scholarly journals Towards Meaningful University Space: Perceptions of the Quality of Open Spaces for Students

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 556
Author(s):  
Saba Alnusairat ◽  
Yara Ayyad ◽  
Zahra Al-Shatnawi

This study investigated students’ attitudes towards the use of outdoor open space in universities, identifying the most comfortable conditions and favourable factors, including urban layout, physical features, and outdoor thermal conditions, as well as the students’ needs and behaviour. A quasi-experiment was used to assess the quality of the outdoor spaces. Three outdoor open spaces on the university’s campus were used for the case study. A spatial analysis employing space syntax was used to determine the integration, agent, and connection factors. For the microclimate conditions, simulations were conducted. The students’ actions were recorded, and a questionnaire concerning their preferences was disseminated. According to the respondents, the key advantages of campus open spaces are that they provide places in which to socialise and rest and to pass by. The data revealed a correlation between microclimate conditions and the use of outdoor spaces. However, the students use outdoor venues even in unfavourable microclimates. The visual factor and spatial configuration of the site have a significant impact on the use of open spaces; hence, visibility is an important feature in campus layouts. This study established a baseline of data to integrate social and contextual factors for the creation of meaningful spaces in universities.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Cate Christ ◽  
Hendrik Tieben

With one of the highest population densities in the world, Hong Kong suffers from a lack of public open space. Despite this situation, open spaces provided by government authorities or private developers often do not meet residents’ needs or include residents in the planning and design process. To explore one way that this issue is being addressed, this chapter describes an ongoing placemaking project within Hong Kong’s interstitial network of laneways (里) and alleys (巷). The key historical, sociocultural, and physical features, opportunities, and constraints of these in-between spaces are discussed. This is followed by an in-depth exploration of the case study Magic Lanes, a pilot project that aims to provide more inclusive public open spaces through placemaking and community co-creation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1144
Author(s):  
Rosa Aguilar ◽  
Monika Kuffer

Open spaces are essential for promoting quality of life in cities. However, accelerated urban growth, in particular in cities of the global South, is reducing the often already limited amount of open spaces with access to citizens. The importance of open spaces is promoted by SDG indicator 11.7.1; however, data on this indicator are not readily available, neither globally nor at the metropolitan scale in support of local planning, health and environmental policies. Existing global datasets on built-up areas omit many open spaces due to the coarse spatial resolution of input imagery. Our study presents a novel cloud computation-based method to map open spaces by accessing the multi-temporal high-resolution imagery repository of Planet. We illustrate the benefits of our proposed method for mapping the dynamics and spatial patterns of open spaces for the city of Kampala, Uganda, achieving a classification accuracy of up to 88% for classes used by the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL). Results show that open spaces in the Kampala metropolitan area are continuously decreasing, resulting in a loss of open space per capita of approximately 125 m2 within eight years.


The use of outdoor (open) spaces in public buildings is vast and has significant roles ranging from individual (users) perception of the development of urban centers and cities to the satisfaction of the various functions they perform. However, little research is available on the use of the outdoor spaces in these Public buildings environment and the activities that take place thereof. This study investigates the factors that take users of public buildings to the outdoor environment and the physical factors that constitute their uses within the spaces. Using both qualitative and quantitative research approach, the paper examined the importance of restructuring the outdoor spaces for quality of the surrounding of the built environment. The study adopts a purposive sampling where participants were selected based on the outdoor use only. A total of seventy (75) questionnaires were administered to the various users of public buildings within specific open spaces. Only seventy (70) representing (93.33%) of the total population were returned and subjected to data analysis using the relevant descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, Mean Weighted Score (MWS) and Relatively Important Index (R.I.I) were used to rank features obtained. The study concludes that proper restructuring of landscape elements is necessary within public buildings, in order to provide human comfort, well-being and improved productivity. It was recommended that revitalizing the environmental features of these public building necessitates the insufficiency of outdoor features in government own buildings. Therefore, the user’s satisfaction of this outdoor (open) space in public buildings should be key consideration and emphasized on right from planning and design stages to it implementation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurhayati Abdul Malek ◽  
Amanina Nashar

Numerous studies acknowledged green open space (GOS) as part of the sustainable component which promotes livability and active community. GOS offers the opportunity for people to socialise through appropriate outdoor setting. Acknowledging countless GOS benefits, hence it appears relevant to plan for a good quality of GOS (QGOS). A QGOS ensures park users enjoy maximum utilisation and benefit of outdoor spaces. Having a good QGOS is one of the government strategies included in the 11th Malaysian Plan 2016-2020, to improve people quality of life. Numerous urban related studies had shown that proximity, use pattern, sociability, accessibility and varieties of activities are the significant factors for successful parks design with the consideration of needs and preferences of park users. Hence, this paper will focus on park use pattern to access the quality of the neighbourhood park (QNP) in Malaysia. The objectives are; i) to identify park use pattern among Malaysian, ii) to determine influential factors of Malaysian park use pattern. A quantitative method of questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain the data. Factor analysis results generated from the 1,500 respondents surveyed at 15 Malaysian neighbourhood parks indicated that nature appreciation loads the highest (Eigenvalue = 2.067, Variance Explained = 29.534%), social and active activities (Eigenvalue = 1.270, Variance Explained = 18.137%), followed by passive activities (Eigenvalue = 0.825, Variance Explained = 11.785%). Together, this finding provides essential guidance for park planners to plan for future QGOS and as part of the support to the 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020).


Author(s):  
Do Duy Thinh ◽  
Nguyen Van Xuan ◽  
Nguyen Ngoc Long Giang

Urban open spaces (e.g. urban parks) play a pivotal role in improving the quality of life of city dwellers through accommodating various physical and social activities, while further creating social coherence for sustainable development. Due to the shortage of open green spaces in the city, caused by rapid urbanization in developing countries, some big, long-standing urban public spaces such as district parks have been retained, and improved to serve as the main public space for local people. However, such spaces commonly provide outdated, low quality facilities that discourage people from using the park. To satisfy users’ needs, local governments have launched campaigns to improve parks based on the ideas of domestic or foreign designers. The purpose of this research is to explore different behaviors of residents in an open space in Da Nang (Vietnam) which can support the future development and improvement of local open space in accordance with environmental behavior theory. User behaviors were identified and categorized based on their activities in the open space, collected using the place-centered behavior mapping method. Results of the statistical analysis revealed that this open space could be divided into three types, each of which had four dimensions: public facilities setting; openness; accessibility; and recreational facilities. The findings showed some aspects that need to be considered during the development process of open space as follows: 1) increasing the quantity and quality of public amenities; 2) separating accessible space and/or buffer space from already used space inside the park, particularly in the entrance zone; 3) providing space adjacent to the lake; and 4) removing obstacles (e.g. walls around the park) to give a clearer view from inside the park to the streets outside and vice versa. Also, the calculation model of evidence-based designs provides input data for re-planning or creating public space/parks to help designers, planners and authorities improve or design better open spaces in the future.


Author(s):  
Bambang Prayitno

abstrakUndang-undang Republik Indonesia No 26 Tahun 2007 tentang Penataan Ruang, menetapkan harustersedia Ruang Terbuka Hijau sebesar 30% dari luas Daerah Aliran Sungai (DAS). Dan dalam Permen ATRNomor 16 tahun 2018 ditetapkan harus tersedia RTH privat sebesar 10%. Hal itu bertujuan untukmeningkatkan kualitas lingkungan hidup di wilayah perkotaan, diantaranya penyediaan resapan, penyegaranudara, dan tentunya aspek estetika. Namun tidak banyak masyarakat Indonesia yang mengetahui adanyaperaturan tersebut. Bahkan banyak pengembang yang tidak memperhatikan aspek tersebut. Sehingga parapembeli rumah tidak tahu adanya persyaratan dalam mendirikan atau mengembangkan bangunan yang harusmenyediakan RTH.Di Perumahan Karanglo Indah (dalam kasus ini sebagai percontohan adalah wilayah RT 8) masihdirasakan kurangnya Ruang Terbuka Hijau di sebagian besar rumah, seperti lingkungan hijau. Hal ini karenahalaman rumah sudah penuh tertutup bangunan. Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat (PkM) ini bertujuan untukmemberikan pemahaman kepada masyarakat tentang arti pentingnya RTH. Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat inidilaksanakan saat pandemi Covid-19, yang harus mengikuti protokol kesehatan dan physical distancing, makapemberian pemahaman hanya diberikan kepada Ketua RT, ketua PKK dan dasa wisma. Hasil dari pelaksanaankegiatan berupa percontohan lingkungan hijau berupa penanaman tanaman sayur, baik secara hidroponikvertikal maupun apung dan tanaman dalam polybag. Upaya ini selain untuk menambah lingkungan hijau jugamendukung kegiatan Kemandirian Pangan di era pandemi Covid-19 AbstractLaw No.26 of 2007 on Spatial Planning determines that 30% of Watershed must be available for open spaces. TheRegulation of The Minister of Agragrian and Spatial Planning Number 16 of 2018 determines that 10% of openspaces must be available for private open spaces. It aims to improve the quality of environment in urban areasincluding the availability of infiltration, air freshening, and aesthetic aspects. However, not many Indonesians knowthis regulation. Even many developers do not pay attention to this aspect and house buyers do not know the openspace requirements for building or developing buildings. Most houses at Karanglo Indah Housing ( as a pilotproject, RT 8, RW 4) are still lack of open spaces as the green environment. This is because the yard is full ofbuildings. This Community Service aims to provide information to that community so that they understand theimportance of open space. Since the Community Service was carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic which mustcomply with health protocols and physical distancing, the information is only given to the head of NeighborhoodAssociation, head of Family Welfare Group and head of a Group of ten families. The result of this activity is a pilotgreen environment as planting vegetable plants, both vertical and floating hydroponics and plants in polybags.Besides enlarging the green environment, this activity also supports food independence activities in the era ofCovid-19 pandemic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 51-63
Author(s):  
Sushma Bajracharya

Health being one of the most important aspects of life, people are much concerned about their health. Because people value their health, today cities are planned considering the health and environment for providing good quality of life. Many studies have shown different effects in health due to interaction with environment. As socioeconomic, environmental and cultural conditions may vary from place to place, people living in different areas in the cities can have different health outcomes. Also, people's perception of such neighborhood conditions can vary which can influence their health. There can be different resources in and around the neighborhood that provide opportunity for its people to perform different health-benefitting activities. Such physical features can be termed as health-related resources or in other words health opportunities. This study was conducted in two different type of neighborhoods in Dortmund, Nordstadt being deprived and Kreuzviertel being affluent. To know which locations people, consider as good or bad for their health, participants who agreed to take part in questionnaire survey were directly asked to point out the places they use and avoid for health-related activities. This study found out different types of health opportunities identified by respondents in Nordstadt and Kreuzviertel. Respondents from Nordstadt mentioned health opportunities inside and outside their neighborhood whereas in Kreuzviertel health opportunities were pointed outside the neighborhood. The information about people's perception on local neighborhood can be taken as useful insights for planners and decision-makers to plan development programs. The research provides an opportunity to formulate policies that address main problems acting as barriers so that people can get maximum benefits from health opportunities. To find out detailed explanations for differences between actual and perceived environmental situation, more in-depth research is needed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 951-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Adeniran Adedeji ◽  
Joseph Akinlabi Fadamiro

Purpose – The poor outdoor quality of highly populated third-world cities is a consequence of the misuse of public open spaces as refuse dumps and for informal trading activities. This describes the situation of Lagos metropolis before the present political will that has infused great landscaping transition into the cityscape. However, the challenges of maintenance are germane to the sustainability of these landscape products. The purpose of this paper is to assess the quality and characteristics of the landscapes that have undergone transition and to formulate a framework for maintenance strategies. Design/methodology/approach – The study objectively evaluates the physical qualities of 22 randomly selected sites that have undergone transition through on-site assessment and photographic recording. The management regimes were subjectively studied to appraise the level of their effectiveness and to guide future strategies. This was carried out by collecting the opinions of 130 selected government officials in charge of maintaining the spaces with the aid an interview guide. Findings – Analyses of the data revealed rich values of the landscapes and management strategies in favour of a public-private partnership. It recommends public open space transformation for recreational activities in cities as a vital means of enhancing urban living and city outlooks. Practical implications – The study concludes with formulation of sustainable management framework for the landscapes and argues in its favour. It thus has policy implications on the maintenance of urban open spaces that have undergone transition in Lagos and Nigeria at large. Originality/value – The study was carried out in May 2011. Its significance lies in its capacity of enhancing the quality of urban open spaces through appropriate policy formulation of management regimes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document