Emerging relationships between design and use of urban park spaces

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Abstract

This paper describes patterns of use in public open space such as parks that indicate relationships between the design of parks and the detailed ways that users inhabit (or not) such places. It focuses particularly on the use of comparatively level and regularly mown grassed areas. It draws on a combination of behaviour-mapping and GIS supported techniques of spatial annotation and visualization, as applied to urban parks in two European cities, to reveal common patterns of behaviour that appear to be correlated with particular layouts and details. It demonstrates the value of the methodology in revealing relationships between design and use that are based on empirical evidence, and supporting the kind of detailed design guidance that can be of benefit for future design practitioners. It shows how guidance can be arrived at, based on the particulars of the case study sites and cities, and provides a starting point for further studies using the same methods. The value of the research is in helping designers be confident that layouts proposed for intended uses will, in practice serve those uses (and users) well and be likely to be used as predicted.

Introduction

This paper is set in the context of a broad range of challenges that designers face in creating urban parks for contemporary use (Ward Thompson, 2002, van Kamp et al., 2003, Maruani and Amit-Cohen, 2007, Matsouka and Kaplan, 2008). How well do designers predict use of spaces they have created? How confident can they be that a place designed for certain types of activity and occupation will serve its users’ needs well? The empirical basis for much design decision-making is lacking (Forsyth, 2007, Frick, 2007) and new techniques that offer more reliable ways of predicting and understanding use can be valuable tools (e.g. Thwaites et al., 2005, Porta et al., 2008, Porta et al., 2009). The research described here is an attempt to fill some of this gap. GIS, a tool which nowadays is irreplaceable in spatial analysis and planning processes for urban regions (Al-Kodmany, 2000, Miller, 2003, Taylor et al., 2007), offers opportunities for regional scale data analysis but has been little used for more detailed mapping of open space use. This paper explores the effectiveness of GIS for spatial annotation and visualisation of observation and behavioural mapping data, and argues for more comprehensive ways of looking at the usage–spatial relationship.

Section snippets

Background literature

Environment–behaviour research that uses behaviour mapping as a way of understanding the interaction between people and place has been undertaken for several decades. It was developed by Ittelson et al. (1970) to record behaviour in a design setting. Bechtel et al. (1987) note the value of observational methods in environment–behaviour research for gaining insight into research questions and problems, and recognise the purpose of behavioural mapping in locating behaviour on the map itself to

Methodology

The research described here is part of the work undertaken for a PhD in landscape architecture (Goličnik, 2005) which explored physical form and dynamic patterns of spatial occupancy in urban parks and squares. Data on urban parks in Edinburgh and Ljubljana, two European cities of comparable size and density, were collected. A matching number and typology of selected places, representing popular, central public open spaces of different sizes and micro-spatial contexts, were selected for study

Key findings

The empirical evidence about usage–spatial relationships in the chosen parks is discussed either on the basis of certain patterns observed on a particular day or on the basis of composite maps, combining several observations at different times during the survey period (see, for example, Fig. 4). Maps of daily occupancies show patterns recorded in 10 min of observation of each selected sub-area. Since all observed parks were divided into several sub-areas, such maps usually represent records from

Discussion

Analysis of these different parks shows that spatial articulation (e.g. lines of trees, groups of trees, the configuration of corner, etc.) is the clue to spatial occupancy. The location of uses in a place appears to conform to certain distances from such articulation. For example, large, flat spaces, not partitioned by paths or articulated by trees, allow active use by large groups to take place. If such spacious patches are articulated by trees, passive use is more likely to occur. If those

Implications and limitations

The discussion so far is based on comparatively broad-brush estimations about dimensions of usage–spatial relationships, since they were a side product of the original research aim, concerned with the use of places and designer's perceptions about that. However, attempts to find generalisations from findings can offer important contributions to knowledge and understanding, even if they are still rather speculative, firstly because, as Goličnik (2005) showed, designers’ beliefs and awareness

Conclusion

Behaviour mapping that actually records the location of each individual on a map gives a better insight into use than conventional behaviour mapping that only records data on a spreadsheet in relation to zones of a site, i.e. in a non-spatial way. Although the Cooper Marcus and Francis post-occupancy evaluation technique (1998) includes precise “activity mapping” using a paper-based approach, the resulting data is summarised in a matrix that does not take advantage of GIS technology; it loses

Barbara Goličnik, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is a landscape architect and a researcher. She has graduated in 1999 from the University of Ljubljana. In 2005 she has been awarded the degree of PhD in landscape architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. Barbara Goličnik is a researcher at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, where she is mainly involved in multidisciplinary national as well as international studies and projects concerned

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    Barbara Goličnik, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is a landscape architect and a researcher. She has graduated in 1999 from the University of Ljubljana. In 2005 she has been awarded the degree of PhD in landscape architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. Barbara Goličnik is a researcher at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, where she is mainly involved in multidisciplinary national as well as international studies and projects concerned with design research and environment–behaviour issues in the context of urban planning and open public space design. As a visiting lecturer she also gives lectures at different universities and institutions in Slovenia and abroad. In 2006 she has published a book ‘Behavioural maps of Ljubljana's squares and parks: New challenges and views on public space design’, which won an international award in Belgrade. Her contribution in the field of linkage between theory and practice in open space design is recognised also in a chapter GIS behavioural mapping for provision of interactive empirical knowledge, vital monitoring and better place design in recently published book Urban Sustainability through Environmental Design. Beside research she is also involved in competitions for which she won several awards. She is a member of the Slovenian Association of Landscape Architects and a member of International Association of People-Environment Studies.

    Catharine Ward Thompson is Research Professor in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and the University of Edinburgh. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Landscape Institute and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Her research focuses on inclusive access to outdoor environments, environment–behaviour interactions, historic landscapes and contemporary needs, landscape design for older people, for children and for teenagers, and salutogenic environments. She was Head of the School of Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art from 1989 to 2000 and continues to teach and direct its PhD programme. Since 2001 she has been Director of OPENspace – the research centre for inclusive access to outdoor environments – based at Edinburgh College of Art and Heriot-Watt University. She currently directs a multi-centre Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) consortium – I’DGO, Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors – which particularly focuses on older people's quality of life.

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