Community participation in neighborhood playgrounds: A New York City experience.
Item
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Title
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Community participation in neighborhood playgrounds: A New York City experience.
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Identifier
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AAI3037433
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identifier
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3037433
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Creator
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Park, Sukwon.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gary Winkel
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Date
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2002
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social | Urban and Regional Planning
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Abstract
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The purpose of this study was to examine the proposed benefits of participation by comparing playgrounds designed using a participatory approach with those designed without participation. The present study also examined how user involvement in different design and management stages affects the final design products and maintenance.;Eleven participatory examples, which cover four different levels of participation were selected. Seven non-participatory playgrounds were chosen for comparison. Multiple techniques were used to collect information: interviews, checklists, informal observations, and archival research. Five adult users at each playground (a total of 90 people) and twenty-three participants were interviewed. In addition, playground design committee members, representatives of technical assistance organizations, and designers were interviewed. Checklists were used to check the safety, maintenance, and cleanliness of each playground.;Content analysis was used to extract meaningful categories from the interview data. In addition, to find out whether there were any statistically significant differences between the responses of the participatory playground users and those of the non-participatory users, t-tests were conducted.;It was found that there were many factors such as legal, economic, political, and structural constraints which affected the participatory process. Almost all of the participatory and non-participatory playgrounds offered similar equipment except couple of the participatory sites. Despite these constraints, differences between participatory and non-participatory playgrounds were found on a number of outcome measures.;The results were consistent with earlier studies that suggest participation would create an environment that fulfills the needs and preferences of the user. On the other hand, this study failed to fully support the claim that participation contributes to a greater sense of community among those engaged in the process. Furthermore, the claim that participation has environmental maintenance benefits was not supported by this study.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
