At present, China is facing a serious aging problem. Although community daycare centers have been built, they generally have problems such as inadequate facilities, single-service provision, and insufficient environmental design. These problems make it impossible to meet the multifaceted needs of the elderly in their old age, enhance their sense of wellbeing, and achieve sustainable development. Therefore, relevant policies indicate that the elderly service model of community day care centers should be actively constructed and upgraded. However, most of the existing research focuses on service models or single-design practice studies, and there are relatively few studies that address the integration of restorative environmental design and sustainability. Therefore, this paper systematically explores the current research status of restorative environmental design in daycare centers for the elderly through macro quantitative bibliometric analysis and micro qualitative content analysis based on Web of Science (WOS) data, then proposes design practice strategies, implementation paths, and evaluation methods to enhance wellbeing. Through keyword network visualization analysis, this paper identifies eight main clusters: physical literacy, public preschool services, social support, elderly day care centers, hospice use, designing leisure products, risk factors, and communicative skills. The high-frequency keywords “health”, “elderly”, “cultural diversity”, “children”, and “quality of life” are further categorized into “caregiving”, “Alzheimer’s disease”, “adult day care”, and “daycare centers”, with the latter split into three further categories: design strategy, implementation approach, and evaluation. In addition, this paper combines SDG3 goals such as reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases, achieving universal health coverage, etc., in order to explore the potential of resilience-based environmental design to promote the sustainable development of elderly daycare centers. This study not only complements the research related to restorative environmental design in daycare centers for the elderly but also provides specific guidelines and references for future environmental design, policy planning, and elderly service practices.

This paper systematically discusses the impact of kitchen environment design on users’ well-being. Based on the user-centered design concept, this paper focuses on the theoretical framework of positive psychology and combines quantitative and qualitative research methods. Firstly, using bibliometric analysis tools (CiteSpace 6.1.R1 and VOSviewer 1.6.20), 1256 related articles in the Web of Science Core database were analyzed to reveal the multidimensional association between kitchen design and user well-being. It was found that improving kitchen air quality, optimizing space layout design, intelligent design, and family interaction significantly improve users’ mental health and happiness. Then, based on the PERMA model of positive psychology, this paper discusses the support path of kitchen design to users’ psychological needs from five dimensions: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Optimizing the kitchen environment can enhance user experience by creating an immersive experience and positive feedback and promoting family communication, social interaction, cultural heritage, and sustainable development. Based on research results and cutting-edge design cases in the discussion section, a home kitchen design strategy for improving user welfare through the PERMA model is proposed. Finally, follow-up research can further explore the differentiated needs of different cultural backgrounds and user groups to promote the combined application of innovative kitchen technology and positive psychology and further focus on kitchen environment and health equity, especially for developing and vulnerable countries—group-specific needs.

The issue of children’s mental health is becoming increasingly prominent worldwide. Research indicates that insufficient physical activity constitutes a significant risk factor for various health issues. As primary school campuses serve as the primary setting for children’s physical activities, their spatial design currently fails to adequately support children’s psychological needs, thereby hindering improvements in mental well-being. This study, grounded in the theory of basic psychological needs, employs a combined approach of quantitative bibliometric analysis and qualitative content analysis to systematically investigate the relationship between children’s psychological needs and the design of physical activity spaces within school environments. The study identified six major research clusters: children’s health, self-determination theory, evaluation, physical education, user-centred design, and physical health. These reveal the multidimensional relationship between spatial design and children’s well-being. The key findings suggest that optimising facility diversity, designing progressively challenging activity zones, and implementing function-oriented colour coding can fulfil children’s fundamental psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These measures significantly enhance their mental well-being and overall happiness. This study extends the application of basic psychological needs theory to the field of campus spatial design, providing practical guidance for designers, educators, and policymakers. It aims to collectively advance the continuous optimisation of school sports facilities, thereby creating more favourable conditions for children’s healthy development.