Evaluation And Optimization Strategy Of Child Friendliness Of Community Park Space Environment

Since the United Nations introduced an initiative to create "child-friendly cities",the protection of children’s rights has become a core element of urban development and construction,attracting attention from all sectors of society.In recent years,the outbreak of the pandemic has once again highlighted the close relationship between the vulnerability of children themselves and the urban environment.As a frequently used public space for children,community parks urgently need to improve their quality and vitality.This article focuses on the spatial environment of community parks,attempting to conduct a child-friendly evaluation of the existing community parks in the city from the perspective of children.By analyzing the evaluation results,we aim to identify the current problems in creating child-friendly community parks and propose relevant optimization strategies,in order to provide an ideal place for children’s healthy growth and activities.Drawing upon the theories of child development characteristics,environmental psychology,and a comprehensive analysis of relevant concepts of children,community parks,and spatial environment,this article explores the special needs of children in the community park space environment that are different from those of adults,seeks to unearth the potential "friendly relationship" between children and the spatial environment of community parks.To this end,an Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP)is employed to develop a comprehensive evaluation system for child-friendly community park space environment.The system is constructed with four main criterion layers and 23 indicator layers,with the weight of each layer indicator factor determined through the Delphi method.Then,four community parks in Hefei City,namely,Peninsula Park,Shitai Road Park,Feihe Wisdom Central Park,and Ruitai Park were selected as research samples to verify the feasibility of the evaluation system.The following conclusions were drawn:(1)The overall ranking of child-friendliness of the four community parks is Shitai Road Park(85.71 points)>Peninsula Park(80.78 points)>Feihe Wisdom Central Park(78.63 points)> Ruitai Park(78.13 points),and the evaluation results are consistent with the actual research results;(2)The child-friendliness of the four community parks shows certain commonalities but there are differences in the highest and lowest scores of each evaluation indicator,reflecting the advantages and disadvantages of the four parks in terms of child-friendliness;(3)Through the mutual verification of the child-friendly evaluation scores and the environmental status of the four community parks,the main problems in creating a child-friendly environment are identified,including unreasonable spatial design,incomplete service facilities,poor landscape environment quality,and insufficient management and maintenance.Finally,a 4-dimensional and 12-point optimization strategy framework of "safety,comfort,richness,and fun" is proposed from the perspective of current problems and future value orientation,aiming to deepen the theory of child-friendliness and provide reference for the practice of child-friendly community parks in Hefei City.