122-131. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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@article{10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14,
  author = {Kaidi Zuo and Lihua Wei and Yanguo Cong},
  title = {Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health},
  journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
  volume = {5},
  number = {4},
  pages = {122-131},
  doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20200504.14},
  abstract = {Children’s health includes physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioral and other aspects of health. Playing in nature has been demonstrated to have irreplaceable benefits for children’s health. However, the urban built-up environment devours the natural play space and aggravates children’s problems. Since the 1990s, people have gradually realized the importance of nature and play, thus began to explore the natural children’s playground. The COVID-19 pandemic also makes people pay greater attention to the natural and healthy living environment. The urban park is an important place for children to play freely. It is of great significance to explore the natural design of its playground. Starting from the connotation and function of nature, games and playgrounds, this paper analyzes children’s preference for playgrounds. In addition, combined with the previous researches, five thoughts on the planning and design of natural playgrounds in urban parks are summarized: (1) The natural environment should be accessible and approachable; (2) The original natural objects and the natural products are suitable to coexist; (3) The undulating terrain can be combined with the flat grassland; (4) The dynamic and diversity of natural elements is very important; (5) The balance between safety and adventure is also needed. Finally, it is proposed that children’s choice priority and use characteristics of various play elements can be further studied to guide planning and design more accurately.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health
AU  - Kaidi Zuo
AU  - Lihua Wei
AU  - Yanguo Cong
Y1  - 2020/12/16
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
T2  - Urban and Regional Planning
JF  - Urban and Regional Planning
JO  - Urban and Regional Planning
SP  - 122
EP  - 131
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1697
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
AB  - Children’s health includes physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioral and other aspects of health. Playing in nature has been demonstrated to have irreplaceable benefits for children’s health. However, the urban built-up environment devours the natural play space and aggravates children’s problems. Since the 1990s, people have gradually realized the importance of nature and play, thus began to explore the natural children’s playground. The COVID-19 pandemic also makes people pay greater attention to the natural and healthy living environment. The urban park is an important place for children to play freely. It is of great significance to explore the natural design of its playground. Starting from the connotation and function of nature, games and playgrounds, this paper analyzes children’s preference for playgrounds. In addition, combined with the previous researches, five thoughts on the planning and design of natural playgrounds in urban parks are summarized: (1) The natural environment should be accessible and approachable; (2) The original natural objects and the natural products are suitable to coexist; (3) The undulating terrain can be combined with the flat grassland; (4) The dynamic and diversity of natural elements is very important; (5) The balance between safety and adventure is also needed. Finally, it is proposed that children’s choice priority and use characteristics of various play elements can be further studied to guide planning and design more accurately.
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Kaidi Zuo

School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
Lihua Wei

School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
Yanguo Cong

College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China

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APA Style

Kaidi Zuo, Lihua Wei, Yanguo Cong. (2020). Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health. Urban and Regional Planning, 5(4), 122-131. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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ACS Style

Kaidi Zuo; Lihua Wei; Yanguo Cong. Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health. Urban Reg. Plan. 2020, 5(4), 122-131. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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AMA Style

Kaidi Zuo, Lihua Wei, Yanguo Cong. Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health. Urban Reg Plan. 2020;5(4):122-131. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14

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@article{10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14,
  author = {Kaidi Zuo and Lihua Wei and Yanguo Cong},
  title = {Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health},
  journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
  volume = {5},
  number = {4},
  pages = {122-131},
  doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20200504.14},
  abstract = {Children’s health includes physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioral and other aspects of health. Playing in nature has been demonstrated to have irreplaceable benefits for children’s health. However, the urban built-up environment devours the natural play space and aggravates children’s problems. Since the 1990s, people have gradually realized the importance of nature and play, thus began to explore the natural children’s playground. The COVID-19 pandemic also makes people pay greater attention to the natural and healthy living environment. The urban park is an important place for children to play freely. It is of great significance to explore the natural design of its playground. Starting from the connotation and function of nature, games and playgrounds, this paper analyzes children’s preference for playgrounds. In addition, combined with the previous researches, five thoughts on the planning and design of natural playgrounds in urban parks are summarized: (1) The natural environment should be accessible and approachable; (2) The original natural objects and the natural products are suitable to coexist; (3) The undulating terrain can be combined with the flat grassland; (4) The dynamic and diversity of natural elements is very important; (5) The balance between safety and adventure is also needed. Finally, it is proposed that children’s choice priority and use characteristics of various play elements can be further studied to guide planning and design more accurately.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Exploration of Natural Playgrounds in Urban Parks: Promoting Children’s Health
AU  - Kaidi Zuo
AU  - Lihua Wei
AU  - Yanguo Cong
Y1  - 2020/12/16
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
T2  - Urban and Regional Planning
JF  - Urban and Regional Planning
JO  - Urban and Regional Planning
SP  - 122
EP  - 131
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1697
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20200504.14
AB  - Children’s health includes physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioral and other aspects of health. Playing in nature has been demonstrated to have irreplaceable benefits for children’s health. However, the urban built-up environment devours the natural play space and aggravates children’s problems. Since the 1990s, people have gradually realized the importance of nature and play, thus began to explore the natural children’s playground. The COVID-19 pandemic also makes people pay greater attention to the natural and healthy living environment. The urban park is an important place for children to play freely. It is of great significance to explore the natural design of its playground. Starting from the connotation and function of nature, games and playgrounds, this paper analyzes children’s preference for playgrounds. In addition, combined with the previous researches, five thoughts on the planning and design of natural playgrounds in urban parks are summarized: (1) The natural environment should be accessible and approachable; (2) The original natural objects and the natural products are suitable to coexist; (3) The undulating terrain can be combined with the flat grassland; (4) The dynamic and diversity of natural elements is very important; (5) The balance between safety and adventure is also needed. Finally, it is proposed that children’s choice priority and use characteristics of various play elements can be further studied to guide planning and design more accurately.
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download