Evaluation of the design components of children's living and leisure space (case Study: playground of district parks in 4 region of Zanjan city)
Subject Areas : Urban planning
1 - Associate Professor, Department Geography and Urban Planning, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Evaluation, Zanjan, playground, Children, park,
Abstract :
City parks are one of the spaces for breathing, family rest and children's entertainment, as well as a place for teaching social skills. Children's play space is known as a dynamic, active space and a place for children to be present and focus, so that they can release their emotions and energy in these spaces and learn part of life skills. The compatibility of children's play space with its design components such as location, placement, desirability, safety and security, children's playground furniture is a subject that has been less addressed and requires more attention in the field of management, planning and urban design. This article aims to explain the effective components of design in children's playgrounds in public parks. Descriptive-analytical research method is mainly descriptive and inferential statistics (Variance and Pearson). The results of the research showed that the design components of children's playgrounds in public parks in the four cities of Zanjan are relatively lower than the leveled average and tend to be unfavorable. Also, the geographical distance, economic and social context of the location of the parks are not very effective in the degree of compliance with the principles of playground design, and the parks have the same conditions in terms of the design status. Among the design components of the children's playground, the safety and security component of the ground was found to be the most important design components. Between the level of safety and security components and the presence of children in the playground, with a confidence factor of 95% and a significance level of Sig: 0.000, with a correlation value of 0.640 for safety and 0.720 for the security component, which shows the relationship It is significant with a strong and positive direction.Expanded Abstract Introduction:According to Kevin Lynch, children learn more outside of school and in society than they learn in school (Lynch, 1980, pp. 9-12). Schools cannot be considered a fully responsible place for their activities. . Designing a suitable space for children to play in today's cities is a necessity that requires more attention from urban planners in the field of decision-making. In the concept of child-friendly cities, attention and consideration of the necessary spaces for children's mobility and their social development in urban and special spaces is very important. The present research has investigated the principles and evaluation of the design components of children's playground as one of the requirements of a child-friendly city and has evaluated its components by focusing on regional functional parks in the 4th region of Zanjan city. The hypotheses are as follows: the design components of children's playgrounds in the city parks of Zanjan 4 region do not have relative desirability in some dimensions. Second, in terms of the design components of children's playgrounds, urban parks on a regional scale, despite the geographical distance and economic class, have the same relative status in most of the components. Third, there is a significant relationship between the factor of park security and the safety of playground equipment and supplies and the presence of parents with children.Data and MethodThis article has investigated the design components of children's playgrounds in regional functional parks in the four cities of Zanjan by using descriptive-analytical methods and using descriptive statistics and variance and Pearson tests. The examined components include security, safety, land condition, access to services, furniture, neighborhood, vegetation, environmental desirability, and passive defense, which are examined in the form of 9 components and 48 variables. The number of samples was 260, and the data was completed by the questionnaire from the users. The reliability of the research was obtained as 0.714, which has a suitable reliability coefficient.Results and DiscussionIn general, descriptive and inferential statistics data analysis shows:The state of the total design components of children's playgrounds in parks with the regional performance of the 4th district of Zanjan city is lower than the determined level and tends to be unfavorable.The comparison of children's playgrounds in the parks in terms of design components has shown the same relative situation, in the meantime, Baharestan Park is slightly better in some design components due to its history of construction and equipment, age, and location.The factor of geographical distance and economic and income difference in observing the principles of children's playground design in the studied parks has relatively little influence and the condition of the studied parks despite having a physical distance of 4 kilometers and the economic distance of the residents is relatively the same, is lower than the standard level. And it tends to the unfavorable side.The components of access to services around the park and the physical condition of the land (in terms of shape, form, and compaction) are higher than the standard and tend to be in a favorable condition compared to other components.According to Pearson's statistical test, there is a significant relationship between the level of security and safety of the park and playground and the level of attendance at the 95% confidence level with a significance value of Sig=0.000.According to the Pearson correlation test, the correlation coefficient of the safety component is equal to 0.650 and the security component is 0.720, which indicates a strong correlation level with a positive direction with the amount and duration of the presence of families and children in the park.ConclusionThe present study evaluated one of the components of a child-friendly city, i.e., children's playgrounds in city parks on the scale of the geographical area, and concluded that children's playgrounds were not in a good condition in the components of environmental desirability, safety, security, furniture, and variety. And the necessity demands the attention of urban management. This research did not observe any noticeable difference in the location of children's park and playground with the level of geographical distance and the level of economic class of the residents and generally evaluated the situation as relatively the same. Also, the two components of security and safety were the most effective factors in attracting children and families to the park and its playground compared to other components and a significant relationship was observed between them. Comparing the results of this research with other researches, it gave relatively similar results. The results of this research indicate that the design of children's playgrounds in urban parks is relatively outside the specialized field, or that the urban management in its design has relied more on the basic needs of children (having minimal equipment), which is necessarily incomplete. The need to change the approach in designing, organizing, developing and equipping children's parks and playgrounds should be given more attention by city management.
Proximity and Children’s Physical Activity and Body MassIndex: The BEACH Study. Journal of Environmental Research and Public Healt. No 19(222), p 1-14
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