Correlation Between Demand Responsiveness and Satisfaction Assessment of Community Recreational Spaces in Guiyang’s Old Urban District

Background: The development of large-scale outdoor fitness venues is restricted by the residential planning of old urban districts. In contrast, residential recreational spaces, as a synergistic component of the national fitness policy, feature universal applicability and rich multifunctional integration, serving as the primary outdoor fitness carriers for all resident groups in such communities. Accurately identifying the responsiveness of residential recreational spaces to the needs of diverse groups provides a basis for the precise optimization of fitness facilities in residential areas. (1) Equipment-based recreational spaces exhibit the most pronounced supply deficiency across Nanming District, Guiyang: of 484 surveyed activity sites, only 149 (30.8%) are equipment-based, and the demand responsiveness index for this category is consistently the lowest among the three facility types across all age groups. (2) Population-group differentiation in spatial adaptation is substantial: the elderly achieve the highest demand responsiveness index, with pronounced advantages in trail- and site-based categories; young and middle-aged adults are moderate, with largely consistent indices across spatial categories; and children score the lowest, indicating that existing site-, trail-, and equipment-based spaces collectively under-serve children’s daily activity needs. (3) Demand responsiveness levels do not exhibit a simple positive linear correlation with subjective satisfaction. Communities with lower demand responsiveness unexpectedly reported higher satisfaction (overall mean = 3.28/5), revealing a delicate equilibrium—subjective identification and long-term environmental tolerance buffer the negative effect of inadequate supply on resident evaluations. (4) A coupling state of weak equipment-supply responsiveness and moderate subjective satisfaction characterizes older mountainous communities. Constrained by the existing built environment, recreational spaces in Nanming District exhibit a heterogeneous distribution defined by (A) structural deficiency in equipment-based facility supply, (B) population-group differentiation in spatial adaptation efficacy, and (C) a relatively low adaptation level for children.