Owing to lifestyle changes since COVID-19, new needs for various usages and spatial experiences of open spaces have become apparent. Suburban parks and green spaces are thought to be suitable uses. This study used structural equation modeling to examine the direct and indirect effects of diverse usages and experiences on the desirability of three proposed park plans for a major park in City A, near Tokyo, based on questionnaire survey data. The findings highlight the importance of “Nature, Passive, and Healing” usage, including nature experiences and small-group activities. “Nature, Passive, and Healing” is negatively affected by “Gathering and Active” but positively by “Multifunctional and Borderless”. A potential for significant improvement in park desirability was also found by linking “Nature, Passive, and Healing” to “Multifunctional and Borderless”. For those aged 60 and older, the indirect effect of “Multifunctional and Borderless” via “Nature, Passive, and Healing” was large and significant, whereas its direct effect was not. “Multifunctional and Borderless” park usage was also been proven to have the greatest impact on female users, whereas, for males, “Nature, Passive, and Healing” had the largest impact. These results emphasize the importance of designs that balance diverse usages and ensure appropriate distancing to meet new needs.

Place attachment is important in urban planning and environmental psychology, yet the relationships among spatial, behavioral, and experiential factors and place attachment remain insufficiently understood. This cross-sectional study examined these associations among users engaged with Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. A purposive sample of 127 participants evaluated three spatial areas each, yielding 381 evaluations nested within respondents. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors (MLR) and respondent-level clustering was complemented by exploratory group comparison and qualitative text analysis. The results distinguished Physical Environment from Natural Sensory Environment. Natural Sensory Environment was positively associated with Place Attachment (β = 0.452), whereas Physical Environment showed positive associations with Behavioral (β = 0.269) and Experiential Factors (β = 0.530), as well as a positive total indirect association with Place Attachment (β = 0.472). Exploratory analyses identified four descriptive orientations—identity-, everyday-life-, repeated-experience-, and perception-oriented—but provided no statistically robust evidence of between-group differences in structural associations. The findings provide preliminary support for a conceptual framework linking spatial, behavioral, and experiential factors with place attachment and highlight the potential importance of environmental quality and opportunities for repeated engagement. Given the cross-sectional, non-probability sample and single-case context, causal, developmental, and broader population-level generalizations require further investigation.

Simultaneous land-use changes can reinforce or offset one another, so urban expansion alone may not explain changes in catchment-scale runoff potential. This study examined long-term changes in land-use composition and in estimated relative runoff potential across five sub-catchments in the Kameoka Basin, Japan. Land use at eight time points spanning approximately 130 years (1890s–2021) was reconstructed from Meiji-period historical topographic maps and Land-Use Subdivision Mesh Data. The area-weighted runoff coefficient ($\overline{C}$), derived from land-use-specific coefficients assigned with reference to Japanese technical standards and area proportions rather than observed rainfall–runoff data, was used as a proxy for relative runoff potential. Its change was decomposed into land-use contributions summarized as $\mathrm{Net} ∆\overline{C}$, total absolute contribution (Gross), and the net-to-gross ratio, complemented by interval-by-interval, transition-based, and coefficient-sensitivity analyses. Urban land increased by 5.1–16.0 percentage points, whereas $\mathrm{Net} ∆\overline{C}$ ranged from −0.004 to +0.037. Three contrasting contribution patterns were observed: structural inertia in Nanatani, dynamic offset in Chiji and Inukai, and development-driven increases in Toshitani and Sogadani. These contrasts remained identifiable under plausible alternative coefficients, although offsetting in Sogadani was more coefficient-sensitive. The approach may provide a diagnostic basis for differentiated sub-catchment-scale land management.