Park Users Research Articles

Health Risk Assessment of Community Riverside Regeneration in Barcelona

Access to natural outdoor environments in cities may promote physical activity and improve human’s health and wellbeing. This study aimed to quantify the impacts on the health and health-related economics of an urban riverside regeneration, which consisted on creating the Besòs riverside Park by providing access to the riverbanks and creating a huge green area next to the river.A counting campaign and a survey of riverside Park users describing their physical activity levels, the duration, and frequency of their visits to the regenerated area, were used to estimate their metabolic equivalent of task (MET-min/week). We used a bespoke quantitative risk assessment tool, which related physical activity (in MET-min/week) and health outcomes obtained from existing meta-analyses, to estimate the age and sex-specific health impacts in terms of all-cause mortality, morbidity (including ischemic heart disease; ischemic stroke; type 2 diabetes; cancers of the colon and breast; and dementia) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). We conducted a health economic evaluation in terms of the value of statistical life and direct health costs.Almost 6,000 adult users visited the regenerated riverside Park daily and performed different types of physical activities (i.e. walking for leisure or to/from work, cycling, and running). Among these users we estimated an annual reduction of -3.4 (95% CI; -10.8; -0.1) deaths, -6.2 (95% CI; -19.4; -0.5) cases of diseases, and -11 (95% CI; -36.8; -0.5) DALYs. We estimated savings of -11.4 (95% CI; -36.9; -269,642) million Euros on mortality and direct health-care costs.The urban riverside regeneration of the Besòs riverside Park has resulted in substantial quantifiable benefits to the public health in terms of increased physical activity. Similar accessible riverside renewal projects might improve the health of urban populations, mitigating major public health challenges resulting at least partly from physical inactivity.

Why Is Co-management of Parks Not Working in Johannesburg?

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) has affirmed its strong redistributive objective in post-apartheid Johannesburg, with the rapid development of new urban parks in former black townships. However, its operational budgets have remained limited in the face of the many pressing housing and infrastructural needs. Many park users, especially in formerly white (and still middle-class) suburbs, have resorted to forms of neighbourhood or community management to compensate for JCPZ’s absence. JCPZ is attempting to rebuild its mandate with regards to these public spaces, developing various policy instruments in response to the involvement of park users in the management of urban parks, but also to formalise that involvement. This chapter traces the genealogy of these policy instruments in the making, caught between multiple logics where neo-liberal pressures and models, regular engagements with park users marked by contested legitimacies and racial tensions, and the broader municipal redistributive agenda shape the way in which the post-apartheid state redefines its mandate. The chapter argues that the specific social and racial configurations in which these partnerships are framed on the ground are used by municipal officials to resist transforming their own practices towards more participatory and democratic processes of co-production of parks. The chapter reflects on shifting state mandates in urban governance in contemporary cities of the South and analyses policy instruments crafted for the complex task of formalising and regulating state–society co-production of urban services in the field of park management.

Public Perception and Perceived Landscape Function of Urban Park Trees in Tabriz, Iran

Landscapes of parks may contribute an important function in the urban park with a wide range of benefits. However, there is a lack of understanding of the publics‘ preferences for parks‘ landscape funtions and benefits in middle-east countries such as Iran. About 275 park users were interviewed using photo-questionnaire in Tabriz, Iran using five point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree,.. 5 = strongly agree) for measuring their preference level. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and variance analysis (Independent sample t-test and ANOVA) were used for analyzing the data. The results revealed the majority of the participants were male (54.5%), single (65.09%), highly educated (71.4%), below 40 years old (62.9%), and visit the park with family members (43.3%) in the evenings (54.5%). The participants preferred the presence of Salix alba followed by Pinus nigra, Platanus occidentalis, and Morus alba in the urban park, respectively. “Flowering purpose“ (mean= 4.21) and “green enlargement“ (mean= 4.20) were important functional dimensions, whilst, “health care“ (mean= 4.33) and “mental recovery“ (mean= 4.29) landscape benefits in urban parks. It is concluded that, perhaps, attributions of trees such as creating shade, with the canopy on top, and having large leaves are significant factors on publics‘ landscape preferences.

Preservation Park and themescape economics in Oakland, California

Abstract Preservation Park is a site in downtown Oakland, California, where original houses from the late nineteenth century have been restored in a re-creation of a period neighbourhood. This article begins by framing the site as a themed environment, or ‘themescape’, in which the act of historical preservation is undermined by various modern interventions that fabricate the past, such as the relocation of many of the houses from their original locations and the addition of idealized faux-Victorian details. Using the Developer’s Guideline, the principal text in the design of the site and contemporaneous city planning documents, the article identifies how the artificial reproduction of Victorian Oakland was intended to increase investment and reverse economic decline in the city centre. Drawing on theories of tourism and gentrification, the article analyses the design and theming of Preservation Park as economic devices and aesthetic entities that restrict movement, create a visual experience and use various signifiers of private space to make the site exclusive and valuable. These readings are then employed to contextualize the site’s racial and social history, leading to a discussion of the relationship between the economic objectives, the theming and the actual usage of Preservation Park and similar sites.

Public Space Users' Soundscape Evaluations in Relation to Their Activities. An Amsterdam-Based Study.

Understanding the relationship between people and their soundscapes in an urban context of innumerable and diverse sensory stimulations is a difficult endeavor. What public space users hear and how they evaluate it in relation to their performed or intended activities can influence users’ engagement with their spaces as well as their assessment of suitability of public space for their needs or expectations. While the interaction between the auditory experience and activity is a topic gaining momentum in soundscape research, capturing the complexity of this relationship in context remains a multifaceted challenge. In this paper, we address this challenge by researching the user-soundscape relationships in relation to users’ activities. Building on previous soundscape studies, we explore the role and interaction of three potentially influencing factors in users’ soundscape evaluations: level of social interaction of users’ activities, familiarity and expectations, and we employ affordance theory to research the ways in which users bring their soundscapes into use. To this end, we employ a mixed methods design, combining quantitative, qualitative and spatial analyses to analyze how users of three public spaces in Amsterdam evaluate their soundscapes in relation to their activities. We documented the use of an urban park in Amsterdam through non-intrusive behavioral mapping to collect spatial data on observable categories of activities, and integrated our observations with on site questionnaires on ranked soundscape evaluations and free responses detailing users’ evaluations, collected at the same time from park users. One of our key findings is that solitary and socially interactive respondents evaluate their soundscapes differently in relation to their activities, with the latter offering higher suitability and lower disruption ratings than the former; this points to qualitatively different auditory experiences, analyzed further based on users’ open-ended justifications for their evaluations. We provide a methodological contribution (adding to existing soundscape evaluation methodologies), an empirical contribution (providing insight on how users explain their soundscape evaluations in relation to their activities) and a policy and design-related contribution, offering additional insight on a transferable methodology and process that practitioners can employ in their work on the built environment to address the multisensory experience of public spaces.

Public Use of Outdoor Spaces as A Function of Landscape and Demographic Factors

Spending time outside is beneficial to individuals in many ways. Since landscapes may be manipulated through policy mechanisms, planners and other land stewards may desire to know how they can manipulate landscapes to encourage greater park use. Our study used a questionnaire to measure multiple dimensions of park usage by suburban and urban residents – including time spent outside and activities they engaged in while in parks. We then performed a factor analysis to see how these park-related activities were related to landscape and demographic factors. Park visitation was demonstrated to the density and length of roadways, how much vegetation cover an area had, and demographic variables including pet ownership. Knowing that these are related can guide planners and land stewards in management of parks based on their landscape and the features of the population they serve.

Analysis of selected parking spaces in medium sized cities of tamil nadu

The present study aims to analyze the conditions of identified parking lots in two medium sized cities of Tamil Nadu, namely Tiruchirapalli and Thanjavur, and suggest possible measures for improvement. Methods like parking space inventory survey, cordon count and parking usage control by patrol were used for data collection. The number of vehicles occupying the parking spaces at a specific period of time was determined. This count was taken at regular intervals over a time period spread over 9 am to 6 pm, in three sessions. The data collected was then analysed and peak values of the numbers of different types of vehicles was identified. Observations of the prevalent topographical conditions at the study locations were made and a few suggestions pertaining to maintenance, enhancement, improved efficiency and tariff were provided.

Recreational visits to urban parks and factors affecting park visits: Evidence from geotagged social media data

Quantifying park use and understanding its driving factors is crucially important for increasing park use and thus human well-being. Previous studies have investigated the effects of different physical and sociocultural factors on park usage using visitor surveys and direct observations of park users, which are usually site specific and time consuming. We quantified and compared the number of visits for different types of parks in Beijing using freely available geotagged check-in data from social media. We investigated how park attributes, park location, park context and public transportation affected the number of park check-in visits, using multiple linear regressions. Despite potential biases in the use of social media data, using a park typology, we found that the number of visits was significantly different among different types of parks. While cultural relics parks and large urban parks had larger numbers of visits, neighborhood parks had higher visitation rates per unit of area. Park size and entrance fees were associated with increased numbers of visits for all types of parks. For parks that mainly serve local residents, the distance to urban center significantly affected park use. The number of bus stops was positively correlated with park visits, suggesting that increased accessibility through public transportation leads to more visits. The results indicated that improving park accessibility via public transportation and planning small, accessible green spaces in residential areas were effective in improving park use.

Changes in Physical Activity After Installation of a Fitness Zone in a Community Park.

IntroductionIncreases in physical activity can lead to decreases in the prevalence of chronic diseases. Parks provide an ideal setting for physical activity. We investigated the effect of a fitness equipment installation on the intensity of park users’ physical activity at a community park.MethodsWe used the System for Observing Play and Recreation in a Community to record physical activity in Eastgate Park in Garden Grove, California, in August 2015 (preintervention [n = 1,650 person-periods]) and in February 2016 (postintervention [n = 1,776 person-periods]). We quantified physical activity in target areas of the park during 15-minute observation periods in 2 ways: 1) we categorized each user’s activity level during the period (sedentary, walking, vigorous), and 2) we converted activity levels to numeric metabolic equivalent task (MET) scores and calculated the period-average score across users. We used mixed-effects regression models to assess 1) the proportional odds of higher activity level at postintervention and 2) the association between intervention status (pre vs post) and mean period-average MET scores.ResultsIn the immediate zone around the fitness equipment, the odds ratio for a higher activity level was 1.58 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14–2.18; P = .006) and the mean period-average MET score was 0.33 (95% CI, −0.07 to 0.74; P = .11) units higher at postintervention. Across the park as a whole, the odds ratio for a higher activity level was 1.41 (95% CI, 1.21–1.63; P < .001), and the mean period-average MET score was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.12–0.56; P = .003) units higher at postintervention.ConclusionInstalling fitness zones appears to be an effective intervention for increasing physical activity of park users. Further studies need to be conducted to understand the sustained impact of fitness zones over time.

An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks' Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study.

Urban green space has been positively associated with psychological and physical health. However, the linkage between exposure to parks and health outcomes remains unclear. The current study examined the meanings that people assign to city parks, as a way to understand the pathways by which parks exert their effects on health. We conducted qualitative interviews with twenty culturally diverse residents in New York City. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data. Results showed that all themes identified were related to parks fulfilling a basic human need for connection to (1) family, loved ones, and friends; (2) community and neighborhood; (3) self; and (4) nature. Based on these data, we proposed a human-centered framework for future research and interventions aimed at catalyzing parks as a vehicle to improve health and wellbeing. A human-centered approach emphasizes targeting the deep-seated needs and values of those we seek to engage and for whom health promotion and disease prevention efforts are designed. Our study shows that park transformations need to incorporate careful considerations of the human need for connection on multiple levels, so that park usage and its consequent health benefits may be optimized.

Detailed Assessment of the Spatial Distribution of Urban Parks According to Day and Travel Mode Based on Web Mapping API: A Case Study of Main Parks in Wuhan.

This article employs two indexes—accessibility and effective service ratio (ESR)—to assess the spatial distribution of urban parks with the consideration of both equity and efficiency. Traditional approaches to calculate these two indexes are often based on the shortest distance to the park within its service radius by network analysis. Such approaches cannot reflect the actual travel behaviors of urban residents and require extensive data collection of road networks and complex parameter setting. To avoid these defects, this study directly acquires travel time data for various travel modes in a specific time period to the park through web mapping API (Application Program Interface), then calculates the accessibility and ESR of urban parks based on these detailed data. This method gets closer to actual park usage situation and avoids the cumbersome process of road network model building. At last, a case study is conducted on the assessment of spatial distribution of main parks in Wuhan, finding that districts with poor park accessibility in Wuhan can be divided into three types: districts with an absence of parks, districts with an insufficiency with parks, and districts separated from parks by traffic. Then, pertinent improvement suggestions are proposed, which provide some bases for decisions on future park planning and construction.

Personal and Environment Factors Associated with Attraction to Tropical Urban Parks in Peninsular Malaysia

There is increasing demand for urban parks as recreational areas amidst urbanization in Malaysia. Urban parks are the most readily accessible resource for interactions with nature across multi groups in many urban cities, including tropical cities. This paper reports a research conducted in 2013/2014 to determine the overall quality of visits and park users’ level of motivations in selected six public parks in Peninsular Malaysia. The result of this study which examined 2,139 park users’ in 2013/2014 level of motivation and overall quality of visit in selected six public parks in Peninsular Malaysia and the result shows that about three quarter of the users are youths between 17 and 36 years old. For the quality of visit attributes, park users rated “nature and environment” as the highest dimensions with mean score (M = 4.11). The statistical analysis showed that element of shadiness as an important factor for nature motivation. The common shadiness element experienced by urban park users were considered to be unique landscape and significantly different from Western and developed countries

Using mobile signaling data to exam urban park service radius in Shanghai: methods and limitations

Containing positioning information, mobile signaling data provide inspiring potentials to examine citizens' mobility at a low cost and a large scale and can be used to investigate service radius of public facilities. A deeper understanding of urban park service radius is crucial for park planning and management. However, due to the lack of empirical evidence, existing indicators about park service radius are mixed across park planning guidelines and related studies. Utilizing mobile signaling data, this study proposes an approach to identify park users and the location of their home, and ultimately investigates the differences in user home-park distances for parks with different characteristics. Mobile signaling data analyzed in this study involve 22.3 million mobiles during a period of 24 h in the city of Shanghai. 51,686 users of the 46 sampling parks and location of their home were identified based on their mobile connections to park-related mobile base stations. Correlation and Dunnett T3 test analyses indicate that on average, parks with larger surface area and in denser areas attract further users. Large parks within the inner ring of Shanghai have the largest mean home-park distance. Within the inner ring, the 70th percentiles of home-park distance for parks with areas of less than 5 ha, 5–10 ha, 10–50 ha and over 50 ha are 6.0 km, 7.0 km, 6.8 km, and 10.5 km. These results provide direct implications to urban park planning and to establishing a detailed typology of urban parks involving more contextual factors, such as surrounding population density.

Sport in London’s public green spaces in the inter-war years

ABSTRACTMost research on sports venues has focused on commercial stadia instead of public green spaces like parks in major cities such as London. This article charts the development and distribution of sport in London’s public green spaces from the early 1920s until the outbreak of a new war in 1939. Based on original sources from various London archives, the article depicts general trends in the evolution of sport and public parks. By comparing various municipal authorities and the Office of Works, the government department responsible for the Royal Parks, the article demonstrates that most sport venues were located in parks. It shows that in London most municipal parks became sports parks accommodating numerous facilities, suggesting that public parks were crucial sport venues for most people. It furthermore argues that the authorities managing parks were the main providers of sport in the city and that they reacted to continuously growing demand from below. Nevertheless, there were crucial differences between authorities on allocating their public green space for sport. Challenging the view that men dominated public green space, the authorities studied paid close attention to women and children as users of parks and sports facilities.

PERSEPSI PENGHUNI TERHADAP KENYAMANAN BERAKTIVITAS DI RUANG TERBUKA PERUMAHAN

A comfort open space has a function and a huge influence in housing because it becomes a means of activity throughout the housing dwellers. Debang Housing Taman Sari Medan is one of housing in Kecamatan Medan Selayang which has open space. The purpose of this research is to know the perception of occupant to the comfort of open space. There are several convenience factors that are used as indicators in research such as Circulation, Climate, Noise, Smell, Shape, Safety, Cleanliness, and Beauty. The research was done through qualitative descriptive analysis, where the data collection technique used questionnaire from the population and the specified sample. The process of collecting data, sampling technique until the criteria of research become an important process of research method. This study shows if the perception of occupants of the comfort of open space of housing Debang Taman Sari Medan is quite comfortable and needed supporting facilities for park users.

Park use and physical activity among adolescent girls at two time points

ABSTRACTThis longitudinal study described park usage and assessed the contribution of parks to moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls. High school girls from California (n = 131) and Minnesota (n = 134) wore a global positioning system (GPS) monitor and accelerometer for 6 consecutive days at two time points, one year apart. Park visits were classified by linking the GPS, accelerometer, and park and built environment data around home and school locations into a geographic information system. At baseline, 20% of girls visited a park at least once (mean 0.1 times/day), which was similar one year later (19%, mean 0.1 times/day). Girls lived a mean Euclidean distance of 0.2 miles to the nearest park at both times. Among all park visits, the mean Euclidean distance of the park visited was 4.1 (baseline) and 3.9 miles (follow-up). The average duration of park visits was higher at baseline (63.9 minutes) compared to follow-up (38.4 minutes). On days when a park was visited, MVPA was higher than on days when a park was not visited. On average, 1.9% (baseline) and 2.8% (follow-up) of MVPA occurred in parks. In this study, parks were an under-used resource for adolescent girls, particularly for MVPA.

The ecological services of plant communities in parks for climate control and recreation-A case study in Shanghai, China.

Mitigating extreme heat in urban areas is beneficial and sometimes critical to human health. Thriving plant communities in community parks play an important role in mitigating extreme heat through providing cooling effect, while inevitably affecting how people perceive the benefits of using community parks for recreation. Thus, the impacts of plant communities on the thermal environment should be quantified to determine the optimal structure of the plant community. The goal would be to harmonize the functions of improving the thermal environment with the preferences people have related to the recreational benefits of plant communities with various levels of vegetation density. In this paper, the correlations between the structural characteristics of plant communities and their function in mitigating the thermal environment were investigated on calm summer days in Xincheng Central Park, Minhang District, Shanghai, China. In addition to analyzing the plant communities present and their effects on the park microclimate, a questionnaire was employed to determine the plant community preferences of recreational park users. The results showed that plant communities could reduce the air temperature by 1.23–2.42 °C and increase the relative humidity by 2.4–4.2% during the daytime. The microclimate conditions in plant communities with varying vegetation densities were significantly different. The canopy density and leaf area index primarily controlled the temperature reduction, while the canopy density and total canopy cover ratio primarily controlled the increase in humidity; meanwhile, these correlations varied at different times of the day. Moreover, most of the park users preferred a moderately dense plant community which met their environmental perceptions for recreation in parks. Age or education level variables of park users would also predict preferences for different plant community densities. Ultimately, one plant community pattern with appropriate canopy density (60%), leaf area index (≥3) and canopy cover ratio (total 0.80–1.20, with 0.6–0.75 for trees and 0.20–0.45 for shrubs/woodland area) was recommended, which would harmonize the functions of the mitigation of the thermal environment with most people’s perception of a desirable vegetation density.

Justifying and resisting public park commercialisation: The battle for Battersea Park

Urban parks have always been contested and contradictory spaces: highly ordered and elitist, yet valued as democratic places and public amenities. In an era of neoliberal austerity there are greater pressures for parks to pay for themselves and the associated commercialisation often exacerbates conflicts between park users and managing authorities. This paper focuses on how their increased use as venues for commercial events affects the publicness of urban parks. This issue is explored via the case of Battersea Park in London, which was used as a venue for Formula E motor races in 2015 and 2016. These events disrupted park access during race weekends, but also in the periods when the venue was assembled/disassembled. The events were resisted by a community action group whose campaigning eventually resulted in the decision by Formula E to cease racing in Battersea Park. The paper analyses how Formula E events were justified and opposed using a form of rhetorical analysis inspired by the work of Michael Billig. Interviews were undertaken with key stakeholders involved in the case and their arguments were analysed to reveal different ways of thinking about public parks. The dispute is understood as one underpinned by different interpretations of who and what a park is for, and by contrasting views on the impact of interruptions to everyday routines. The Formula E events reduced public access, but the dispute surrounding the events arguably made Battersea Park more public by generating debate and by provoking local activists to defend their park.

Physical Activity in Public Parks of High and Low Socioeconomic Status in Colombia Using Observational Methods.

Public parks are an important resource for the promotion of physical activity (PA). This is the first study in Colombia and the fourth in Latin America to describe the characteristics of park users and their levels of PA using objective measures. A systematic observation assessed sex, age, and the level of PA of users of 10 parks in an intermediate-size city in Colombia, classified in low (5 parks) and high (5 parks) socioeconomic status (SES). A total of 10 daily observations were conducted, in 5 days of the week during 3 periods: morning, afternoon, and evening. In total, 16,671 observations were completed, recording 46,047 users. A higher number of users per park, per day, were recorded in high SES (1195) versus low SES (647). More men were observed in low-SES than high-SES parks (70.1% vs 54.2%), as well as more children were observed in low-SES than high-SES parks (30.1% vs 15.9%). Older adults in high-SES parks were more frequent (9.5% vs 5.2%). Moderate to vigorous PA was higher in low-SES parks (71.7% vs 63.2%). Low-SES parks need more green spaces, walk/bike trails, and areas for PA. All parks need new programs to increase the number of users and their PA level, considering sex, age group, and period of the week.

Using social media to understand drivers of urban park visitation in the Twin Cities, MN

Green space and parks in urban environments provide a range of ecosystem services and public benefits. However, planners and park managers can lack tools and resources to gather local information on how parks are used and what makes them desirable places for recreation and a wide variety of uses. Traditional survey methods to monitor park use and user preferences can be costly, time consuming, and challenging to apply at scale. Here, we overcome this limitation by using geotagged social media data to assess patterns of visitation to urban and peri-urban green space across park systems in the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA. We find that parks with nearby water features, more amenities, greater accessibility from the presence of trails, and that are located within neighborhoods with higher population density, are associated with higher rates of visitation. As cities grow and shifts in demographics occur, more responsive management of public green space will become increasingly important to ensure urban parks provide ecosystem services and meet users’ needs. Using social media data to rapidly assess park use at a lower cost than traditional surveys has the potential to inform public green space management with targeted information on user behavior and values of urban residents.