The Pocket Park and Citizen Satisfaction on the Quality of Urban Space

A Case Study of Gorgan, Iran

Resumen

Nowadays, small spaces have become increasingly important as public places in cities. However, they cannot be used for medium and large-scale urban activities because of their limited size, location, and other issues. Unfortunately, because these locations are usually unsupervised, they become hotspots for various social crimes. In addition, it is vital to address these spaces because of the environmental and visual difficulties they create. Pocket parks are one type of urban green space. Given the importance of such parks in citizens' lives, paying attention to the needs of visitors, identifying the reason for their visit, and assessing their satisfaction with the park's current condition can provide circumstances for improving weaknesses as well as required measures for planning, implementation, management, and so on by relevant organizations. This research was carried out to assess visitors' satisfaction with the state of the designated pocket parks. The current study applied a quantitative descriptive-analytical approach of applied development, which included field observations and the distribution of questionnaires to park visitors. The investigation area was the 5^th Boyeh and 48^th Resalat pocket parks in Gorgan city; hence 30 questionnaires were provided for each park. A one-sample T-test was utilized to evaluate the data, as well as SPSS and Excel software. Autocad and Sketchup applications were used to produce the green space design map. In this study, eight evaluation factors were taken into account. According to the research findings, the location, furniture layout in both parks, proper condition of play equipment and lighting in 48^th Rasalat Park had the highest level of satisfaction among visitors, while the condition of ramps, furniture, color, plant texture in both parks, proper condition of play equipment and lighting in 5^th Boyeh Park had the lowest level of satisfaction. According to the research findings, community participation in these two areas for the development of such places has a high appeal and can be an assurance for their reconstruction towards the establishment and development of pocket parks.