An Interpretation of Park Users in Kuching and Calgary

Curnow, Alexander (2019) An Interpretation of Park Users in Kuching and Calgary. Masters thesis, University of Malaysia Sarawak.

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Abstract

In urban sociology, there is little mention of park users compared to city people and street users, indicating a knowledge gap in the public sphere. Who the park users are demands closer study on how people identify along both objectively and subjectively with the space. To investigate this identity, park user experiences and expressed park use were sought out by Questionnaire in 50 parks in Calgary, Canada, and Kuching, Malaysia respectively. Responses were analysed in two stages: first, the results were organized as interpretative observations; and second, these interpretations were refined using descriptive statistics. Results from 232 respondents show that park use is most often expressed in positive terms, taken personally, and involves lower-intensity activity. Also, park users prefer to drive to the park over other means, and their park visit is either the primary goal or else part of a string of non-park activities. More importantly, results indicate that group composition is a focal point in defining park users and their experiences and expression of the park. In addition, it appears that park users bring a ‘mindset’ into the space, and this frame of mind shapes how their visit will turn out. Accessibility to the park is of high importance to park users, followed by physical content and form, isolated park user behaviour, and particularities of individual interpretations of the park space. In other words, park users can be better served by seeking out how they identify with the space, whom they are with, and how they interact with others. Keywords: Urban space, recreational space, sociology, parks, park users

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