by Dr Urmee Chowdhury
Dr Urmee Chowdhury completed her PhD in 2022 from the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. She is an assistant professor (on leave) at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology. Her doctoral research was focused on adult visitors’ engagement in neighbourhood park settings. She has 18 years of experience in academia and practice in architecture and planning. She has completed her Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) degree from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), where she also completed her Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree. She has several research publications on planning and urban design issues at different levels in the context of Bangladesh. She is a full member of the Institute of Architects, Bangladesh (IAB) and an associate member of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP). Her master’s and doctoral research aimed to provide a comprehensive approach to research design, and her research interests include evidence-based environment and behavioural studies in urban settings focusing on human behaviours.
How often have we deeply thought about the adults’ activities and behaviours in the park spaces?
Parks and greenspaces are physical settings for leisure and recreation that allow individuals to fulfill their physical, mental and social requirements. On the other hand, neighbourhood parks are those immediate greenspaces located in the vicinity intended to serve the community. Neighborhood parks also provide local leisure and physical activity opportunities among varied subpopulations (e.g., age groups, ethnocultural groups, and socioeconomic groups) to promote active living and sustainable neighbourhood communities. Therefore, there is a need to better understand diverse park visitors’ engagement to promote inclusive park design and development to create a healthy community for all user groups. Adults, like children, are crucial visitors to any neighbourhood park. But how often have we deeply thought about the adults’ activities and behaviours in the park spaces? This doctoral research explored different age groups of adult visitors’ (e.g., younger adults, mid-aged adults, and older adults) engagement in the neighbourhood park settings to inform park designers and policymakers and help develop inclusive park design for diverse population groups. The deeper underpinnings of adult visitors’ engagement in neighbourhood parks will contribute to park planning, design and policy development, to improve the quality of people’s experiences within the park spaces and benefit the health and well-being of urban populations.
The framework of this research was developed from embedded theories of environment and behaviour and the primary components of this framework are individuals and the surrounding environment.
People’s behaviour stems from the interplay of human intentions with various aspects of the environment. The framework of this research was developed from embedded theories of environment and behaviour and the primary components of this framework are individuals and the surrounding environment. Therefore, the central idea of this exploratory research emerged from multi-level influences on the mutual interactions of people and the neighbourhood park setting and the consequent adult visitors’ behaviours. Figure 1 portrays the embedded influential factors, following the socio-ecological model as a core concept that facilitated the identification of operational variables.
This exploratory research explained adult visitors’ engagement from the perspective of ecological perception theories, such as affordance and behaviour setting, as well as prospect-refuge theories.
Rather than focusing on a single issue relating to adult park visitation, this doctoral research was designed with an expanded methodology combined with multiple methods. This exploratory research explained adult visitors’ engagement from the perspective of ecological perception theories, such as affordance and behaviour setting, as well as prospect-refuge theories. In this research, the embedded concept of affordance and behaviour-setting theory aided in explaining the changing mutual interaction between people and the environment with the resulting behaviour. In addition, the prospect-refuge theory provided insights into the peoples’ interaction with specific settings from the senses of enclosure and exposure. Figure 2 depicts the research framework developed from the embedded theories.
To understand the observed and perceived engagement, this exploratory research employed the case-study approach analysed through an integrated qualitative and quantitative analysis of the objective and subjective data. Place-centred behaviour mapping was conducted in two specific park settings to understand the spatial patterns of behaviour and intercept surveys were conducted to measure the perspectives of adult park visitors. Figure 3 presents the analytical framework of this doctoral research to understand the observed and perceived engagement in the park settings.
This doctoral research was conducted to benefit several disciplines, including landscape architecture, leisure science, urban studies, and health studies.
The spatial maps produced through GIS were explained with the spatial themes generated from the movement patterns and descriptive behavioural analysis. The notes on every movement and activity of the adult park visitors during the observation days helped to explain qualitatively the behaviours of the adult visitors incorporating activity settings, park features, and time spent in the park. The statistically significant influences on adult park visitation from the observed non-spatial park visitation variables were then quantitatively explored. The perceived engagement in park settings was investigated through survey data from adult park visitors on socio-demographics, park visitation, and activity. The underlying factors and significant variables were explored to better understand the perceptions of the neighbourhood and park environment and attitudinal factors.
According to the findings of this research, different adult age groups engage with park spaces in different ways. It was also revealed that the affordance of designed activity settings might be altered depending on the availability of other park amenities and features within the parks. The conceptual models and framework developed from the research findings helped to better understand how adult park visitors interact with their surroundings through usage-spatial relationships, considering environmental preferences, park visitation characteristics, and the factors explored from the adults’ perceptions.
The findings of this study can also contribute to post-COVID-19 research, highlighting the role of neighbourhood parks as the most proximate greenspace in the community, a space that ensures public health and social sustainability.
This doctoral research was conducted to benefit several disciplines, including landscape architecture, leisure science, urban studies, and health studies. The spatial and non-spatial influences on adults’ park visitation and the adults’ perceptions provided evidence and insight for policymakers, designers, and other stakeholders, including architects, landscape designers, urban designers, planners, and government and non-government organisations. Additionally, this research has operational and practical contributions to leisure and health studies. It was provided with a better understanding of the physical activity levels within park settings related to the affordance of amenities, which can help take various initiatives for the physical and psychological health benefits of different age groups of adults. This research was designed to provide parks and recreation professionals insights into why they should invest more in neighbourhood park settings for collaborative adult engagement with children and youth. The findings of this study can also contribute to post-COVID-19 research, highlighting the role of neighbourhood parks as the most proximate greenspace in the community, a space that ensures public health and social sustainability.
(This is a brief overview of a PhD research completed in 2022 at the School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology)
Contact with the Author:
Email: urmeechy@gmail.com
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5200-1692
Source:
PhD Thesis: An exploration of adult visitors’ engagement in suburban neighbourhood park settings Link: https://doi.org/10.5204/thesis.eprints.235149
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