title: Wellbeing as a decision making criterion in urban park design: assessing urban parks on their effect on user wellbeing
Creators: name: Deniz Kiraz, Layla
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Urban Parks
subject: Wellbeing
subject: Landscape Qualities
subject: Parametric Design
subject: Behaviour Modelling
subject: Predictive Modelling
subject: Agent Based Modelling
subject: Behaviour Observation
subject: COVID-19

description: With the increasing population in cities and the reduction of natural areas (Stigsdotter et al., 2010), people are losing their connection with nature. The sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle of modern people has an effect on increasing chronic physical and psychological diseases (Bai et al., 2012). With the acceptance of the value of salutogenic factors (Ward Thompson, 2013), urban parks have gained prominence for their potential role in increasing human wellbeing. Many studies have been conducted to address nature’s positive effect on people’s health and wellbeing (Hartig et al., 2003; Maas et al., 2006; Van den Berg et al., 2010; Stigsdotter et al., 2010). However, there is not enough focus on the assessment of different natural areas in terms of the degree of their effect on human mental wellbeing. The landscape qualities of urban parks do not have the same effect on different people. People with different wellbeing states can have different perceptions of the same environment and various psychological capacities in realising activities, resulting in different choices and behaviours in urban parks. Therefore, some features of urban parks may add value to human wellbeing for some people while they could be overwhelming for others. At this point, it is crucial to understand the relationship between the landscape qualities and people in different mental states in order to design urban parks that support the wellbeing of users. There is a body of knowledge on the relationship between landscape qualities of green spaces and people’s psychological status. On the other hand, the main focus of these studies was on people recovering from a high level of stress. However, in order to understand the impact of urban parks on people’s wellbeing, the effect of landscape qualities of urban parks on people with different wellbeing levels is necessary to be investigated. Besides, studies in this area mainly investigate the effect of different landscape qualities individually -or a few together-, but not the overall effect of an urban park. This research aims to develop a model to predict the effect of urban parks on the wellbeing of users. Thus, it could be possible to evaluate urban parks in terms of their potential to increase the wellbeing of people in different wellbeing states. This aim was achieved through the following objectives; determining the landscape qualities of urban parks; determining and predicting urban park users; predicting users’ behaviours and their interaction with landscape qualities in urban parks; determining and predicting the effect of different landscape qualities on the moods of users with various wellbeing states. For experimental sites, urban parks in Edinburgh were chosen because of the city’s long history of urban parks integrated with the city structure, resulting in a diverse range of parks. In this study, firstly, urban park analysis studies (landscape quality analysis and user analysis) were carried out. Collected data were analysed to determine the relationship between urban park user characteristics and visited landscape qualities. The urban park analysis studies were conducted in 2019 (before COVID-19) and repeated in 2020 (during COVID-19), which make it possible to conduct a comparative overview of two years' data. This could provide insights into the effect of a pandemic on the use of parks. Moreover, the continuation of this study will enable determining the change in the use of parks over time. After the urban park analysis, the Edinburgh urban park user survey was carried out mainly to determine the relationship between people’s wellbeing, landscape qualities, and mood change in urban parks, although it explored the relationship of users with parks from a broader perspective. According to the survey results, it was seen that compared to before visiting parks, participants' average mood increased significantly after visiting parks. In increasing the overall moods, nature, prospect, and serene were more effective for people with lower wellbeing levels; social was for those with low-medium wellbeing levels; culture, rich in species, and space were for those with medium wellbeing levels; while opportunity for activities and playground were for those with high wellbeing levels. Continuation of this survey with the inclusion of other cities in the coming years can provide a better understanding of the relationship between landscape qualities and user wellbeing. After the data collection, modelling studies were carried out. Firstly, predictive modelling studies were conducted to determine the user groups of urban parks, the average wellbeing levels of Edinburgh urban park users, and the effect of landscape qualities on the moods of users based on their wellbeing levels. The mood change prediction model is believed to contribute to the knowledge of the relationship between landscape qualities and the users’ psychological status. After that, behaviour modelling and simulation studies were carried out to determine people’s interaction with landscape qualities in urban parks. With the use of Agent Based Modelling (ABM) to determine the general use of parks, unlike the trend of its use in pedestrian movements and escape scenarios, this research is believed to contribute to the ABM literature. It is also innovative in using agents at a level of abstraction based on the predicted user groups. The 'wellbeing assessment model of urban parks' was developed in this study to determine the effect of urban parks on the wellbeing of users. It is a methodological model that includes several steps; determination of the landscape qualities, determination of urban park users, determination of park users' interaction with the landscape qualities, determination of the mood change effect of landscape qualities, and the determination of the overall mood change effect of urban parks. After the development of the model, it was analysed to determine its applicability based on comparing the effects of existing urban parks and imaginary park designs. Based on model analysis results, it was seen that the parks with the same landscape qualities in similar sizes and similar interrelationships with park elements could provide similar effects on the mood of users. This shows that the model could provide consistent results in terms of the effect of urban parks on the wellbeing of users. The ‘wellbeing assessment model of urban parks’ generated in this research is thought to be the first model in the literature that evaluates the overall effects of parks on the wellbeing of users. By following the methodological steps in the model, the designers and researchers can evaluate the wellbeing effects of urban parks. This model could be developed further to generate stand-alone software. Urban parks have a crucial role in preserving and enhancing urban people’s wellbeing. Therefore, in designing urban parks, wellbeing should be taken into consideration as a deciding factor. It is hoped that this research will contribute to designing urban parks that will help enhance users' wellbeing, and lead to more studies in this field.