The Research On The Planning And Design Of"Children-friendly" Park

"Child-friendly" Park refers to a city park where children can enjoy the nature freely and play games safely. It is different from the Children’s Park, but considering both physiological and psychological characteristics of children during the design and construction processes. Playing in this park can enhance the kids’ love for nature, cultivate them the idea of protecting environment, and benefits their perception, understanding and growth. However, according to the situation of the existing parks in our country, only a small part is designed for the kids while the rest is completely in accordance with the adult’s aesthetic and demand for construction which is not proper even dangerous to the children. Based on the analysis and research on the above issues, the topic of this paper is the entertainment of kids in the public park and the healthy growth through their whole life.Based on a large amount of literature data, questionnaires and field research, results of this paper are as follows:(1)The background research of the development of children’s playgrounds at home and abroad. From the importance of the game, behavioral psychology of children’s games, the number and design of playgrounds, the current situation of the type, design and planning countermeasures of the domestic and foreign children’s playgrounds were analyzed and summarized. Then the definition of the "Child-friendly" Park was presented.(2)Research on children’s activities in parks:Through field research, interviews and questionnaires, the aspects including children’s age constitution, playmates selection, frequency of using the parks, traffics and seasons to the parks, preferences of games, sports, space and design elements as well as the defects of design elements were analyzed. Four types of activities which are adventural, sporting, creative and integrated games were founded, along with six characteristics which are activity-centeredness respectively. Thus it’s reasonable to infer that children are looking forward to a city park where setting the convenience, safety, natural, stimulating adventures and diverse playgrounds in one. (3)The investigation on parks of Changsha, based on the perspective of "Child-friendly". Through field research and interviews, the landscape features of the Lieshi, Nanjiao, Guihua, Wangling parks in Changsha City were analyzed, especially the recent design situation of children’s play area, water, mountain, plant, road, pavement and furniture in rest areas. Three practical problems were proposed:the design of the city parks major departuring from the perspective from adults, insufficient attention paid to children; unproper commercialization of existing children’s playgrounds the respect for children’s natural instinct; serious security risks, neglection of the physiological characteristics of children.(4)The planning and design of "Child-friendly" Park. Based on the survey, four planning and design guidelines were raised:guarantee a balanced layout and good reachability; break the boundary of "children’s play area" and establish the concept that the "whole park is an activity area"; concern about all the details of the whole park to ensure children’s security; emphasis on the nature of children and ensure that the park is highly-natural. The specific content and requirements of children’s play area and water, topography, plant, border, road system, paving, facilities in rest areas were also introduced."Child-friendly" Park, with its implementation depending on the social attention and investment, is still a new concept to China. Moreover, the healthy growth of children needs the concern of the whole society as well. All in all, this paper has two targets that one is to raise the public attention especially of the experts and scholars, while the other is to provide theoretical guidance for the planning and design of children’s playground in urban park.