ABSTRACT

Greenspaces and access to nature are widely accepted as being beneficial to older adult’s health and well-being. Less well known are the natural elements in their domestic outdoor environments that are used and preferred. In this paper, we identify those most preferred by 72 older adults in New Zealand living in family homes, downsized homes and rest homes. Through the use of geographic information system mapping and photos, we assessed how these individual elements relate to residence type, age, frailty and intrinsic interest in nature. The type of residence and innate nature relatedness were strongly reflected in the items selected by participants. The elements most frequently reported across all residence types were primarily non-native flowers/flowering shrubs and trees, sitting places, views, birds, vegetables, fruit and herbs. The findings have implications for landscape garden design and plant selection but also present a challenge for encouraging more native species in domestic environments.

摘要

绿地和亲近大自然被广泛接受为有益于老年人的健康和福祉。鲜为人知的是他们使用和首选的家庭户外环境中的自然元素。在本文中，我们确定了居住在家庭住宅、小型住宅和养老院的 72 名新西兰老年人最喜欢的那些。通过使用地理信息系统地图和照片，我们评估了这些个体元素与居住类型、年龄、脆弱性和对自然的内在兴趣之间的关系。居住类型和与生俱来的自然相关性在参与者选择的项目中得到了强烈的反映。所有住宅类型中最常报告的元素主要是非本地花卉/开花灌木和树木、坐姿、景观、鸟类、蔬菜、水果和草药。