Cite this article
Mohamed, A. (2024) ‘User satisfaction with aesthetics of urban park seating’, Architecture Papers of the Faculty of Architecture and Design STU, 29(4), pp. 48-55. https://www.doi.org/10.2478/alfa-2024-0023
SUMMARY
Urban parks are considered among the most important areas of public space for relaxation and recreation. They are gaining ever more importance in our cities with their continuous physical, social and cultural development. This in addition to their great contribution to the visual beauty and aesthetic tranquillity of the urban environment. With these characteristics, urban parks preserve their distinguished position in the urban structure of cities. As such, there is always a need to pay attention to their planning and design including park furniture and especially seating.
Park furniture is an influential element of the park and seating is the most widely used element that is closely related to the users. The seating is the park’s most widely distributed public facility that has the closest contact with the users. Public open spaces and parks with creative seating design and functionality are more likely to be visited and enjoyed. Park seating is one of the most used elements of parks’ furniture and it creates a great opportunity to enhance their quality through a wide variety of tools like design, style and aesthetics. The design of park seating has revolutionised the way designers use visual design elements and principles to provide unprecedented means of rest, relaxing and gathering for park users.
This research investigates the different demographic (gender, age, and education) and perception factors (aesthetics knowledge and aesthetics understanding) that affect the overall user satisfaction of seating aesthetics in urban parks. The aim is to understand user perception of seating aesthetics. It also aims to understand the different factors affecting this satisfaction and the different relationships between them. Seating in public parks is one of their main furniture elements. Not only does it enhance park functionality and liveability as an element for rest and socialising, but also is considered for its expressive visual beauty and aesthetics components that enhance the visual pleasure and aesthetics satisfaction of the users. Park seating design is a key factor for supporting users’ activities, social interaction and cultural integration. This can be achieved through different strategies and the application of different design principles and aesthetics measures.
The case study which was used for the investigation is the Konyaalti Beach Park (KPB), Antalya, Turkey. The Konyaalti Beach Park is a long public green space at the Mediterranean cost in the district of Konyaalti, Antalya, Turkey. The seating of KBP came with the same level of the innovative solutions of the park furniture provided by the designers and the creative applications of the seating to provide for the required park functions and human activities. At the same time, seating design expresses simplicity with variety and unity to preserve the overall purpose of the beach park.
The aesthetical measures used include colour, materials, placement, symmetry, proximity, and proportion. The methodology depended on the survey of user perception and evaluation of these elements in the seating of KBP. A Likert questionnaire was the tool used for this survey and the SPSS software was used for the statistical analysis of the questionnaire and the testing of hypotheses formulated to lead the investigation which tried to answer the questions of the research: Do demographic factors (gender, age, and education) and perception factors (aesthetics knowledge and aesthetics understanding) affect the overall user satisfaction with seating aesthetics in Konyaalti Beach Park? Does the overall user satisfaction with seating aesthetics in KBP depend on the individual satisfaction with each aesthetics factor?
Satisfaction shows strong statistically significant correlations with education, aesthetics knowledge, and aesthetics understanding. The overall aesthetics image of park seating is more important and influential in affecting the users’ appreciation than the individual visual design elements of the seating. It was discovered that there was no significant difference between the age groups regarding the seating aesthetics satisfaction. Finally, it was found that education is the most important among the demographic factors affecting user satisfaction with park seating while gender and age are not influential. This highlights the need to provide more education on park aesthetics in general and on park seating aesthetics in particular. This also includes raising public awareness about the importance of park aesthetics and park seating aesthetics and their role in improving the quality of our cities.
This research provides a unique opportunity to show the relationships between some of these factors and between them and park users. The research has significant importance in the studying of park seating aesthetics to understand the factors influencing it and the suitable means for its development. The study and analysis of park seating aesthetics is still not a well-known trend in academic and professional fields. The need is increasingly rising for the study, analysis, and development of park seating aesthetics to support the crucial role of parks in the life of people.