The Strategy of Outdoor Space Micro-Renewal under the Goal of Communities for All Ages: A Case Study of Xingchaibeiyuan Community in Nanchang City

College of Urban Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

Abstract With the rapid development of the city, the old city has gradually lost its former glory, and the old community accounts for a large proportion in the city, and is located in the core area of the city. At present, there are some problems in the old community, such as high degree of aging, poor quality of living space, and lack of outdoor space. The old community transformation is mainly in the way of "guided reconstruction", it has completely destroyed the original historical environment and the spirit of the place. Therefore, taking Xingchaibeiyuan Community in Nanchang City as an example, we deeply explore the strategy of micro-renewal of community outdoor space, so as to provide a reference for the renewal of outdoor space in this kind of old residential area.

Key words Communities for all ages, Outdoor space, Micro-renewal, The elderly, Old urban areas

1 Introduction

From 2016, China gradually entered an aging society, and the issue of aging has increasingly become the focus of national attention. Nowadays, with the aging of the population and the opening of the two-child policy, great changes are taking place in the family structure and mode of production in our country. The children and the elderly in the family account for a certain proportion of the population to a certain extent. The new children are increasing, and the physical function of the elderly is becoming more and more degraded, their desire for activity is gradually reduced, and the scope of activity is narrower. The community has become the main place of life and activity for the elderly.

At present, the object of living in the old urban community is more for the elderly, and the degree of aging of the community is higher. Moreover, the quality of living space is poor, and the planning and construction of space and facilities suitable for the elderly are backward. The material space has been unable to meet the needs of the elderly for outdoor space environment, so there is an urgent need to transform and upgrade. The old community transformation is mainly in the way of "guided reconstruction", and it has completely destroyed the original historical environment and the spirit of the place. Community micro-renewal, as a "light" renewal means, advocates small-scale intervention into renewal work. It has the characteristics of low cost and high efficiency, combined with the attribute characteristics of different updated content, in order to create a community environment with a sense of belonging and happiness.

Based on this background, the functionality of the community has been given a more comprehensive significance, and a new model of old-age housing-communities for all ages has been explored mainly from the needs of the elderly. Most of the studies on the communities for all ages are about the housing planning and design of the communities for all ages based on the elderly care model, and the community micro-renewal has a certain research basis in the old urban area and the community public space. However, there are few studies that regard the communities for all ages as the basic goal. This study aims to maximize the value of the community by studying the strategy of realizing the communities for all ages by means of micro-renewal.

2 Definition of related concepts

2.1 Micro-renewalIn 2011, Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, delivered a speech onComplexScienceandUrbanTransformationat the opening ceremony of the 2011 Urban Development and Planning Conference, and put forward a new principle of urban planning, construction and management: rebuilding microcirculation, promoting urban transformation. It is also pointed out that at present, China is entering a special stage of urbanization in the middle and late stage, following the concept of self-organization, abandoning the rainstorm style of demolishment and reconstruction that was widely popular in the initial stage. Urban renewal does not need to "change face" every year, but needs to gradually move towards "lower carbon progress".

After abandoning the large-scale urban transformation, the "micro-renewal" theory adopts the strategy of gradual and small-scale renewal to realize the urban rejuvenation. It criticizes the large-scale transformation of modernist cities and emphasizes that urban construction should pay attention to the needs of human beings and conform to the yardstick of human beings. It pays attention to the diversity of small and medium-sized functions and advocates replacing large-scale, single-function and rapid transformation with small and medium-sized, multi-functional and gradual transformation. It suggests supporting the development of small and medium-sized commercial and cultural functions, and thinks the cities that are considered to be "organic collages" are dynamic and easy to achieve planning goals. It emphasizes the positive role of small projects in urban renewal. It advocates the restoration of traditional urban form with identifiable urban space to make up for the fragments and lost historical buildings. It focuses on multi-functional mixed cheap commercial space and protects the space environment and social structure of existing communities.

2.2 Communities for all agesThe residents of the communities for all ages include people of different ages. The differences in aging design, living habits, service needs and activity space determine that different spatial organizations should be formed. For example, the rigid elderly care demand group and the elastic elderly care demand group are moderately separated to form a certain degree of division between public products and private products, or dynamic and static zoning. Considering the special psychological needs of the elderly[1], the layout of groups is also beneficial to the psychological characteristics of the elderly at different physiological stages. At the same time, in order to avoid the absolute sense of spatial alienation, it is also necessary to organically gather the supporting facilities for the elderly and the inclusive community service facilities, which is conducive to the intensive use of the community. At the same time, it can increase the opportunities for the elderly to communicate with other age groups, and promote the elderly to better integrate into social life.

3 Characteristics of outdoor space under the goal of communities for all ages

3.1 Analysis of physiological and behavioral characteristics of the elderly

3.1.1Physiological characteristics of the elderly. (i) The degradation of perceptual ability. With the increase of age, the perceptual ability of human organs will gradually deteriorate, especially in vision and hearing. Therefore, the elderly like to talk in a small space with a sense of encirclement, and at the same time, they will naturally get close to the speaker. In addition, the elderly also use touch and smell to make up for the declining sense of touch, taste and smell, but this method of distinguishing things is often slow. (ii) The degradation of ability of central nervous system. Due to the loss of brain cells and slow response, the memory and thinking ability of the elderly is constantly declining, which makes them weak in their cognitive ability to the new environment and difficult to form their cognitive maps. Getting lost and being at sea is a common problem of the elderly. They are more likely to live in a familiar environment[2]. (iii) The degradation of the function of muscle and skeletal system. With the deterioration of the function of muscle and skeletal system, the elderly generally feel that muscle strength and flexibility are decreasing. The regeneration ability of bone is gradually reduced, prone to fracture; bone has also become more loose, prone to spinal pain and hunch phenomenon.

3.1.2Characteristics of behavioral activities of the elderly. (i) Aggregation. When the elderly participate in public activities, they gather due to mutual attraction and resonance. Most of them are in centralized gathering, with a number of elderly people watching, which can effectively enhance the pleasant atmosphere of public activities for the elderly. (ii) Temporal feature. It refers to a kind of interweaving and interaction between the behavior characteristics of the elderly and time under the conditions of different geographical regions, seasons, climate and weather. In different seasons and weather conditions, even in the morning and afternoon of the same day, the travel activities of the elderly are not the same[3]. (iii) Sociality. The elderly are not only willing to socialize with their peers, but also like to socialize with people of other ages, especially children. In real life, the use rate of communication space specially designed for the elderly is not high, and what is more liked by the elderly is the activity place suitable for people of all ages.

3.2 Research objectives and ideas

3.2.1Based on the sociological theory, this paper studies the unreasonable allocation and use of outdoor space in the community under the background of the accelerating aging of Chinese society. Sociology has a system of knowledge about the structure and activities of human society. With the aggravation of the aging population and the opening of the two-child policy, great changes have taken place in the family structure of our country. The way people of different ages in the community get along with each other is also changing. In the past, centralized elderly care was to concentrate the elderly in a special elderly care community or elderly care institutions for management, easy to separate from the original family, resulting in the lack of affection of relatives. It has not adapted to the current community construction, and the communities for all ages have broken the mode of centralized elderly care, which is the development direction of elderly care in the future. Therefore, the use of sociological knowledge can better help to find the internal relationship between communities for all ages and spatial micro-renewal.

3.2.2Based on the theory of place, this paper emphasizes the cultural connotation and human nature in the transformation of community environment. In the reconstruction design of community outdoor space, the "place spirit" should be created by the material environment, space image and scale, rich and colorful outdoor activities and events of certain cultural significance. It should be coordinated and balanced in the aspects of entity, function, ecological environment, space and behavior activities, so as to create a humanized space to attract residents to stay and move about.

3.2.3Based on the theory of urban planning, this paper puts forward the specific methods to solve the micro-renewal of outdoor space in communities for all ages from the point of view of planning. In the process of investigation, the problems exposed in the planning space layout of the old community (such as occupied public space, random parking of vehicles,etc.) are deeply analyzed by using the relevant urban planning theory. And in outdoor space micro-renewal of the communities for all ages, the relevant knowledge is used for the rational layout of outdoor space to solve these problems.

4 A case study of Xingchaibeiyuan Community in Nanchang City

4.1 Overview of the study areaNanchang Diesel Engine Factory was formed by the merger of Jiangxi Provincial Machinery Factory (from Jiangxi Mint, founded in Nanchang in 1911) and Nanchang Machinery Factory in 1953. It was affiliated to the fourth bureau of the Ministry of the First Machine Building Industry at that time. It is one of the large second-class key enterprises in China’s internal combustion engine industry. Xingchaibeiyuan Community is the staff dormitory of the former Nanchang Diesel Engine Factory, located at 89 Dinggong Road. It was successfully restructured by Nanchai Family Member Committee in 2015. It covers an area of 7.87 ha and contains 26 buildings and 947 households. As the city center, its location is excellent, surrounded by developed road traffic, schools, hospitals, railway stations, urban parks. It is a rare urban housing resource. However, since it is a residential area built in the early stage, there are many problems in its internal environment, including dilapidated buildings and the phenomenon of private construction. The environment is poor, parking is out of order, and there is a large activity space, but the use is very little. Facilities are not perfect, and there is no complete community service system.

With the continuous expansion of urban areas, today’s old factory residential areas are usually located in the main urban areas of the city, which have a better geographical location, the scale is large, and the layout is more concentrated[4]. If we directly demolish these areas for the reconstruction of residential areas, its cost is bound to be huge, and the problem of property rights involved is also more complex. Therefore, the more appropriate way to deal with this kind of old factory residential area is to carry out renovation rather than directly demolish and rebuild it. There are still many old factory residential areas in the city that have such preservation value, but are in urgent need of renovation. Therefore, taking Xingchaibeiyuan Community in Nanchang City as an example, this paper analyzes its renewal and transformation techniques in order to provide a reference for the transformation of the same type of old residential area.

4.2 Problem analysis

4.2.1Dilapidated housing problems. The community housing built in the 1950s has poor quality, and infrastructure damage is serious, including security door damage, corridor window missing, staircase collapse, handrail fracture, circuit disrepair, poor lighting, rain leakage, wall moisture and so on. The current living space is only the basic living space for residents to avoid the harsh environment, shelter from the wind and rain, and the living experience is very poor.

4.2.2Flaws in community environment. The "dirty, chaotic, poor" status as a whole cannot provide enough sense of respect to the residents. At the same time, the cultural symbols of the machinery factory are gradually disappearing, and the unique historical and cultural resources are also being ignored by the daily life of the residents. The community public space lacks the characteristic, the stereotyped landscape and the pavement do not reflect the neighborhood culture[5].

4.2.3Lack of entertainment facilities. There is a serious shortage of current cultural and musical service facilities-static space, such as reading room, teahouse, and cultural activity center. As for the dynamic space, there is uneven distribution of insufficient sports facilities, it is lacking in facilities specifically for children, and the facilities are in dire disrepair.

4.3 Strategy of micro-reconstruction in Xingchaibeiyuan Community

4.3.1Reshaping the civilization of Nanchai industry. As the former Nanchang diesel engine factory staff dormitory, it retains the memory of many factory workers. Designers take "memory" as the design point to reshape Nanchai’s industrial civilization. The specific way is: "A place, a story, tells the brilliant civilization of that year." In accordance with the current layout of the community, designers use reasonable venue space, shape the public activity square, and introduce facilities corresponding to the history of Nanchai, evoking the memory of history[6].

4.3.2Creating a comfortable and leisurable life. In the landscape transformation, the concept of healthy community is introduced to create a green ecological environment. The main leisure venue is an open square in the community, which not only serves the residents in the community, but also acts as a public space in the city. The square is basically a semi-open space surrounded by trees and pools. Plants are used for enclosure, and the enclosed plant space is used as a half activity space for the occupants outside. This is conducive to the microclimate regulation of the site in the community and the ventilation of the whole regional environment, and can make the community environment and green landscape permeate each other. The square in the community is not like the general urban public space square to leave a large piece of open space, but to take into account the leisure and entertainment of the residents in the community, especially the elderly. It is equipped with a large number of tables, chairs and stools to create a comfortable and comfortable life[7]. In addition, inside the community, a lot of "scrap" places set up a lot of porch frames, tables and chairs and other leisure facilities to meet the needs of residents in the community for a variety of leisure activities.

4.3.3Improving the community support and the quality of life. In the past, the community was imperfect and there was no complete community service system. This is not convenient for residents’ life, so in the design, designers improve on the basis of the original supporting facilities. The existing community facilities include Warm House, Autonomous Council, Health House, Charity Supermarket, Community Wisdom Distribution Station, Nanchai Hospital, Xingchaibeiyuan Community Convenience Service Center, Zhongshan School, Youth Space, Laonanchai Art Granary, Happy Reading Bar. The improved community supporting facilities have improved the quality of life of the residents and made the life of the residents more convenient. At the same time, due to the historical limitations of community planning, the parking space in the old community is obviously insufficient. The total number of households in Xingchaibeiyuan is 943, and it has a parking space for 115 motor vehicles. All of cars are basically parked on the side of the road, and the layout is on the back of the building, which does not affect traffic and basically meets the demand.

4.4 Building a kind and clear community identity system

Community VI logo design, namely identity system, is a part of community life. Designers use industrial elements to reflect Nanchai’s industrial civilization. The guide card or logo in the community generally uses the rust crimson tone, and the material also imitates rusty iron, to create a sense of industry. In the details of the logo, we can also see the use of gear components for decoration, highlighting the distinctive industrial culture of Xingchaibeiyuan community.

5 Conclusions

The community micro-renewal is used to analyze the community space. For the community space micro-renewal, we should not only pay attention to the design of material space, but also study the transformation of community space from the point of view of meeting people’s high-level psychological needs. The relationship between outdoor space and communities for all ages and specific requirements should be taken as a breakthrough point to find the right linking point between communities for all ages and inhabited communities. In view of the existing problems in the community, the strategy of micro-renewal of community outdoor space is put forward based on association and spatial micro-renewal[8].