The potential of urban parks to enhance social welfare and deliver health benefits has been recognized. However, it is still unclear which landscape characteristics in urban green spaces best improve the physical activity levels of users. Little is known about the relationship between the microenvironment of urban green spaces and the physical activity of children, particularly in the context of high levels of childhood obesity. Using the self-report method, we extracted the perceived environmental characteristics of the landscape and combined this with behavior observation to obtain the level of children’s physical activity in green spaces and to explore the influence of the characteristics of green spaces on these activities. Our results show that the highest levels of activity were found in the semiopen spaces of urban parks, which mainly consist of dense vegetation and a diverse range of recreation facilities. Play facilities were most closely related to the level of intensity of children’s activities, and perceived safety was the primary social perception factor affecting their activities. In addition, perceptions of the social environment were found to play a significant intermediary role in the impact of green space on children’s physical activity. The study results are intended to promote green space planning and design updates, improve the public health level of children, and provide a basis for the construction of child-friendly cities.

The rapid development of cities results in many public health and built-up environmental problems, which have vital impacts on children's growth environment, the development of children, and city contradictions. There is a lack of children being a main concern when constructing new urban areas or reconstructing old districts. Children's activity spaces tend to be standardized and unified (kit, fence, and carpet) “KFC style” designs, which leads to the urban neighborhood space and the environment being insufficient to attract children to conduct activities. Therefore, starting from the urban neighborhood space environment, this paper explores what kind of spatial environment is needed for children's physical activity and its impact on children's physical activity. Taking six residential areas in the Changchun Economic Development Zone as the research object, based on the theory of children's ability development and game value, this paper uses the Woolley and Lowe evaluation tool to quantify the impact of the theory on the urban neighborhood space environment and children's physical activity. It can be confirmed that there is a significant correlation between the spatial characteristics of an urban neighborhood and the general signs of the environment on the duration and intensity of the physical activity of children. The results show that: (1) the differences in children's ages result in differences in the duration and intensity of children's physical activity in the urban neighborhood space environment; (2) the open space factor of the neighborhood space has the most significant influence on the duration of children's physical activity; (3) in terms of the environmental characteristics, whether children can be provided with education and learning opportunities has a significant impact on the duration of children's physical activity; (4) there is a significant positive correlation between children's age and the duration and intensity of the physical activity, exercise type, and imaginative activity. These results show that the urban neighborhood space environment can affect the duration of children's physical activity. In future urban residential area planning and design, urban children can meet the self-demand of physical activity in the neighborhood space through the reasonable balance and combination of neighborhood space characteristics and environmental characteristics.

Green spaces in cities and urban parks serve as central areas for mental restoration and relieving pressure, and attention to soundscapes for their mental health benefits has become more prevalent. Birdsongs are perceived to enhance the restorative benefits of urban parks. This study examines Harbin Sun Island Park, the main bird habitat in the city of Harbin with numerous types of landscapes. We used space syntax to select the appropriate path space as a carrier and the pixel grid method to quantify path space shapes. A correlation analysis of field data was also used to explore the perceived restorative effects of birdsongs heard in urban parks using scales detailing the perceived restorative effects of various visual and auditory stimuli. The results show that soundscapes can significantly improve perceived recovery benefits, and that hearing birdsongs can significantly improve the perceived restorative benefits of wetland paths; the sky index of a tour path showed a significantly negative correlation with each feature (i.e., the four featured dimensions of “charm”, “escape”, “ductility” and “compatibility” included in the recovery scale), and the soft/hard ratio showed a significantly negative correlation with each studied feature. When the sky index ranged from 13–36%, tree coverage of the vertical coverage range was 30.28–38.6%, and when the soft/hard ratio ranged from 5–21, the perceived recovery benefit was strongest.

The hot and humid feeling of the urban environment enhances residents’ discomfort indices. Although the cooling and humidifying effects of plant communities in various urban parks are significant, there is still insufficient evidence for the effects of plant community characteristics on temperature and humidity. In this study, 36 typical plant communities in the Changchun Water Culture and Ecological Park in China were selected in the summer (21–23 August 2020) from 8:00 to 18:00 for three days when it was sunny and windless. We obtained plant community characteristics through field measurements and drone recordings to explore the relationship between plant community characteristics and the mechanism of temperature and humidity. The study observed that (1) the canopy density and three-dimensional green amount were significantly related to the benefits of cooling and humidification. When the canopy density is between 0.7 and 0.8 and the three-dimensional green volume is above 4 m³/m², the greatest benefit is achieved; (2) the discomfort index is between 0.6 and 0.8, and the three-dimensional green volume is 4 m³/m²–6 m³/m² minimum; and (3) the changes in temperature and humidity are different for different types of plant communities, which lead to differences in people’s perceptions of environmental comfort. The tree–grassland and tree–shrub–grass types had the most apparent improvement effects on comfort. The results show that in the design process of urban park plants, emphasis is placed on plant community configuration with apparent cooling and humidification effects, which can improve the comfort of tourists in hot and humid environments. The research results provide theoretical support for sustainable urban green space development.