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| Dimensions | Criteria | Description | Reference source |
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| Outdoor activities (D1) | Friendly slow walking (C1) | Providing continuous circular or curved walking paths for the aged to do more outdoor activities such as slow walking, jogging, and brisk walking; eliminating any form of slope or puddle on the walking path, and constructing walk-friendly infrastructure to get rid of the fear of falling of the aged; providing barrier-free sidewalks with sufficient width to meet the needs of special elderly people. | [19, 24, 25] |
| Public transport connectivity and accessibility (C2) | Ensuring the public traffic routes adjacent to the green open space are clear and well-connected so that it is easy to find and enter the space; and routes should be within suitable walking distance from the space. | [26–28] |
| Readable guidance systems and hazard indicators (C3) | Setting up information exchange boards, air-quality test displays, landmark or hazard indicators to provide the aged with effective and adequate service information about the surrounding environment. | [25, 29, 30] |
| Suitable lighting (C4) | Choosing applicable lamps, setting the brightness and installing the lamps in appropriate positions to ensure suitable brightness transition and uniformity, and clear vision, so as to enhance safety in night activities. | [19, 25] |
| Adequate seating (C5) | Providing comfortable seats with backrests and armrests for the aged to stay and rest and communicate with each other (the seats should be installed as per the overall green open space design, facing wide views; the backs should be shaded by tree shadows. The seats can be small benches with low soft walls or sheltered landscape structures such as gallery frames). | [30–33] |
| Convenient infrastructure (C6) | Providing drinking water sources, public toilets and the like provisions for convenience and environmental cleanliness, which are considered as the most important needs of the aged. | [18,21] |
| Sports entertainment facilities (C7) | Recreational facilities can be used, such as outdoor sports equipment, golf courses, or bicycle lanes. The aged prefer recreational facilities with guidance and emergency braking systems to avoid injury. | [24, 34, 35] |
| Separation of rainwater and sewage (C8) | Historically, constructive measures and standards for preventing and delaying epidemics mainly include urban and rural water supplies and sewage systems (separation of rainwater and sewage). | [36–38] |
| Outdoor ventilator/air cleaning device (C9) | COVID-19 can spread through droplets under windless conditions; hence, it is necessary to take some manual measures to enhance ventilation efficiency, quickly remove air pollutants, and further prevent the spread of the virus. | [39–41] |
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| Touching the nature (D2) | Features of natural water (C10) | Appropriate features of natural water such as lakes, ponds, and fountains should be provided, as water elements in nature can lead to higher therapeutic responses and preferences and improve active emotions in the aged. | [19, 33] |
| High-quality plants (C11) | Vegetation planted in suitable positions and suitable greening allocation throughout the four seasons can offer sufficient visual relief effects through adjustment of natural colors and the sun. Planting flowers and plants with fragrant smells is conducive to improving the olfactory and immune functions of the aged. To avoid pollen allergies, it is necessary to choose flower varieties with less pollen. | [42–44] |
| Interactive leisure landscape (C12) | Incorporating opportunities for incidental and leisure interaction with the environment into the design of green open spaces, such as providing operable landscape installations to encourage interaction. | [18] |
| Suitable soundscape (C13) | Providing pleasant natural sounds such as birdsongs (trees suitable for perching birds can be planted) and the sounds of water and wind (waterscapes or microclimates can be created by virtue of altitude difference) to stimulate auditory sense and promote faster physiological recovery. | [45–48] |
| Access to fruits and vegetables (C14) | Making available fruit and vegetable plants though gardening and DIY so that the aged can obtain tactile feedback from real plant life in nature, taste fresh fruits and vegetables, and have more positive feelings. | [49, 50] |
| Beautiful outdoor landscape (C15) | Providing beautiful outdoor landscapes in harmony with the natural environment, such as the combination of greening and street furniture and small artworks to achieve humanistic ecological benefits and increase the interest and artistry of the landscapes. | [19, 51] |
| No noise pollution (C16) | The aged in high-density urban areas prefer quiet green open spaces. No noise is one of the most important factors to ensure smooth communication, especially for the aged with poor hearing. The increase in noise may negatively affect the communication frequency of the aged. | [52–55] |
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| Social Interaction（D3） | Security management (C17) | Including daily patrols for security, installation of monitoring TV, and maintenance of infrastructures such as changing guardrails along waterfronts and replacing old exercise equipment to avoid crime and vandalism. | [32, 56, 57] |
| Gathering social square (C18) | Forming a large square space for the aged to carry out various entertainment activities, and adding wide spaces for promoting their participation in and supporting community communication. | [[25, 30, 33] |
| Open multi-functional spaces (C19) | The wider the adjacent street is, the stronger the sense of openness is, and the lower the surrounding buildings are, the stronger the sense of openness is. This can help increase the frequency of social interaction. | [40,58] |
| Optimization of children’s playground (C20) | The children’s play area should have good visibility and a space suitable for the aged to rest. This can drive inter-generational exchanges. | [59] |
| Pet activity space (C21) | Giving full consideration to pet activity space to increase the outdoor activities of the aged and drive the aged to take walks with their pets in the space to enhance their physical and mental health; this has been found to be a way to lower the blood pressure of the aged and help strengthen community exchange and interaction. | [60–62] |
| Preservation of community culture (C22) | The full application of elements with cultural and historical information of the original community to the design of green open spaces can enhance local identity and sense of belonging. | [25, 63, 64] |
| Public health service station (C23) | This kind of station functions to quickly and conveniently deal with the emergency health conditions of the aged while disseminating daily disease prevention knowledge, and facilitates good connectivity and accessibility. Necessary space for emergency shelters should be established to deal with sudden disasters, and obvious route maps should be posted. | [6, 37] |
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