Evaluation of Citizens’ Satisfaction with the Quality of Inner City Parks (A Case Study Women's Laleh Park in Noorabad)

Abstract

Parks and green public spaces are parts of the ecological fabric of cities to the extent that environmental life and the sustainability of cities depend on them. The aim of this research is to measure the level of citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of urban parks. The example studied is Women's Laleh Park in the city of Noorabad. To this end, efforts were made to evaluate and analyze the success or the failure of the quality of the park from the point of view of women. The current research is a quantitative research in terms of its purpose in the field of applied research and has deployed a descriptive-analytical approach based on the nature of the data.The statistical population of this research included all women who came to Laleh Park in a span from May to December 2022. The sample size included 200 women; this sample was assessed using Sample Power software with a confidence level of %95, a possible error of %5, and an alpha value of 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05. For data analysis, SPSS26 software was used due to its statistical capabilities, and  AMOS24 software was deployed for structural equation modeling. To answer the hypotheses of the research, at the first stage, criteria and sub-criteria that explained the satisfaction of the multiple dimensions of women's park were compiled through documentary and library studies. Then, a questionnaire, consisting of 66 questions in the form of a five-point Likert scale, was designed and distributed among the women who came to Laleh Park. The distribution of the questionnaire was also done using a systematic sampling method during the peak hours of women’s visiting of this public space. It should be noted that the measuring scales included 6 general questions, 10 questions on safety and security, 10 social-cultural questions, 10 physical questions, 10 questions about health and environment, 10 questions about the furniture and environment of the park, and 10 questions about physical and mental health.In total, the results obtained from the current research are as follows. In an overall evaluation of the quality of Laleh Park, the findings showed that most of the studied sites were of low quality, and there were many weak points. The results also showed that the condition of Laleh Park was favorable in terms of quality in 3 items. 18 items were semi-optimal, and other 38 items had unfavorable status. Also, the results of the analysis of the second-order factor model showed that according to the women, participating in the research, satisfaction with physical-physical factors with a factor load of 0.86 had the highest priority and had the first place. After the physical-physical factor, the health and environmental index came second with a factor load of 0.78. The third rank belonged to park furniture index with a factor weight of 0.73. Further, it was found that safety and security index with a weight of 0.68 was in the fourth place, the health index with a weight of 0.58 came fifth. The cultural and social index was in the sixth place with a weight of 0.48.