Abstract:
Public parks and open recreational facilities are essential elements of healthy
modern cities. The importance of the public parks in urban residential areas is
uncontested from the health and environment point of view. Although, public parks
are integral parts of the urban residential areas in most of the cities in South Africa,
they are observed to be highly underutilised. Literature suggests that accessibility,
environmental and social factors are some of the challenges for proper utilization of
the public parks. However, the challenges of accessibility to the public parks,
particularly in residential areas of cities are least explored. Therefore, using the case
study of Bloemfontein this investigation identified the most important accessibility
factors that deter the utilisation of public parks, and examined their level of influence
on the utilisation of public parks in the residential areas of a South African city. This
study was conducted by using a survey research methodology and consequent
development and application of empirical models. Primary data collected through
both household surveys, and physical park utilisation surveys by continuous digital
photography and videography were used to explore the influential accessibility
variables, and subsequent development of empirical models to examine their
influence on the utilisation of public parks. It was revealed that the ratio of road
network to pedestrian facilities (paved pathways) network, number of access streets
to the parks, size (in area) of parks, and the level of illumination in the parks during
evening periods are the major variables, which influence the utilisation of the parks
to varied extent. An optimal level of number of access streets to the parks,
proportionate pedestrian facilities (paved pathways) facilities on the roads providing
access to parks and appreciable illumination will enable significant improvement in
the utilisation of parks in the residential areas of South African cities.
