Introduction The provision of active parks/public open space is the key factor in promoting active living, because people and specially low-income and elderlies are being more interested in doing non-organized/informal, and no-cost sports/physical activities in outdoor spaces in recent decades (Borgers et al, 2013; Thiesen-Raaphorst, 2015; Sallis, Owen & Fisher, 2008; Humpel, Owen & Leslie, 2002). Giving the concern about low rate of physical activities among low-income minority, elderlies and over weighted people, the municipality of Groningen invested in renovation of parks/ open spaces, in order to encourage all people to become more physically active. To what degree park renovations accomplish this goal is unknown. Method We used the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC), to measure open space/park users and their physical activity levels after the renovation. We also surveyed parks users before and after renovation, and local residents about their use of the parks. Results All respondents were happy with the renovation that is increasing the social cohesion of the neighborhood. The users are mainly active young athletes and children, and the renovation significantly increased their park use. However, the improved parks/spaces do not attract inactive people. Weather condition and the different time of the day were not associated with using the park. Conclusion Park’s improvements can have a significant impact on increasing the frequency of park use, however, it is not enough to encourage inactive people to be physically active. Key words Physical activity, active living, open spaces, Groningen Reverences Borgers, J., Thibaut, E., Van der Meerschen, H., Van Reusel, B., Vos, S., & Scheerder, J. (2015). Sports participation styles revisited: A time-trend study in Belgium from the 1970s to the 2000s. International review for the sociology of sport, 50(1), 45-63. Bouckaert, G. (2006). Prestaties en prestatiemanagement in de publieke sector. Tijdschrift voor Economie en Management, 51(3), 237. Humpel, N., Owen, N., & Leslie, E. (2002). Environmental factors associated with adults’ participation in physical activity: a review. American journal of preventive medicine, 22(3), 188-199. Sallis, J. F., Cerin, E., Conway, T. L., Adams, M. A., Frank, L. D., Pratt, M., ... & Davey, R. (2016). Physical activity in relation to urban environments in 14 cities worldwide: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet. Tiessen-Raaporst, A. (2015). Rapportage sport 2014. The Hague, SCP.
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Introduction:A space’s atmosphere is an important factor in how that space is experienced. In fact, festival visitors consider the atmosphere as the most important factor in how they experience a festival (Van Vliet 2012). Atmosphere is also what distinguishes physical shops from online web shops (Van Vliet, Moes & Schrandt 2015). Much research underlines the influence of atmosphere on cognitive and emotional processes. As early as 1956, research showed that an assessment of facial expressions in photographs depended on the atmosphere of the space in which the photos were viewed (Maslow & Mintz 1956). The importance of atmosphere inspired the search for ways to influence visitors and allowing them to react to, and even (co-)design, a space’s atmosphere – from museum spaces (Noordegraaf 2012) to urban spaces, from consciously-manipulated spaces to the now inevitable layer of digital information that has entered the public sphere (Mitchell 2005). Researchers have been studying the influence of atmosphere for decades, particularly through the lens of environmental psychology, which focuses on the interplay between humans and their environment (Mehrabian & Russell 1974; Steg, Van den Berg & De Groot 2012). A milestone in atmosphere research was the introduction of the concept of ‘atmospherics’ by Kotler (1973). From here, research into atmosphere mainly took place in the context of marketing research into consumer behaviour in shops and service environments such as restaurants, hotels, museums and festivals (Van Vliet 2014). The question here is whether these gathered insights contribute to understanding how atmosphere works in open public spaces.
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Ook uit internationaal wetenschappelijk onderzoek blijkt dat er verschillen zijn tussen ouderen in de stad en op het platteland [3-5]. In de rijke delen van de Europese Unie hebben ouderen in de landelijke gebieden een hogere levenstevredenheid dan in de stad. Mensen lijken tevreden in een dorp, wellicht omdat het verwachtingspatroon geringer is. Als het op veroudering aankomt, biedt de hogere dichtheid van de stad een grotere nabijheid tot allerlei diensten die de kwaliteit van leven van ouderen vergroten. Door specifieke economische factoren kunnen deze diensten niet in dezelfde mate worden aangeboden in landelijke gebieden [6]. Woonomstandigheden, zo blijkt uit onderzoek [7], zijn beter voor onze ouderen in de stad dan op het platteland, hoewel de verschillen niet zo uitgesproken groot zijn. En dan heb je nog de gesegregeerde woonwijken voor ouderen, zoals in de Verenigde Staten. Denk daarbij aan Sun City Arizona en The Villages in Florida [8, 9]. Deze wijken bieden een eenheidsworst en zonderen ouderen af in een cocon van geboden comfort, waarbij zij verdwijnen uit het reguliere straatbeeld van omliggende steden. Een in vrijheid gekozen gevangenschap. Een echte seniorvriendelijke stad is een generatievriendelijke stad zoals u wilt, waar niet alleen ruimte is voor één generatie, maar voor alle generaties: van wieg tot graf.
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With the rise of chronic diseases as the number one cause of death and disability among urban populations, it has become increasingly important to design for healthy environments. There is, however, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and solutions to improve health and well-being through urban planning and design. This case study offers an HCI solution and approach to design for healthy urban structures and dynamics in existing neighborhoods. We discuss the design process and design of ROOT, an interactive lighting system that aims to stimulate walking and running through supportive, collaborative and social interaction.
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Urban areas provide a promising context for upcycling due to the concentration of consumers and existence of bulky waste resources. Hence, upcycling initiatives emerge across European cities, but little is known about their manifestations. Building on interviews with twenty-four stakeholders from the urban upcycling ecosystem and three focus groups sessions, a morphological model was created with internal and external business model characteristics to analyse a database of 172 collected Dutch urban upcycling initiatives in the furniture and interior sector. The morphological analysis led to eleven urban upcycling manifestations with distinct business model characteristics that make up five generic categories and a landscape of urban upcycling which facilitate future research into the topic. A research agenda to study quantitative implications, regional differences, collaborative experimentation and scaling strategies of urban upcycling is proposed. Practically, the typology may facilitate policy makers and practitioners to create, scale or accelerate urban upcycling initiatives.
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Post-war urban neighbourhoods in industrialised countries have been shown to negatively affect the lifestyles of their residents due to their design. This study aims at developing an empirical procedure to select locations to be redesigned and the determinants of health at stake in these locations, with involvement of residents’ perspectives as core issue. We addressed a post-war neighbourhood in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. We collected data from three perspectives: spatial analyses by urban designers, interviews with experts in local health and social care (n = 11) and online questionnaires filled in by residents (n = 99). These data provided input for the selection of locations to be redesigned by a multidisciplinary team (n = 16). The procedure yielded the following types of locations (and determinants): An area adjacent to a central shopping mall (social interaction, traffic safety, physical activity), a park (experiencing green, physical activity, social safety, social interaction) and a block of low-rise row houses around a public square (social safety, social interaction, traffic safety). We developed an empirical procedure for the selection of locations and determinants to be addressed, with addressing residents’ perspectives. This procedure is potentially applicable to similar neighbourhoods internationally.
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This article will explore the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) framework for urban environments, focusing on the perception, utilization and maintenance of parks. The case study explores the perception of urban flora and the value of greenery in everyday life in The Netherlands. The reflection section addresses the difference between conventional and C2C approaches to greenery on the one hand and current green management policies and public opinion on the other hand. The author reflects on how urban planning policies can be better geared towards public awareness of C2C, and towards the implementation of ecologically benign management of urban flora. It is proposed that an implementation of urban green management consistent with C2C is feasible and desirable. It is feasible given the favorable shifts in public opinion in relation to urban sustainability, and it is desirable due to the basic cost-benefit analysis and increased need for urban sustainability. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Urban Ecosystems. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0468-2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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The crossroads of living in cities on the one hand and ageing of the population on the other is studied in an interdisciplinary field of research called urban ageing (van Hoof and Kazak 2018, van Hoof et al. 2018). People live longer and in better health than ever before in Europe. Despite all the positive aspects of population ageing, it poses many challenges. The interaction of population ageing and urbanisation raises issues in various domains of urban living (Phillipson and Buffel 2016). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2015), the population share of those of 65 years old is expected to climb to 25.1% in 2050 in its member states. Cities in particular have large numbers of older inhabitants and are home to 43.2% of this older population. The need to develop supportive urban communities are major issues for public policy to understand the relationship between population ageing and urban change (Buffel and Phillipson 2016). Plouffe and Kalache (2010) see older citizens as a precious resource, but in order to tap the full potential these people represent for continued human development (Zaidi et al. 2013), the world’s cities must ensure their inclusion and full access to urban spaces, structures, and services. Therefore, cities are called upon to complement the efforts of national governments to address the consequences of the unprecedented demographic shift (OECD 2015). Additionally, at the city level there is a belief to understand the requirements and preferences of local communities (OECD 2015). An important question in relation to urban ageing is what exactly makes a city age-friendly (Alley et al. 2007, Lui et al. 2009, Plouffe and Kalache 2010, Steels 2015, Moulaert and Garon 2016, Age Platform Europe 2018)? Another relevant question is which factors allow some older people in cities to thrive, while others find it hard to cope with the struggles of daily life? This chapter explores and describes which elements and factors make cities age-friendly, for instance, on the neighbourhood level and in relation to technology for older people.
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