This study observed and recorded the interactions of three children—aged ˂1 year (X), 1 year (Y), and 2 years (Z)—with others around them for 20 minutes at a local sports day program on Tarama Island, Okinawa, Japan. X and Y spent their entire time in the arms of adults, particularly adult women who were not their parents. The parents stood nearby, but they were not constantly looking after their children. These children were often engaged by others around them when they were held by nonparents. Z played with elementary school children in the sand. His mother stayed nearby most of the time, but when she moved away, she never addressed him. In addition, children and adults who were passing by greeted Z, and the elementary school children with whom Z was playing in the sand called to him when they were apart from him, which may have made Z feel watched over by the community. It was indicated that, unlike in urban areas, the children’s interpersonal relationships on Tarama Island are widely open to the local community.

This study conducted an observational survey of children’s behavior and a photographic experiment on four occasions over a twoyear period in an attempt to ascertain children’s preferences in terms of place. As a result, we understood the following matters. 1) In one nursery school, many children were seen reading picture books in the first and second sessions, but this decreased from the third session and from the fourth session they were engaged in other activities without reading picture books. The other nursery school, activities such as reading picture books, playing with sand, and drawing were continuously observed. 2) An analysis of children’s photographic patterns revealed differences in their tendency to photograph subjects, which appeared to be influenced by the nursery school environment. In one nursery school, the most frequently photographed natural objects were insects and trees. In the other nursery, blocks and fixed play equipment were photographed most frequently in each experiment. 3) Focusing on the relationship between play activities and the subjects photographed, it turned out that each nursery school’s characteristics were photographed, such as a yearning for places that cannot be visited, craft exhibits, and waterways.

In this paper, we define “using the environment” as people bringing goods in public spaces (interacting withthe environment) and choosing places to stay (interpreting the environment), and we analyzed and considered the things brought by people staying in parks and the physical environment that surrounds them.

The results revealed that people who stay in parks bring goods mostly just rugs, and combine them with canopies and chairs, most of the things are below eye level when sitting on the chair, the surrounding physical environment is mostly trees, and there are few environmental elements at eye level when sitting on the floor or in the chair. We also suggested that the image of a person who using the environment is not someone who simply uses the environment that is given to them, but someone who can actively engage with the environment.

In recent years, the demand for student support on university campuses, particularly counseling services, has been increasing. According to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of people with mental health issues in Japan is increasing, and an average of 5.4% of university students use on-campus counseling rooms. However, many of these facilities operate within limited spaces and budgets, often by repurposing existing rooms, leaving room for improvement in terms of adequate accommodations for users. Against this backdrop, several related studies have been conducted, but few focus on the ’accessibility’ of counseling rooms. Therefore, this study examines what kind of environment makes counseling rooms be felt more ’accessible’ to users. First, a preliminary experiment was conducted to understand the characteristics of the doors and surrounding areas of existing counseling rooms. In the main experiment, impression evaluation tests were conducted using stimulus images created based on the preliminary findings. The results suggested that environments with doors that have openings, bright hallways, and physical elements that convey a ’human presence,’ such as posters displaying the room name near the door, are perceived by users as more ’accessible.’