Rural areas are facing increasing challenges including declining populations, advanced aging, and a lack of successors. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of rural areas among Chinese and Japanese university students living in urban areas and analyze the determinants influencing their rural attachment and willingness to reside there. A total of 259 students (126 Japanese students in Chiba and 133 Chinese students in Zhengzhou) were surveyed using the place attachment scale, and asked to describe their past experiences in rural areas. Semantic analysis was employed to further explore issues related to their previous rural visit experiences. The results revealed that students’ place of birth, visiting experience, satisfaction with rural areas, interaction with local people, and convenience of accessing rural areas all influenced their attachment and willingness to move to rural areas. Chinese students expressed greater concerns regarding hygiene issues, while Japanese students were more concerned about safety. This study offers some recommendations: promoting educational resources in rural areas and addressing hygiene issues, such as unclean restrooms, in China. In Japan, the focus should be on continued promotion of rural tourism, providing more education on safe driving and environmental safety for university students, and enhancing more access to rural areas through student transportation discounts.

Japan is facing increasingly severe challenges in rural areas, such as an aging and declining population and a lack of successors and young people. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan has emphasized that it is important to explain to younger generations the region's appeal for rural development. The purpose of this study was to understand how young Japanese university students' perceptions of rural areas, as well as what factors, influence their attachment to rural areas and willingness to reside there. 71 students from Chiba University in Japan were selected for the survey. Students were asked to tell their experiences in rural areas, and the traditional Place Attachment Scale was used to analyze. In addition, semantic analysis was used to analyze the results of the free description. As a result, we found that students' birthplace, visiting experience, degree of interaction with residents, willingness to migrate, and level of satisfaction with their visit affected their place attachment. Students are generally more satisfied with rural areas, but less willing to move. This research provides the following suggestions for improving young people's sense of responsibility and inheritance in rural areas,1) University can set up relevant courses on rural history, culture, and environment to improve students' knowledge and awareness of rural areas, and learn more about the environment and culture of rural areas. 2) In the Information Age, students should actively be encouraged to go to rural areas to engage in more nature.

Against the backdrop of the global aging trend, the proportion of the elderly population is severely increasing in the urban areas of underdeveloped regions. Despite evidence that urban forest parks are effective at enhancing the physical and mental well-being of the elderly, little has been done to investigate the connection between urban forest parks and the elderly in underdeveloped regions, and landscape studies in particular are lacking. This study attempted to address this gap, using a subjective evaluation method in which 725 elderly respondents were engaged in a questionnaire survey on their soundscape preferences in the urban forest parks of an underdeveloped city in China. The results revealed the elderly people’s preferences for soundscapes, and a further analysis demonstrated the relationships between these preferences and landscape features. The effects of personal traits and living situations on soundscape preferences were determined by analyzing the impacts of living conditions, occupation, and education on soundscape preferences. By building a model with regression coefficients, the most powerful factors influencing soundscape choice were investigated. It was found that (1) the types of sound sources preferred by the elderly, in descending order, were natural sound, livestock sound, bird song, musical sound, other sounds. (2) The differences among education, occupation, and age all affected the participants’ soundscape preferences, i.e., the mean values of the soundscape preferences among older adults varied with education, occupation, and age. The mean value of soundscape preference was higher among older adults who had received higher education, were government officials and business managers, and belonged to higher age groups. (3) Among the various factors influencing the soundscape preference of the elderly, the most influential factors were the length of time spent in the waterfront environment, the time spent in the forest park, and the importance of road signs. (4) The preference for soundscapes was strongly connected with happiness in life. (5) Wearing a mask significantly reduced soundscape perception scores under epidemic conditions, while vaccinated individuals were more tolerant of various noises. Recommendations for landscape design to improve the soundscape perception of elderly people are accordingly provided.

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One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN Summit in September 2015 includes the greening movement, in which ordinary citizens can actively participate. Goals 3, 11, 13, and 15 of SDGs contribute to health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, measures against climate change, and protection of life on land, respectively. In this context, studies of urban green spaces have been conducted on greening movements. Most studies have focused on formally recognized green spaces such as parks, gardens, and forests. “Informal green spaces” refer to small plots of land covered with greenery such as grassy areas on roadsides, vacant lots, and vegetation beside railroad tracks and waterways; however, they are considered separate from formal green spaces. A previous survey of informal green space usage in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, showed that residents were aware of informal green spaces in their neighborhoods and viewed them as potential auxiliary green spaces. However, the study mainly focused on the elderly, and no studies have focused on youth from junior high or high school as the primary research target. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify whether the results from previous studies were relevant to younger generations and a broader range of cities. This study focuses on the cities near Ichikawa, located in the metropolitan area of Japan, urbanized with residential condominiums and other buildings. There are several formal green spaces, and interest in greenery is relatively high. We first surveyed the actual conditions of various informal green spaces in Chiba and recorded their location information and types. Based on the data obtained, a questionnaire on the use and evaluation of informal green spaces was designed, and the responses were collected using “Classi,” an ICT platform for students and teachers, from Ichikawa Gakuen’s students (junior high school to senior high school) and teachers. Green spaces can help to build a sustainable society by improving physical and mental health through exposure to nature, developing cities where people can continue to live, and reducing heat islands. The importance of formal and informal green spaces in cities has been highlighted in this study, which indicated that informal green spaces not only enrich people’s lives but also have the potential for new usage. This study emphasizes that in urban areas with many restrictions, informal green spaces play a complementary role to formal green spaces.