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Lihua Cui is a Ph.D. student from Kyoto University. Her major research interest is green space microclimate. She has been working on this topic since her master’s study, and currently is focusing on microclimate and thermal comfort of Japanese gardens. Cui has a great passion for sustainable urban environments, especially in an Asian context. Her previous study includes urban agriculture, agricultural landscape conservation, edible landscape, and children’s green space use.
Urban green spaces can provide relaxation, exercise, social interaction, and many other benefits for their communities, towns, and cities. However, green spaces in hot and humid regions risk being underutilized by residents unless thermal environments are designed to be sufficiently comfortable. Understanding what conditions are needed for comfortable outdoor spaces, particularly how people feel in regard to their thermal environment, is vital in designing spaces for public use. Traditional gardens are excellent examples of successful microclimate design from which we can learn, as they are developed over the generations through observation and modification. This study analyzed how Japanese gardens affect people’s thermal stress on extremely hot summer days. Meteorological data was collected in three Japanese gardens, and human thermal comfort was evaluated through physiological equivalent temperature (PET). Statistical analysis examined the relationship between spatial configurations of the gardens and thermal comfort. Our study revealed that Japanese gardens can efficiently ameliorate thermal stress. Spatial analysis showed that garden elements affect thermal comfort variously depending on time of the day and spatial distribution.
Lihua Cui; Christoph Rupprecht; Shozo Shibata. Climate-Responsive Green-Space Design Inspired by Traditional Gardens: Microclimate and Human Thermal Comfort of Japanese Gardens. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2736 .
AMA StyleLihua Cui, Christoph Rupprecht, Shozo Shibata. Climate-Responsive Green-Space Design Inspired by Traditional Gardens: Microclimate and Human Thermal Comfort of Japanese Gardens. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (5):2736.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLihua Cui; Christoph Rupprecht; Shozo Shibata. 2021. "Climate-Responsive Green-Space Design Inspired by Traditional Gardens: Microclimate and Human Thermal Comfort of Japanese Gardens." Sustainability 13, no. 5: 2736.
Access to green space (GS) is vital for children’s health and development, including during daycare. In Japan, deregulation to alleviate daycare shortages has created a new category of so-called unlicensed daycare centers (UDCs) that often lack dedicated GS. UDCs rely on surrounding GS, including parks, temples and university grounds, but reports of conflicts highlight the precarity of children’s well-being in a rapidly aging country. Knowledge about GS access in Japanese UDCs remains scarce. Our mail-back survey (n = 173) of UDCs and online survey (n = 3645) of parents investigated threats to GS access during daycare across 14 Japanese cities. Results suggest that UDCs use a variety of GS and aim to provide daily access. Caregivers are vital in mediating children’s access, but locally available GS diversity, quality and quantity as well as institutional support were perceived as lacking. Parents did not rank GS high among their priorities when selecting daycare providers, and showed limited awareness of conflicts during GS visits. Implications of this study include the need for caregivers and parents to communicate and collaborate to improve GS access, and the importance of strong public investment into holistically improving GS diversity, quality and quantity from the perspective of public health and urban planning.
Christoph D. D. Rupprecht; Lihua Cui. Understanding Threats to Young Children’s Green Space Access in Unlicensed Daycare Centers in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2020, 17, 1948 .
AMA StyleChristoph D. D. Rupprecht, Lihua Cui. Understanding Threats to Young Children’s Green Space Access in Unlicensed Daycare Centers in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17 (6):1948.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChristoph D. D. Rupprecht; Lihua Cui. 2020. "Understanding Threats to Young Children’s Green Space Access in Unlicensed Daycare Centers in Japan." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 6: 1948.