A Study on the Public Perception of Sports Spaces Under Urban Overpasses from the Perspective of Age Differences

As China’s urban development enters the era of stock optimization, the practice of transforming and utilizing spaces under urban overpasses is rapidly gaining momentum. Converting these underpass spaces into sports areas has emerged as a new form of creating public space. Understanding the perceptions of users from different age groups towards these underpass spaces holds significant guiding value for optimizing the design of such areas and improving the quality of service. Taking the Yanshan Interchange Lowline Park in Jinan as an example, this research applied methods of observation, interviews, questionnaires, and importance–satisfaction analysis (ISA) to investigate the activity preferences and the similarities and differences in the perceptions of spatial environment elements in underpass spaces among four age groups: children, youth, middle-aged adults, and the elderly. The findings indicate that different age groups exhibit varying degrees of sensitivity to spatial information, demand levels, and perceptual perspectives in underline parks, which result in distinct spatiotemporal distributions and spatial perception disparities when using the park. All the groups agree that the underpass sports space requires significant improvements in terms of comfort and safety. Based on this, this study proposes age-friendly urban space renewal strategies for spaces under elevated highways, focusing on addressing areas with lower satisfaction across all age groups. These strategies include optimizing the allocation of time, area, and activity types within activity spaces, enhancing the safety and comfort of activity areas, and enriching the cultural connotation and inclusivity of the space. This research provides a theoretical basis for optimizing and creating age-friendly or age-specific urban sports public spaces under elevated highways.