Use of community spaces for sports and fitness - a case study of urban inhabitants in Shenzhen City, China

Shenzhen is a Chinese city with a very fast-paced work and life environment. Because people there are often under high pressure, fitness and sports have great benefits for their health. In order to study the correlation between inhabitants' fitness and sports activities and the community environment, a questionnaire is designed based upon a review of the literature on fitness behavior and the community environment, and then 595 inhabitants of Shenzhen are surveyed in 2016. The survey involved the demographic information of the subjects, their fitness and sports activities, and the satisfaction of spaces for sports in urban communities. Through analysis of the questionnaire data by cross tabulation, patterns of how and where people like to do exercise have been found. Jogging and walking are the most popular individual activities, where the preferred places are neighborhood gardens, urban squares and parks. The most popular team sports are badminton, table tennis and tennis, where the preferred places are professional fitness clubs, urban squares or parks. Gender differences significantly determine the choice of sport. Males tend to cycle or run individually, and to play ball games as a team. Females prefer to do yoga or eight section brocade individually, and square dance as a team. The factors influencing the satisfaction of places for exercise are ordered as follows: accessibility, fresh air and a clean environment, and low cost. The main requests from locals for the improvement of the recreation environment are the supply of more kinds of sports facilities and fields and better maintenance and management of sports facilities. Some urban design strategies for enhancing the community's sports environment are recommended.