Engagement in public open spaces across age groups: The case of Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur city, Malaysia

Abstract

People's engagement with public open spaces is complex and affected by different factors.The importance of people's needs differs according to their age groups. In this respect, what this article aims to unveil is the priority of needs in public open spaces across age groups. A self-administered questionnaire survey collected the opinions of 400 people aged 13 years and above using the time-interval sampling method. The results revealed that the strongest inverse relationship existed between age and social needs. This illustrated that old people are less likely to carry out social interaction with other groups or to explore public open spaces compared to younger people. In turn, old people are more concerned about their physical and environmental needs. Exploring the dichotomies between the needs of old and young people highlights the intergenerational conflicts that challenge urban designers and decision makers to ameliorate the design and management of future public open spaces. URBAN DESIGN International (2015) 20, 93-106.

Engagement and Well-Being in Public Space. Case Study: Suropati Park Jakarta

“…As time goes by, open public spaces in the urban area have slowly lost their role as a place to meet its users' needs 5) . The users' physical, environmental, and social needs must be fulfilled to achieve good well-being, but they are often not fully catered to in the public spaces.…”

“…Interaction as a basic human need as a social being can be generated and accommodated by public space and cannot be replaced by a virtual world 1,2,3,4) . However, most of the public spaces in the urban area have slowly lost their role as a place to fulfill users' needs 5) . There are many kinds of past research discussing about the quality of public spaces but only their technical performance, such as air quality, emissions, and noise, instead of relating to their users.…”

“…There are many kinds of past research discussing about the quality of public spaces but only their technical performance, such as air quality, emissions, and noise, instead of relating to their users. There are also some researches on human's well-being in public space through sensory urbanism 6) , user needs based on age categories 5) , intervention which increases liveness of the spaces 7) , improving public places activity by using ICTs 8,9) , examining key factors to achieve sustainable society 10) , and achieving energy sustainability by maximize renewable energy options 11) . In other words, none of these researches have attempted to explain how the role of public space has been declining in meeting the user needs.…”

Comfort Character of Landscape Features of Traditional Streets in Amman, Jordan

“…Clean and accessible public toilets are essential in urban public spaces (Ja'afar, Sulaiman, Askari, Soltani, & Mohd, 2015) because urban public spaces must function as outdoor living room where users can fulfil their needs such as going to the toilet to ensure their comfort (Speck, 2013). According to the interviews, 18 respondents insisted on the importance of public toilet provision, and keeping it clean and well maintained, as this can contribute to the attraction and comfort of visitors to a street.…”

Volume 16 : 2018

“…Clean and accessible public toilets are essential in urban public spaces (Ja'afar, Askari, Soltani, & Mohd, 2015) because urban public spaces must function as outdoor living room where users can fulfil their needs such as going to the toilet to ensure their comfort (Speck, 2013). According to the interviews, 18 respondents insisted on the importance of public toilet provision, and keeping it clean and well maintained, as this can contribute to the attraction and comfort of visitors to a street.…”