The multicultural landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand presents a rich tapestry of diversity and community needs, underscoring an imperative for inclusive participatory planning processes. This paper presents findings from an investigation of the challenges and opportunities inherent in community engagement initiatives, particularly within the context of New Zealand’s major ethnic groups, including New Zealand European, Māori, Chinese, and Pasifika. Drawing from the importance of community participation in reshaping public open spaces, this research addressed the gap in understanding which participatory planning processes are most effective across diverse cultural groups. To investigate the effectiveness of various approaches to community engagement, this research involved focus groups from the Wellington suburbs of Newtown and Porirua, utilising both on-site and online meetings. The findings identify the most effective participation processes for planning public open spaces in relation to each ethnicity. Correlations between participant preferences and their unique cultural backgrounds were assessed. In addition, the least effective participation methods along with several relatively effective participation methods are discussed. By highlighting engagement methods that can foster inclusivity, equity, and a sense of community, this research advances a collective goal of building a more cohesive and effective society for all its inhabitants.

As mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression become increasingly prevalent in urban populations, there is a critical need to embed restorative functions into the built environment. Urban parks, as integral components of ecological infrastructure, play a vital role in promoting psychological well-being. This study explores how diverse park environments facilitate mental health recovery through multi-sensory engagement, using integrated psychophysiological assessments in a wetland park in Zhengzhou, China. Electroencephalography (EEG) and perceived restoration scores were employed to evaluate recovery outcomes across four environmental types: waterfront, wetland, forest, and plaza. Key perceptual factors—including landscape design, spatial configuration, biodiversity, and facility quality—were validated and analyzed for their roles in shaping restorative experiences. Results reveal significant variation in recovery effectiveness across environments. Waterfront areas elicited the strongest physiological responses, while plazas demonstrated lower restorative benefits. Two recovery pathways were identified: a direct, sensory-driven process and a cognitively mediated route. Biodiversity promoted physiological restoration only when mediated by perceived restorative qualities, whereas landscape and spatial attributes produced more immediate effects. Facilities supported psychological recovery mainly through cognitive appraisal. The study proposes a smart park framework that incorporates environmental sensors, adaptive lighting, real-time biofeedback systems, and interactive interfaces to enhance user engagement and monitor well-being. These technologies enable urban parks to function as intelligent, health-supportive infrastructures within the broader built environment. The findings offer evidence-based guidance for designing responsive green spaces that contribute to mental resilience, aligning with the goals of smart city development and healthy life-building environments.

In the island nation of Aotearoa New Zealand, the history of migration and increased globalisation is exerting pressure on existing social and cultural frameworks and creating challenges and opportunities for how public open space can be created and used. This pressure is influencing the Indigenous groups, such as Māori, through a combination of cultural beliefs and values, with a diverse set of contemporary cultural practices and through interactions with a non-Māori world. The challenges are from the progressively widespread nature of migrants who have multiple national backgrounds and consider themselves as both members of their country of origin and New Zealand society. To accommodate this increasing cultural diversity, a psychological sense of community provides a valuable tool for understanding community and community change, while participatory planning can provide opportunities to integrate public perspectives into these processes. Then focusing on public open spaces present a chance to help create socially sustainable places and promote the values of cultural diversity. This research aims to understand which community participation process in public open space planning will most effectively encourage a sense of community amongst the major ethnic groups in New Zealand, including New Zealand European, Māori, Chinese and Pasifika. The first phase of the research, through an online survey, examines whether participating in the community participation processes in public open space planning can encourage sense of community amongst the targeted ethnic groups in this research. It does this by adopting the Sense of Community Index based on the theory presented by McMillan and Chavis. Results suggest that participatory planning allows the integration of public perspectives into the planning process, fostering the communities’ sense of place while creating places that promote cultural diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand. The second phase of research with focus groups aims to explore and understand the differences and similarities concerning the effective community participation methods for targeting ethnic groups in this research. Results introduce the different series of effective participation methods concerning the specific ethnic group in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Eventually, this research contributes to the gap in the existing literature that provides the opportunity and guidelines to more effectively engage with the potential participants for community participation projects in correspondence to the multicultural context of New Zealand.