Extraction of Essential Design Elements for Urban Parks - Based on the Analysis of 2017 Satisfaction Survey of Park Use in Seoul -

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide foundational knowledge of how to enhance the user satisfaction of urban parks. The study seeks to identify essential factors that influence user satisfaction and to provide better design strategies for future park design as well as the reorganization of existing ones.To measure user satisfaction, this study used factor analysis to extract essential factors -facility conditions, landscape and scenery, safety, and kindness -by using data from a survey conducted by the city of Seoul in 2017. We then used a regression analysis to infer causal relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variables (user satisfaction). The results revealed that the most significantly and positively related variable to user satisfaction in urban parks was safety (β=0.276, p<.000), followed by landscape and scenery (β=0.230, p<.000), facility conditions (β=0.215, p<.000), and kindness (β=0.208, p<.000). The results indicate that, for future urban park designs, planners and designers should prioritize the issues of safety by adopting crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). In addition, planners and designers of future park designs should heavily weigh the selection and provision of relevant facilities for the intended use as well as well-arranged and well-managed plants and trees. Based on the results of IPA analysis, the most urgent improvement elements appeared to be the factor of kindness; however, the impact of kindness influencing user satisfaction was less important than that of safety and landscape and scenery in the urban park design processes.This study demonstrates that to maximize the user satisfaction of the urban park design processes and to provide more valuable spaces for users, it is necessary to secure park safety and to create well-composed landscape and scenery. Future research should provide more detailed and specified urban park design strategies corresponding with the importance of the factors identified in this study.