Inclusive Urban Park Design and Women’s Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Place Attachment in Sustainable and Resilient Communities

Urban parks are essential components of green infrastructure that support residents’ physical health and well-being. However, less attention has been paid to how women can secure such benefits under equitable, safe, and sustainable park-use conditions. Using Xi’an Expo Park as a case study, this study examined the associations among Inclusive Urban Park Design (IUPD), Place Attachment (PA), Environmental Experience (EE), and Women’s Well-Being (WWB), with a focus on whether PA showed an indirect association between IUPD and WWB. This study adopted a quantitative-dominant mixed-methods design, combining 220 valid questionnaires (115 female and 105 male participants) with field observations and semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, gender-comparison tests, mediation models, and robustness checks. Among female participants, the baseline model showed a statistically significant indirect association between IUPD and WWB through PA; however, this association was not retained after controlling for EE, nor in the fully adjusted model including EE, age, and visit frequency. The gender-comparison and qualitative findings suggested that similar levels of PA and WWB did not necessarily reflect equal conditions of park use. Qualitative evidence further indicated that some women’s park use was shaped by childcare, family activities, and other task-oriented responsibilities, which may involve hidden time, physical, and psychological costs. The subdimension-level findings suggested that perceived safety, accessibility and spatial legibility, and facility support and maintenance should be understood as interrelated use conditions rather than distinct independent effects. This study extends urban park equity research beyond spatial provision by emphasizing actual conditions of use and the equitable realization of well-being benefits. The findings provide implications for gender-responsive park design and social sustainability, while their relevance to everyday resilience should be understood as a conceptual extension rather than as direct evidence of community resilience.