Evaluation of Allocated Areas for Parks and their Attributes: Hail City

Abstract

Accessibility to parks and open spaces plays an important role in the urban quality of life. Public parks play a vital role that affects all members of society regardless of their social ranking. Accessibility (visitation) to parks and recreational areas has increased significantly all over the world. This scenario to some extent is the same in Hail city, where the area allocated for parks and open spaces is very small. Parks in Hail are still suffering from many planning and design aspects that discourage people from frequent visitations. This study, therefore, aims to address this phenomenon by examining the area allocated for parks and park attributes. The study’s data are collected from the relevant literature regarding parks and their attributes. An assessment tool is designed and utilized to evaluate parks in Hail. Google maps software was used to measure the areas of neighborhoods and parks in addition to park distribution. This study shows that the areas allocated for parks are far below WHO requirements, and park attributes do not fully meet all visitors’ requirements.

Park visitation in the context of Khartoum town

“…The study adopts the assessment used by Said and Touahmia (2020) to evaluate all the parks in the study area and determine which park is suitable to process the study. The survey questionnaire, which is considered the main tool used in is this research to collect data, is an essential source of data that assisted in the planning, design, and management process (Oguz, 2000).…”

“…The translation was done as closely as it were in the English version of the questionnaire. After the assessment tool evaluated the park, the questionnaire was employed at Al Tifl Park (Said and Touahmia, 2020). Many authors talk about the importance of collecting data from visitors when planning and managing recreation are a target, e.g., Perez-Verdin et al (2008) and Watson (2000).…”

Understanding Visitors at an Urban Park by Profiling of Destination Attributes

“…Other attributes included convenience facilities such as toilets, benches, parking lots, and coffee shops [16,17]. Within parks that included elements such as castles or public art, historical and cultural resources consisting of heritage features and aesthetics were also included as park attributes [17,18]. In the study of Said and Touahmia [18], signboards were included as an attribute, which is in contrast to previous park studies.…”

“…Within parks that included elements such as castles or public art, historical and cultural resources consisting of heritage features and aesthetics were also included as park attributes [17,18]. In the study of Said and Touahmia [18], signboards were included as an attribute, which is in contrast to previous park studies. This is because the size of the eight parks within the study site was large, and it was judged as necessary to evaluate the presence or absence of signboards.…”

“…As more people visit these destination parks rather than general parks, the convenient use of restaurants, cafes, and facilities becomes a destination attribute. On the other hand, ecological parks where learning is conducted through observation of ecosystems display different attributes from general parks and tourist destinations [16][17][18]. Therefore, it is necessary to examine more diverse destination attributes, in addition to the basic attributes of parks.…”