Abstract
Understanding the psychological needs of users is crucial for public space designers and healthy city planners. However, there is currently less atten-tion paid to the need for solitude in public spaces, despite psychological re-search demonstrating the positive impact of public space use on physical and mental health. With the only-child generation becoming the main pro-ductive generation in Chinese society, it is important to determine their psychological needs regarding public space use. This study aimed to address this issue by using questionnaire studies. Participants (n=521) aged between 10 and 25 completed an online questionnaire survey. The results indicated that the young generation of only children in China has a greater affinity for solitude than non-only children. However, both groups showed considerable demand for solitary public spaces. These findings suggest that more quality public spaces are needed to foster positive solitude in China, given the sub-stantial only-child population.
Keywords
solitude; public space; spatial design; only children
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.191
Citation
Bi, X., Villani, C., and Wai Michael Siu, K. (2024) Born alone, but not lonely: Rethinking public space design for Chinese one-child generation’s affinity for solitude, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.191
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Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Born alone, but not lonely: Rethinking public space design for Chinese one-child generation’s affinity for solitude
Understanding the psychological needs of users is crucial for public space designers and healthy city planners. However, there is currently less atten-tion paid to the need for solitude in public spaces, despite psychological re-search demonstrating the positive impact of public space use on physical and mental health. With the only-child generation becoming the main pro-ductive generation in Chinese society, it is important to determine their psychological needs regarding public space use. This study aimed to address this issue by using questionnaire studies. Participants (n=521) aged between 10 and 25 completed an online questionnaire survey. The results indicated that the young generation of only children in China has a greater affinity for solitude than non-only children. However, both groups showed considerable demand for solitary public spaces. These findings suggest that more quality public spaces are needed to foster positive solitude in China, given the sub-stantial only-child population.