Public open spaces for leisure and recreational walking among people aged 60 and over
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24220/2318-0919v22e2025a12955Keywords:
Urban green areas, Walking, Urban open spaces, EldersAbstract
Regular physical activity is essential to improve and maintain mental and physical health of older adults and its practice is associated with the quality of urban open spaces. In order to support decisions regarding design and management of urban spaces in order to be attractive for older adults, the central aim of this paper is to evaluate the quality of public open spaces for leisure in sample areas of the city, where older adults walk more and walk less for leisure in Florianópolis. The methodological procedures involved systematic observation of these open spaces in the selected sampled areas, in which the attributes that provide quality to public open spaces for leisure for the walking of older adults were quantified. These attributes were identified from a systematic literature review. The results demonstrated that in the sample areas where the percentage of older adults who practice walking is higher (between 60% and 80% of the elderly walk for leisure), there are open spaces with better quality, that is, they have a greater quantity
of infrastructural elements which support activity in this group, compared to the sample areas where they walk less for leisure (between 0 and 20% of older adults who walk for leisure). So, it is understood that improvements in urban planning and design, taking into account pedestrian scale, could promote active aging and quality of life. Investments in infrastructure can reduce public health spending and offer a healthier and more sustainable city to the population.
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References
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