Page 134 - JCAU-7-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Culture & play in Xi’an’s parks: 7Cs evaluation

Originally developed to guide the design of outdoor play for their distinctive design characteristics and functional
spaces for young children, the 7Cs framework defines seven diversity, making them exemplary cases for evaluating the
key design principles: Character, Context, Connectivity, intersection of cultural heritage and modern play space
Change, Chance, Clarity, and Challenge. These principles design.
aim to create play environments that support children’s Daming Palace National Heritage Park, situated on
physical, cognitive, and social development.
the site of a former Tang dynasty (618 – 907) imperial
As research has progressed, the application of the 7Cs palace, integrates cultural display with contemporary
framework has expanded. Herrington & Brussoni (2015) functionality. As one of the most significant historical
explored the relationship between play environments, risk, sites in Xi’an, it provides an ideal setting for exploring how
and child development, emphasizing the balance between interactive design can enhance cultural engagement within
safety and challenge in play design to provide children with heritage parks.
opportunities for exploration and autonomous activities. Tang City Wall Heritage Park, distinguished by its
Herrington & Brussoni (2022) further extended the linear greenway design, exemplifies the successful fusion
framework for older children (aged 10 – 13) by introducing of heritage conservation and urban public space. The
three additional principles: community, cues, and child park’s layout and spatial organization make it particularly
agency, aiming to better accommodate older children’s suitable for studying connectivity and cultural coherence
social interactions and exploratory behaviors.
in play spaces, offering valuable insights into how historical
Today, the 7Cs framework is widely applied in urban infrastructure can be adapted for modern recreational use.
parks, school playgrounds, and public spaces, integrating
perspectives from landscape architecture, public health, Qujiang Pool Heritage Park presents a unique
and child development. Its evolution in academic research combination of historical exhibitions, modern amenities,
demonstrates its transition from a focus on early childhood and natural landscapes, creating an environment conducive
to exploratory and challenging play experiences. This site
play spaces to a comprehensive methodology addressing is particularly relevant for assessing the balance between
the needs of children across different age groups. By
emphasizing safety, inclusivity, and social interaction, the historical narrative preservation and the provision of
7Cs framework has become a fundamental theoretical dynamic, interactive play opportunities.
foundation for child-friendly urban planning. The selection of these three parks ensures diversity in
Xi’an, known as the historical capital of 13 dynasties, site characteristics, cultural significance, and play space
is a historically and culturally significant city in China, configurations, providing a robust and comprehensive
renowned for its rich heritage and distinctive urban framework for analyzing the integration of cultural
landscape (Jiang, 2024). As one of China’s 100 pilot cities heritage with contemporary urban design principles.
for child-friendly urban initiatives, Xi’an hosts several 2.1. Quantitative methodology
heritage parks. This study selects representative heritage
parks in Xi’an as case studies (Figure 1) and, drawing on This study employs a quantitative research approach to
the 7Cs framework, establishes a conceptual model for systematically assess the design performance of children’s
designing outdoor play spaces in urban parks. The selected play spaces through multi-dimensional evaluation. By
play spaces were systematically evaluated, revealing key quantifying strengths and weaknesses across various
design issues within a cultural heritage context. Targeted dimensions, we aim to analyze the differing evaluation
optimization recommendations were proposed to address perspectives of parents and experts. To achieve this,
these challenges. This research not only provides theoretical structured questionnaire surveys and statistical analysis
support and practical insights for the future development methods were implemented.
of children’s play spaces in Xi’an’s parks but also serves as a First, based on the seven dimensions of the 7Cs
reference for the creation of child-friendly spaces in other framework—Character, Context, Connectivity, Change,
culturally rich cities. Chance, Clarity, and Challenge—a goal-indicator hierarchy
structure was established to develop an evaluation index
2. Data and methods system. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to
This study adopts a case study methodology, selecting assign weightings to different factors. A panel of 30 experts,
three representative heritage parks in Xi’an—Tang City including children’s play space designers, landscape
Wall Heritage Park (Figure 2), Daming Palace National architects, and child development specialists, conducted
Heritage Park (Figure 3), and Qujiang Pool Heritage Park pairwise comparisons of these factors using a 1 – 9 scale.
(Figure 4)—as research sites. These parks were chosen Their assessments were used to construct an AHP judgment

Volume 7 Issue 3 (2025) 3 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.8296