Research On The Relationship Between Landscape Space And Outdoor Behaviors Of The Elders And Children

The elders and children are main users of current residential landscapeenvironment. In order to improve the utilization of public space and facilities in thelandscape environment，and to create communication space which would satisfy thedemands of the elders and children, it is necessary to made an intensive research onthe relationships between landscape space and outdoor behaviors of the elders andchildren through investigation, and then put forward planning and d esign strategiesof residential landscape space aimed at different group of people, in order toimprove the whole quality of landscape environment.This research chose central landscape areas from three typical residentialquarters in Hefei, and made daily investigations on outdoor behaviors of the eldersand children through methods of behaviors observation and visualization recording.Combined with theoretical research about behavior psychology of the elders andchildren in landscape and activity space，using qualitative methods and quantitativemethods, such as principal component analysis and cluster analysis, theinvestigation sought for the behavior characteristics of the objects in every space,then summed up diverse influences of different landscape planning modes on theelders and children’s behaviors. Meanwhile, it found out behaviors’ distributions ofthe objects in types of space, and comprehensively evaluated the induction ofvarious spatial types and elements on behaviors of the elders and childr en. Basingon that, the research compared and analyzed the relationships between landscapespace and the elder’s and children’s behaviors, and made certain what features andtypes of shared and multiple space would be suitable for the elders and children t ocommunicate with each other. Conclusions could be concluded as follows:1)4principal components of the landscape space which was related with behaviors ofthe elders and children could be summarized as the exposure, the hydrophilicity, theaccessibility, and the relationship with elevations of buildings;2) According tocluster analysis, concrete landscape space could be clustered into10basic types,including open hydrophilic and reachable space (which is near to main fa ade ofbuildings), open reachable and far-from-water space (which is near to secondary fa ade of buildings) and so on;3) The elders’ behaviors demanded not too muchabout the places, while children’s behaviors may have some requirements. Types ofspace which were far away from main fa ade of buildings with moderate exposure,low hydrophilicity and high accessibility, would satisfy the behavior andpsychological demands of the elders and children.Therefore, this study not only suggested effective evaluation basis for currentresidential landscape environment, but provided relevant theoretical direction forfuture planning and design as well. Meanwhile, to some extent, it also createdreference value in constructing compounded and diversified landscape space, whichwould make sense in proving vitality of residential areas and enhancing spatialbelongingness and sense of identity.