The image of older people in China preferring to live with their children is not uniformly the case, particularly for those with the most resources, and with fewest. Not enough is known about preferences for what kinds of places older Chinese want to live in, including the design, location, and tenure of homes.
We explored the influence of third places on walking habits across life stages. Our study demonstrates the unique goal structures for students, workers, and retirees, identifying key patterns shaping walking behavior in cities. Integrating these findings into urban planning can revolutionize cityscapes and promote healthier, more active communities.
Our findings revealed that despite the limited play destinations compared to the local child population, children’s outdoor play experiences are predominantly positive. This positive outlook is attributed to their sense of safety within familiar spaces and strong social ties with neighbours beyond their immediate families. Key contributing factors include the proximity of schools and play areas to residential locations, the strategic placement of playgrounds along home-to-school routes, and the hierarchical relationship among neighbourhood open spaces.
High-density urban environments significantly affect children’s play and well-being. This study provides current insights and explores potential solutions for enhancing play spaces in compact cities, aiming to promote a healthier and more sustainable urban future for children. Our goal was to synthesize current knowledge and provide guidance for improving play spaces in compact cities, ultimately contributing to more sustainable and liveable urban environments for children.
In this study, I measured the size of outdoor playgrounds at all daycare centers in Oslo and looked at how these sizes relate to how densely populated the districts are and how many children are enrolled at each center. Since the 1980s, Oslo has been getting busier and more built-up due to a compact city policy, a trend that is likely to continue as more people move to the city in the coming years. This makes it interesting to investigate how living in a denser city and having bigger daycare centers might affect the space children have to play outside in their daycare.
Health is rarely prioritized in urban decision making. Requiring Health Impact Assessment obliges developers to focus on questions of health. Some local authorities require this, but not all. This is the first paper to undertake a comprehensive review of when and where Health Impact Assessment is required in England, and to set out ways to make the process more effective.
Even within relatively wealthy cities, food insecurity and health inequalities can be sharply concentrated in specific neighborhoods. We show how economic inequality, food access, and health outcomes are closely linked across Staten Island — and what this means for city leaders and practitioners.
How can we design walkable streets that promote health through nature?
This scoping review synthesises international and cross-cultural research—drawing from English and Chinese studies—to clarify intervention types and health mechanisms, offering an essential evidence base for healthier, more connected urban environments. Our findings reframe streets as inclusive, restorative spaces for health—not just transport infrastructure.
Before COVID-19, we freely used lively streets and public spaces. The pandemic emptied them and changed how people perceived urban life. Places once full of joy became empty and fearful. Our study examines COVID-19’s impact on three key dimensions of urban design and offers lessons for building healthier, more resilient cities.
This street matrix tool can be used by urban planners and other built professionals both to plan new streetscapes and also to assess exisiting streetscapes for improvement. Currently, in many global contexts, it is good practice to make areas accessible for all and complete street audits. Despite this, without background knowledge of visual impairment and other disabilities, it can be difficult to assess these challenges and provide adequate solutions. This street matrix makes this more accessible and easy to assess these areas.