An Assessment Framework for Time Based Vitality of Public Parks

Abstract

Public parks act as a catalyst for assuring the enhancement of life quality and community performance since they are considered as an integral part of the urban fabric. Parks have a vital performance in creating communities of lasting values. They bring nature to the city, enable social interaction, and create environmentally and economically resilient communities. Vitality of parks is related to the park's strength, interaction of users at different times and the variety of facilities. Vitality has four dominant factors: accessibility, legibility, convenience, and distinctiveness. The diurnal and nocturnal state of the parks is the reason behind its dynamic vitality, as well as the difference in seasons, and this proves that time is a relevant dimension in analyzing the vitality of public parks, which forms the research problem. Therefore, the research aims to determine the impact of time on vitality of parks in relation to the factors' physical and social attributes. The study focuses on vitality factors and time impact on each one, resulting in different park patterns. The researcher concluded a framework that complies the impact of time on the four vitality parameters with their attributes, then applied it on an analytical example of public parks.