Playgrounds are not only for play and fun; they are places that offer diverse experiences for all groups of children. Outdoor playgrounds have been studied as an element of public space for their ability to offer an array of amenities and attributes. In addition to design and planning aspects, inclusiveness is a vital attribute of playgrounds. Inclusiveness within playgrounds provides accessibility for all children regardless of age, gender, and ethnicity, as both physical and social access are considered. Given the rapidly changing global agenda affected dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, playgrounds have gained even more attention and the importance of inclusiveness has become more prevalent. This study examined the inclusiveness of play-based experiences within a playground in San Antonio, Texas, using mixed methods. The study utilized observational methods, behavior mapping, secondary data for spatial mapping, and a survey conducted in order to understand the perception of playground users. This study evaluated the inclusiveness of the playground and analyzed social and physical accessibility relative to the playground by assessing the diversity of users in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and disability. The findings of this study show that there is a need for additional studies yielding proposed improvements revolving around playground inclusivity. The study results show that urban designers, urban planners, and policymakers need to collaborate in order to create opportunities that work to eliminate social and physical disparities and that ultimately enhance inclusiveness in playgrounds.
The COVID-19 continues to take its toll on human life. Even though to a less threatening extent, and insignificant to some, noise turns out to be one of its consequences without consensus. While individuals experience multiple restrictions and restrain from exuberant activities by spending most of their time at home, reducing public transportation and personal vehicles, overall, they end up reduce anthropogenic noise pressure. On another level, people continue reporting noise concerns at various degrees during the COVID-19 pandemic. To draw a bigger picture as to whether or not these complaints have increased during the COVID-19 compared to the same period last year, this research examines them in five major American cities: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Dallas. Furthermore, the study also assessed the complaint patterns, whether reported in compact or sprawled areas. The findings highlight that either the noise complaints increased or decreased during the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, four of the five selected cities, except San Francisco, showed a decrease in reported noise. As it turns out, compact developments correlate significantly and positively with noise complaints in all study areas, except in Phoenix. These findings call for regulating and prioritizing noise-related policies. Planners and urban designers can thus advise to sustain environmental planning and public health issues, especially in planning compact developments.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.