Promoting Elder Mental Health Through Outdoor Environment Design

Guangzhou is facing the challenges of population aging while facilities are lack of care for the elderly. A growing number
of researches have shown that built environments are closely associate with the mental and physical health of the elderly.
Neighborhoods’ outdoor environment with different quality in the city will aggravate the social and healthcare unfairness of
older adults. It is urgent for the local government and landscape architects to consider how to upgrade the existing
outdoor environment for healthy aging. The project responded to these problems through the perspective of mood effect,
entrusted by the local government. Based on the local conditions and the mental health needs of the elderly, the project
proposed 4 types of typical strategies through field surveys and analysis. The project created 1) a neighborhood of vitality
in high-quality neighborhoods; 2) a neighborhood of barrier-free in medium-quality neighborhoods; 3) a neighborhood of
commodiousness in poor-quality neighborhoods; 4) assisted living streets. The project also develops a landscape toolkit
for mental health improvement to implement the regional vision for the future.
Location：广州
Area：12ha
Year: 2019-2020
Lead Designer: Chongxian Chen
Team: Haiwei Li, Wanyin Chen, Danyan Lei, Zushen Ceng, Aiting Cheng, Yujun Fang, Yangfegn Zhong, Weijing
Luo and Yongqi Hou

/Award/: 2020 国际风景园林师联合会（IFLAAAPME ）景观规划与分析荣誉奖