Changing rapidly into the aging society causes all the changes among the world and various social problems which is related to welfare for senior citizens. Among these social problems, older peoples leisure activities is becoming the most typical prob...
Changing rapidly into the aging society causes all the changes among the world and various social problems which is related to welfare for senior citizens. Among these social problems, older peoples leisure activities is becoming the most typical problem.
As modern senior citizens physically and mentally healthier than the past old people getting old, increasing free time, desires, etc are turning out variously. However, the action for leisure of the aged is inadequate. These days, welfare providing the old is mostly limited to indoor activities, therefore, society cannot find out what old people want to see and do. According to the poor welfare-system, a fair number of old people are escaping from the stifling indoor activities to the outside and spending their spare time at created parks in the city. Even though this kind of demand is increasing, there is the lack of proper facilities for the aged. Society still doesn't reflect the variable needs about outdoor leisures for the old.
Among the problems as mentioned above, some parts of the city of Seoul are creating the park which is friendly to the old and running the programs in order to make good use of spare time and health maintenance, however, those efforts are not sure as working for the alternative about satisfying the older peoples desires. To look deeply into these problems, the introduction of the universal design paradigm which is not just designs for the disabled and the old, but the concept of design which includes many different functions and the human life cycle can be the important approach to create the park for the old as an alternative.
The alternative for leisure of the aged which is based on the universal design has come out because of becoming the aging society. Therefore, the purpose of the research is suggesting the better solution basis of the result, after evaluating the friendly park which is created for the improvements of health and emotions,
The analysis target areas of research were Osolgil Silver Park, Odong Neighborhood Park, Elder Health Park created in Seoul.
For the study, we used three different purposed surveys. First survey was to figure out the basic condition of parks and behavior of the users. Next was to know the problems of parks and parks facilities by the universal design perspectives. Third one was to find out what kinds of problems are coming out by age when older people use parks facilities by principles of the universal design. Making the second and third surveys in order to evaluate the aspects of the universal design was based on the preceding universal design. We combined fairness, usability, awareness, safety, spatiality, accessibility, etc with 6 fundamentals and reinterpreted and found the analysis standards.
The analyse method of the survey result was using SPSS 19 and carrying on ANOVA.
The analyse result is as in the following.
By the first survey, the most purpose of using parks was for health. We could find out that major facilities which old people are using exclusively were outdoor exercise equipment and walk by observing survey. Also, we could know parks had to have rest areas and conveniences together.
As the second survey result, rest areas had to be with not only function of relaxation but also proper extra features for the old. For the exercise facilities, stretching facility and massage facility which are easy and simple to use were shown as the suitable facilities for older people, however, facilities older people need to use more power than they have for muscles and cardiovascular endurance were not suitable for the old. For the trail, the walk of the Osolgil Silver Park was the best facility for the old because of cushioning materials, free moving lines, connection with other facilities. Although there were a lot of users, the trail of the Odong Neighborhood Park got the low score because the sign of direction was insufficient and safety fence was not set up. Except for safety, the walk of the Elder Health Park got the lowest evaluation in every part. Especially, short and narrow walk and mixed with other moving lines made hardly think as the walking place. It has somewhat lots of problems. The hight of drinking fountains were not considered by old people and a number of drinking fountains were not enough compared to the size of the park. These two became the biggest problems. However, the signs of the Elder Health Park were offering health news and information. Also, accessibility and condition of the park were satisfying.
In the third survey result, facilities evaluation by age showed the sixties, seventies and eighties in regular sequence and in general the friendly park for the old is offering the suitable environment to the sixties not for over the seventies. Especially, fairness and usability parts has showed a big gap between the sixties, seventies and the eighties. Therefore, the park environment needs to be changed to suit for all ages. Generally, the seventies and eighties also used the park many times, however, the condition was not satisfying for them. Thus, to overcome the gap between the sixties and seventies, eighties, the result showed that we need an improvement plan.
These results will be helpful in order to create for the next friendly park for the old founded on the universal design. Futhermore, when the park is created by developing the guideline of suitable park facilities, it will provide healthier and more pleasant leisure culture to older people.