The intersection of culture and play: Evaluating children’s play spaces in Xi’an’s parks using the 7Cs framework

Abstract

With rapid urbanization, children’s play spaces in Chinese parks face challenges related to functional monotony and a lack of cultural expression. This study examines heritage parks in Xi’an, one of China’s most historically significant cities, as case studies. Using a mixed-methods research approach and the 7Cs framework, we systematically evaluate these spaces to assess their effectiveness in meeting cultural and functional needs. The findings highlight several key shortcomings in current designs. First, an imbalance between static cultural displays and dynamic interactive elements limits children’s engagement and cultural immersion. Second, a lack of exploratory and challenging activities fails to meet the developmental demands of older children. Third, weak user participation mechanisms and inadequate feedback systems contribute to a misalignment between design intentions and actual user needs. To address these challenges, this article proposes integrating dynamic and interactive cultural displays, introducing multi-level exploratory and challenging features to accommodate diverse age groups, and enhancing user engagement and feedback systems throughout the design process. These recommendations aim to balance cultural preservation with modern usability, providing both theoretical insights and practical foundations for improving children’s play spaces in heritage parks while inspiring similar global efforts.

Keywords

Child-friendly city / Play spaces / 7Cs framework / Heritage park / Evaluation

Acknowledgments

None.

Funding

This study was funded by the Faculty Development Fund of Huaqing College, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, the Scientific Research Program of Huaqing College, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (24KY01), the 2024 Shaanxi Provincial Sports Bureau Regular Project (20240162), and the Shaanxi Provincial Youth Research Program in Philosophy and Social Sciences.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Ke Chen Formal analysis: Ke Chen, Chengyun Zhang, Mengyi Li Investigation: Ke Chen, Chengyun Zhang, Mengyi Li Methodology: Ke Chen Writing – original draft: Ke Chen Writing – review & editing: Ke Chen, Ruhizal Roosli

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Our study employed an observational survey approach, inviting parents to voluntarily participate by completing publicly available questionnaires placed in designated areas within the parks. No personal identifiers were collected, and participation was entirely anonymous and unobtrusive.

Consent for publication

No personal identifiers were collected, and participation was entirely anonymous and unobtrusive.

Availability of data

The data can be obtained by sending request e-mails to the author.

Further disclosure

This article is related to the first author’s doctoral dissertation, which remains unpublished at the time of this article’s publication.

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