scholarly journals Assessing the Preference and Restorative Potential of Urban Park Blue Space

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1233
Author(s):  
Shixian Luo ◽  
Jing Xie ◽  
Katsunori Furuya
Keyword(s):  
Water Body ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Urban Park ◽  
Vegetation Diversity ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Practical Design ◽  
Management And Development

Urban parks are essential parts of a city’s natural environment, and blue spaces of urban parks bring aesthetic and health benefits to people. However, the current blue spaces mainly focus on the marine environment or a giant water body scale at the urban or regional level. The urban park blue spaces (e.g., rivers, creeks, ponds) are relatively neglected. An experiment involving 10 different urban park blue spaces in Huanhuaxi park was conducted to assess urban park blue spaces’ aesthetic preference and restorative potential. The results indicated that (1) a water body with good water quality and natural visual form may be more attractive and have restorative potential; (2) blue spaces with high vegetation diversity are preferred, and artificial elements should be evaluated more carefully when added to the scene to avoid disharmony and conflict with the surrounding environment; (3) in practical design, the proportions of plants, buildings, topographical changes, and water should be coordinated to maintain the blue space’s landscape heterogeneity; (4) more leisure activities and interactions should be considered for better recovery; and (5) designers need to emphasize the balance of natural and man-made elements to enhance the visual quality of the water feature. This investigation is important for the management and development of leisure and natural resources in urban parks.

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

Land ◽  
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.

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

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.

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

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamirah Rosli ◽  
Oliver Hoon Leh Ling ◽  
Nurhazlin Amira Mohd Adzmi ◽  
Marlyana Azzyati Marzukhi
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Time Allocation ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Urban Park ◽  
Statistical Relationship ◽  
Public Park ◽  
Recreation Areas ◽  
Park Quality

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.

scholarly journals Perceived Effect Of Urban Park As A Restorative Environment For Well Being In Kuala Lumpur

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Nur Allia Mohamad ◽  
Hazreena Hussein
Keyword(s):  
City Planning ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Urban Park ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Related Field ◽  
Restorative Environment

A restorative environment tells how certain types of environment help heals people mentally and physically, and many studies in the related field have drawn connection that natural and green places are more likely to be restorative to a person’s health, especially when compared those living in cities. In Kuala Lumpur, rapid urbanization and previous poor city planning result in residents becoming increasingly susceptible to mental fatigue and urban stress. Residents frequent for the very few urban parks available as a place to restore themselves, thus the restorative qualities of the urban parks are critical to elevating the quality of life. This study investigates the theory of restorative environment and highlighting its criteria in the context of Kuala Lumpur, by analyzing an existing urban park as a case study: the Perdana Botanical Garden. The methods used include site observation, interview, and a questionnaire to evaluate the quality of the environment as well as user perception. Data from finding confirms the restorative theories as perceived by users and its suggested space criteria and shows that most users come to the park as green therapy and to relieve stress and relax, as they find that the natural scenery and engaging landscaping inside the park are restorative to their overall well-being.

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

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.

scholarly journals Introducing a Method for Social-ecological Assessment of Small Urban Parks

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Zanariah Jasmani ◽  
Hans Peter Ravn ◽  
Cecil C. Konijnendijk Van den Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Publishing House ◽  
Urban Parks ◽  
Urban Biodiversity ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Vegetation Diversity ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Integrative Assessment ◽  
International Publishing

Small parks in cities are important to support overall urban biodiversity and ecological network. The aim of this paper is to introduce a method of identifying and assessing the ecological characteristics and anthropogenic factors of small urban parks. We developed a framework that combined structured observation and field measurement. The method suggests an integrative assessment that is practical and understandable to the park planners and managers to enhance small parks to support overall urban biodiversity and ecosystem services. High biodiversity can provide opportunities for humans to experience nature and wildlife in cities, thus contributing to the quality of life of urban dwellers. © 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: ecological resilience; urban parks; vegetation diversity; human impact

scholarly journals Urban park soundscape in distinct sociocultural and geographical contexts

Noise Mapping ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Carlos Lobo Soares ◽  
J. Luis Bento Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Urban Parks ◽  
Urban Park ◽  
Public Parks ◽  
Urban Architecture ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Planned Activities

AbstractThe importance of soundscape in urban public parks has galvanised researchers concerned with improving the sound environment in cities. Existing literature reveals, however, a relative paucity of studies on soundscape in particular sociocultural and environmental contexts, and on the influence of these contexts in the perception of the urban sound space.Within this framework, this paper investigates the soundscape of parks in the cities of Belém, Brazil, and Lisbon, Portugal. The influence of geography and climate as determinant of activities and behaviors, the emission of natural and man-made sounds that characterise the soundscape of urban parks, the way park users evaluate the quality of sound environments were analysed, as were other elements that contribute for such an appreciation. The methodology encompassed sound measurements inside and outside the parks, analysis of the audibility of identifiable sound sources, study of local uses and activities through soundwalks and interviews, and assessment of responses to enquiries. The results shows that the soundscape of park depends on different features such as geography, climate, urban architecture, park infrastructure, sound sources, and most importantly the visitors’ expectations for the planned activities, together with their other sensorial responses, which proved to be different in distinct sociocultural and environmental contexts.

“I Would Like to Have a Normal Brother but I’m Happy With the Brother That I Have”: A Pilot Study About Intellectual Disabilities and Family Quality of Life From the Perspective of Siblings

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2110428
Author(s):  
Raquel A. Correia ◽  
Maria João Seabra-Santos
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Family Quality Of Life ◽  
Adult Sibling ◽  
The Disabled

The relationships between siblings are the most long-lasting in families. When one of the siblings is a person with intellectual disabilities (ID), this relationship assumes an even more important role since this brother/sister will most likely become the disabled individual’s main caregiver. This pilot study had two aims: to explore the experience as an adolescent or adult sibling of a person with ID and to understand the perceptions of these siblings about quality of life as a sibling and about family quality of life. In-depth interviews were conducted with six siblings. The results showed that the experience of a sibling is positive and the acceptance process is of extreme importance. The domains which, from the sibling perspective, contribute to family quality of life are as follows: Family relationships, Acceptance, Health, Influence of values, Financial well-being, Support from others, and Leisure activities. The implications of these findings for intervention are pointed out.

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