RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF URBAN PARKS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: A CASE STUDY IN CHANGKAT PUBLIC PARK, BATU GAJAH, PERAK

Nowadays, people, especially urban dwellers were not active. Physical inactivity will lead to an unhealthy body. Previous research found that physical activity will contribute to a healthy life. Based on the previous research, high-quality recreation areas, including urban parks and playgrounds can provide a wide variety of opportunities for physical activity and have the potential to help community in leading a more active lifestyle. However, the statistical relationship between the quality of urban parks and physical activity is yet to be examined, especially for Malaysia. Due to the gap, a study was conducted in Changkat Public Park (Taman Awam Changkat), Batu Gajah, Perak Darul Ridzuan with the aim to examine the statistical relationship between quality of the urban park and physical activity. The park quality was evaluated based on five (5) aspects which were facilities and amenities, accessibility, informative (signage), safety, as well as attraction. Pertaining to physical activity, this study focussed on time allocation, as well as frequency and type of activity of the park visitors. Data were obtained through a questionnaire survey among visitors. The relationship between urban park quality and physical activity in the study area was analysed using a correlation test. The study found that the quality of the park was moderately corrected to the active level of the respondents. As an implication, urban parks require serious concern by the designers and managers to uphold the quality for visitors.

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Big Data-Based Evaluation of Urban Parks: A Chinese Case Study

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11072125 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 2125

Author(s):

Zening Xu ◽

Xiaolu Gao ◽

Zhiqiang Wang ◽

Jie Fan

Keyword(s):

Data Extraction ◽

Urban Parks ◽

Urban Park ◽

Public Parks ◽

Digital Maps ◽

Point Of Interest ◽

Population Sizes ◽

Definition Of

Urban parks play a key role in urban sustainable development. This paper proposes a method for the evaluation of public parks from the perspective of accessibility and quality. The method includes the data extraction of urban park locations and the delineation of urban built-up areas. The processing of urban park data not only involves the extraction from digital maps, but also the classification of urban parks using a semi-automated model in ArcGIS. The urban area is identified using the Point of Interest (POI) data in digital maps, taking economic and human activities into consideration. The service area and its overlapped time is included in the evaluation indicators. With a clear definition of park and urban built-up area, the evaluation result of urban parks is of great comparability. Taking China as an example, the quality of urban parks in 273 prefecture-level cities has been evaluated. The results show that the average service coverage of urban parks in Chinese cities is 64.8%, and that there are significant disparities between cities with different population sizes and locations. The results suggest the necessity to improve public parks in small-and-medium sized cities and inland areas to strengthen the coordination of urbanization and regional development.

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Community Perceptions about Participating in Urban Park Establishment in Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia

Land ◽

10.3390/land10111268 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1268

Author(s):

Bayarmaa Enkhbold ◽

Kenichi Matsui

Keyword(s):

Community Participation ◽

Urban Parks ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Urban Park ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

Housing Type ◽

Community Based ◽

Socio Demographic Factors ◽

Land Size

Urban parks are essential for communities to maintain and improve health, culture, and quality of life. However, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, faces a shortage of urban parks due to overpopulation and unplanned land use. A good community-based strategy can help urban park planners and decision-makers understand residents’ needs. It can also improve livability and the urban environmental conditions at large. This paper attempts to understand residents’ perceptions about participating in urban park establishment and maintenance. As the past studies showed a lack of community participation in urban planning in Ulaanbaatar, it attempts to determine the extent to which residents perceive urban park benefits, the importance of community participation, preferred types of contribution, and willingness to contribution land in establishing urban parks in their neighborhood. In doing so, it identifies socio-demographic factors that influence their willingness to participate and contribute. A total of 600 paper-based questionnaires were randomly distributed among ger and apartment residents, and only 535 were analyzed. The result shows that approximately 73% of the respondents considered community participation very important for establishing urban parks in their neighborhood. Most respondents perceived urban park benefits as playgrounds for children, and relaxation and recreation. Respondents’ education and housing type were found significant in overall willingness to participate in park establishment and maintenance, whereas marital status and land size were observed statistically significant in the willingness of sharing some portions of their lands for park establishment in the ger area.

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Environmental Justice and Urban Parks. A Case Study Applied to Tarragona (Spain)

Urban Science ◽

10.3390/urbansci5030062 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 62

Author(s):

Joan Alberich ◽

Yolanda Pérez-Albert ◽

José Ignacio Muro Morales ◽

Edgar Bustamante Picón

Keyword(s):

Environmental Justice ◽

Urban Parks ◽

City Management ◽

Average Value ◽

Multi Criteria Evaluation ◽

Green Areas ◽

The One ◽

Home Sale Prices

There is consensus regarding the fact that urban green areas contribute to the quality of life of their inhabitants. Therefore, efficient city management must assess whether the population has access to green areas and the areas’ quality in relation to, for example, vegetation, facilities or furnishings. Therefore, the objective is to establish environmental justice of urban parks in Tarragona (Spain) by developing a Park Quality Index (PQI) and the sociodemographic characteristics (level of studies, Human Development Index –HDI–, home sale and rental prices) of the population living within 300 m of a park. To prepare this, a GIS-integrated Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) was produced. The results show that the green areas have low accessibility and availability and that most parks obtain an average-low PQI, with the best-valued aspect being the vegetation and the worst being the facilities. Regarding the degree of environmental justice, a causal relationship between the PQI and the indicators used emerges. The average value of the home sale prices is the one that shows the greatest correlation. These results can be used together with participatory procedures as a basis for identifying places with greater inequality, and for selecting the more effective actions that enable increasing environmental justice with respect to green areas.

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Evaluating the legibility of urban parks based on neuroscience and the FVFL model

International Journal of Architectural Research Archnet-IJAR ◽

10.1108/arch-05-2021-0149 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Yasaman Gholami ◽

Seyed Hassan Taghvaei ◽

Saeid Norouzian-Maleki ◽

Rouhollah Mansouri Sepehr

Keyword(s):

Fixation Duration ◽

Urban Parks ◽

Cognitive Maps ◽

Urban Spaces ◽

Average Correlation ◽

Content Type ◽

Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to quantitatively evaluate the role of landscape values and factors in urban parks experimentally based on neuroscience.Design/methodology/approachIn the first step, ten major parks were selected out of 59 regional and trans-regional parks in Tehran for field study analysis. Next, considering the diversity and abundance of landscape elements in the selected parks, Mellat Park was chosen for the case study.FindingsThe fixation duration of the factors has an average correlation coefficient of 0.5865, −0.5035 and −0.5125 for the overall sketch map, quality and accuracy, respectively. The results indicated that the “quality of people's cognitive maps” has a direct relation to fixation duration on “human-made factors” and an inverse relation to fixation duration on “natural factors” and “human activities and behavioral factors” in the park.Practical implicationsThe results can pave the way for further research in the interdisciplinary fields of landscape architecture and neuroscience.Originality/valueLegibility is a superior quality of urban spaces that profoundly affect how people perceive and behave.

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The American Kinesiology Association Core Content for Kinesiology Programs: From Concept to Curriculum

Kinesiology Review ◽

10.1123/kr.2018-0050 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 279-285

Author(s):

Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko ◽

Erica M. Taylor ◽

T. Gilmour Reeve

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Student Learning Outcomes ◽

Academic Programs ◽

The Core ◽

Core Content ◽

Core Elements

The American Kinesiology Association identified the essential core content for undergraduate kinesiology-based academic programs. The core includes 4 content elements: physical activity in health, wellness, and quality of life; scientific foundations of physical activity; cultural, historical, and philosophical dimensions of physical activity; and the practice of physical activity. This article, expanding on the development of the core, describes the 4 elements in more detail, suggests methods for assessing student learning outcomes for the core content, and provides examples of the inclusion of the core in undergraduate curricula. Finally, a case study is presented that addresses how a department revised its kinesiology curriculum using the core elements to refocus its undergraduate degree program.

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Conceptualization and Management of Chronic Pain in an Over 65 Using an ACT Lens—A Single Case Study

Clinical Case Studies ◽

10.1177/1534650120978299 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 153465012097829

Author(s):

Rebecca Campbell ◽

Podugu Sai Durga Vara Prasadarao ◽

Mary Morris

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Older Persons ◽

Single Case ◽

Medical Intervention ◽

Single Case Study ◽

Psychotherapeutic Research ◽

Acceptance And Commitment

This single case study illustrates the application and utility of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for a 72-year-old Australian male presenting with chronic pain and complex health conditions. Chronic pain often entails complexity among older adults and can impact the patient’s life across a range of domains. Psychological approaches, as stand-alone or adjunct to medical intervention, are widely acknowledged as potentially beneficial to older persons experiencing pain. ACT has been supported as a viable psychological approach for chronic pain and especially suitable for older persons with chronic pain. This study describes an ACT treatment approach for an older person with chronic pain informed via development of an extension of the existing ACT conceptualization of chronic pain. The development of the ACT based model is in keeping with recommendations to seek out mechanisms of change in psychotherapeutic research. Measures of Quality of Life, Depression, Physical Activity, and Acceptance/Avoidance were taken at pre and post treatment, as well as across treatment phases. Improvement was noted in self-reported measures of QOL, depression, and physical activity.

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Effects of Urban Park Quality, Environmental Perception, and Leisure Activity on Well-Being among the Older Population

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182111402 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (21) ◽

pp. 11402

Author(s):

Yu-Ting Chu ◽

Dongying Li ◽

Po-Ju Chang

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Leisure Activity ◽

Well Being ◽

Environmental Perception ◽

Urban Park ◽

Environmental Perceptions ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Park Quality

Previous studies have shown that natural environments and leisure activities can reduce depression and increase well-being. Urban parks are important for the psychological well-being of middle-aged and older adults. However, it remains unknown whether the relationship between environmental perceptions, leisure activity, and well-being is affected by the quality of park environments. This study uses a cross-level framework to examine the effects of urban park quality on middle-aged and older adults’ environmental perceptions, leisure activity, and well-being. The Neighborhood Green Space Tool was used to assess the environmental quality of 19 parks, and 380 individuals aged 55 years and older were interviewed in each park using an on-site questionnaire. The results reveal that the associations between environmental perception and well-being were moderated by the quality of park accessibility, amenities, and incivilities; the effect of environmental perception on depression was moderated by the quality of incivilities in parks; and the effect of frequency of leisure activities on depression was moderated by the quality of park accessibility.

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HEALING LANDSCAPES: THE EFFECTS OF ITS PARAMETERS ON DIFFERENT GENDER (CASE STUDY: ERAM GARDEN & AZADI PARK OF SHIRAZ-IRAN)

Nature National Academic Journal of Architecture ◽

10.24252/nature.v7i2a4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 183

Author(s):

Mina Razmara ◽

Hajar Asadpour ◽

Malihe Taghipour

Keyword(s):

Research Method ◽

Urban Parks ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Urban Park ◽

Single Variable ◽

Variance Test ◽

Men And Women ◽

Visual Dimension ◽

Variable Analysis

Abstrak_ Lanskap penyembuhan menciptakan ruang yang membantu orang mengurangi stres dan meningkatkan kesehatan mental mereka. Dalam budaya Iran, taman bersejarah serta taman kota (dalam beberapa dekade terakhir) dapat bermanfaat untuk menciptakan lanskap penyembuhan. Mempertimbangkan model Canter Place, parameter lanskap penyembuhan disajikan dalam bentuk tiga dimensi: fungsional, persepsi-semantik, dan fisik-visual. Karena pria dan wanita berperilaku berbeda dalam menghadapi lingkungan mereka, penelitian ini mengevaluasi bagaimana taman Persia dan taman kota berpengaruh (dengan dua pola struktural yang berbeda) di antara pria dan wanita. Metode penelitian adalah kuantitatif, dan data dikumpulkan dengan teknik kuesioner. Kemudian, analisis varian variabel Unianova tunggal dalam perangkat lunak SPSS 23 digunakan untuk mengevaluasi data. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada perbedaan dalam persepsi dimensi dalam penyembuhan antara pria dan wanita. Pemahaman seorang wanita tentang dimensi penyembuhan persepsi-semantik dan fungsional di Azadi Park berbeda dan kurang dari pria. Di Taman Eram, tidak seperti Taman Azadi, tidak banyak perbedaan antara kegiatan pria atau wanita. Secara umum, umpan balik wanita lebih rendah daripada pria, pada parameter penyembuhan lingkungan Azadi Park (struktur lanskap organik). Oleh karena itu, perlu untuk lebih memperhatikan inklusivitas gender dari lanskap penyembuhan perkotaan dalam desain.Kata kunci : Lanskap Penyembuhan; Taman Persia; Taman Kota; Taman Shiraz Eram; Jenis Kelamin. Abstract_ Healing Landscapes are spaces that help people to reduce their stress and improve their mental health. In Iranian culture, historic gardens and urban parks (in recent decades) can be useful to create healing landscapes. Considering the Canter Place model, the parameters of landscape healing presented in the form of three dimensions: functional, perceptual-semantic, and physical-visual. Since men and women behave differently in dealing with their surroundings, this research evaluates how Persian gardens and urban parks effect (with two different structural patterns) among men and women. The research method was quantitative, and data gathered by the questionnaire technique. Then, Unianova single-variable analysis of variance test in SPSS 23 software was used to evaluate the data. The results indicated no difference in the perception of the physical-visual dimension of healing between men and women. A woman's understanding of the perceptional-semantic and functional dimension of healing in Azadi Park was different and less than men. In Eram Garden, unlike Azadi Park, there was not much difference between of men or women’s activities. In general, women's feedback is lower than men, on the environment healing parameters of Azadi Park (organic landscape structure). Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to the gender inclusiveness of urban healing landscapes in design.Keywords: Healing Landscape; Persian Garden; Urban Park; Shiraz Eram Garden; Gender.

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