Sustainable park model: A qualitative approach in sustainability assessment of parks

Abstract

Public open spaces evolving towards a more sustainable state contribute to the overall sustainability of an urbanized region over time. Sustainable parks, as integral parts of the urban environment, play a crucial role in sustainable development as they provide environmental, social, cultural, and economic benefits. The sustainabilization of parks is recognized as a complex process since it embraces different, however connected, aspects. To ensure parks' sustainability, sustainability assessment tools are of great importance as they emphasize delivering positive net sustainability gains now and into the future. Internationally recognized park sustainability assessment tools are benchmarks to guide sustainability-related actions and initiatives within parks. They concentrate primarily on the environmental and economic aspects of sustainability, and they endeavor to obtain information and quantitative data from authorities to evaluate the park concerning sustainability in these dimensions. In addition, within these tools, there are criteria and indicators which focus on social and cultural aspects. The current park sustainability assessment tools are partially successful in guiding authorities and decision-makers concerning the latest sustainability implementations. However, notwithstanding their efforts to establish parks' sustainability vision, they do not follow a holistic approach; since they do not involve park users directly in the evaluation processes. That is to say, in these tools' perspective user-oriented approach to sustainability evaluation is not considered; thus, users' perceptions and preferences regarding the park are ignored. Accordingly, this study aims to open discussions specifically on how to entail park users in the sustainability assessment of parks. Therefore, the study poses a model as a complementary tool to the current ones for seeking sustainability principles and transitioning towards sustainable states within parks. Indeed, the proposed sustainable park model is a qualitative approach to the sustainability assessment of parks that focuses on the importance of including people in sustainability evaluation. Furthermore, this model emphasizes the importance of sustainable practices by including park users' preferences and perceptions, which provide long-term benefits to the environment, the local community, and the economy. Sustainability is a context-dependent and place-based phenomenon, and practices regarding sustainable placemaking are recognized as potential drivers in connecting people to places. Understanding the interrelationships between people and places is vital to realize social motivations and determining approaches toward sustainability. Moreover, sustainability is not merely about concrete/material aspects of a place; instead, it emphasizes immaterial aspects as well. Because places are not merely geographical locations; rather, they are the manifestation of human-place interaction, which consists of human values, beliefs, and bonds that they are assigned to them. Parks as places are the product of both concrete and abstract/material and immaterial dimensions and processes; parks are dynamic and under the influence of human-place relational changes. Accordingly, while discussing sustainability transformation, both outer and inner dimensions need to be considered. Sense of place is considered one of the inner dimensions of sustainability transformation. Sustainability is about fulfilling the needs and desires of people to ensure well-being and quality of life, which is feasible by meeting the people's biological, psychological, and cultural needs. Since creating a sense of place is contingent on meeting these needs, a sense of place becomes an indicator of sustainability. In addition, a sense of place is associated with the sense of belonging and participation towards a place. More explicitly, the sense of place is defined with indicators including place attachment, place identity, and place dependence; a place with its characteristics and components generates these clusters of ideas for its users. Accordingly, the study aims to explore the role of the sense of place in the context of sustainable park-making. Therefore, the study investigates the link between the sense of place and the park's physical landscape and provided services in the context of sustainable place-shaping. In this way, it better understands and integrates them into the sustainability transformation discourses. As a result, the study proposes a new conceptual framework for the evaluation of parks to be a base for sustainability transformation, which results in moving toward sustainable development of a host community. To understand the level of sense of place regarding a park and the factors influential in its creation, the study designs a model which entails a qualitative approach based on the component-based process model. For this purpose, firstly, the study mainly focuses on constituting the components and explaining the processes of the model. The model consists of two sets: interview and sense of place measurement. The interview set reveals park users' perceptions and preferences regarding the park's physical landscape and provided services. This set comprises questions' dimensions, focuses, contexts, and contents hierarchically. The dimensions are selected based on human-place interaction dimensions, including behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and demographic. The questions are classified into five primary focus categories: behaviors & experiences, opinions & values, feelings & emotions, knowledge, sensory, and background. The study determines the contexts of the questions based on criteria and indicators demonstrated by current park sustainability assessment tools and literature on park sustainability subject; thus, the questions' contexts are user profile, usage modes, site, recreation, green space, water feature, movement and accessibility networks, urban furniture, service facilities, waste-clean environment, animal-inclusive, culture inspired, heritage preservation, participatory approach, education-oriented, emotional, and multisensory. The contents of the questions need to be determined based on the contexts and characteristics of the case under examination. The second set of the study, titled as sense of place measurement, is devised based on four distinguished characteristics: polarity, directness, components, and dimensions. While discussing polarity, the second set uses semi-polar scaling, ranging from not having a sense of place to the positive pole. Regarding the dimension, it uses a multi-dimensional scale approach; thus, three dimensions of place attachment, place dependence, and place identity are considered, which are recognized as indicators of a sense of place. Each dimension has two components; correspondingly, the multi-component approach is also applied within the second set of the model. The components entail sentences aimed to be rated by the park's users to understand the level of each indicator of sense of place. In relation to the directness attribute, the indirect technique is selected since the components do not directly ask participants about their level of place identity, attachment, and dependence. Accordingly, by this set of components and processes, park users' levels of sense of place are measured. To interpret the results, firstly, the data and information obtained from the interview set are thematically analyzed to drive sub-themes and themes for further discussion leading to implications and recommendations for the park. However, before sub-themes and themes generation, the users' views are labeled as positive, negative, impartial, and general. The two labels of positive and negative are considered determiners with respect to the sense of place level. With the help of SPSS, the positively and negatively labeled views are merged with the results of the sense of place measurement set. By doing so, the model investigates the relationship between positive and negative views and users' sense of place. To show how to employ this model, Göztepe park, a community park located in Istanbul city, is used as a case; hence, the steps in data gathering and data analysis are illustrated. Accordingly, 118 people (60 female and 58 male Göztepe park' users) were interviewed, and their levels of sense of place were measured. The interview results are thematically analyzed, and a total of 129 opposing views are obtained, of which 37 views are positive while the rest are negative. Göztepe park users have a total of 2.61 out of 5, which indicates that users have a sense of place regarding the park. In general, regardless of age and gender, the SPSS results demonstrate that negative views have a negative effect on the level of sense of place while positive views positively influence it. With respect to the number of subthemes and themes, a total number of 24 subthemes and a total of 16 themes are derived, which are used as bases for the implications and recommendation part for Göztepe park sustainability. These sub-themes and themes are derived directly from park users' perceptions and preferences regarding the park's physical landscape and provided services; therefore, by considering them in actions and implementations within the park, users' sense of place levels will be positively influenced. Hence, it contributes to the park's sustainability. In sum, the relationship between park users' perceptions and preferences and their sense of place levels is reciprocal, each influencing the other in a reinforcing manner. By understanding and addressing park users' perceptions and preferences and sense of place levels, parks would be more sustainable, livable, and supportive of human well-being. Accordingly, the proposed sustainable park model is a valuable tool for authorities and decision-makers to adapt park sustainability initiatives through this approach. This model emphasizes the importance of integrating people in sustainability evaluation to ensure that parks are managed in a socially responsible way. In addition, the sustainable park model highlights the importance of engaging and involving local communities in park planning, design, and management regarding sustainability, which helps to foster a sense of place and stewardship among the community, leading to greater participation and support for sustainability initiatives.