Table 1.

Current park uses and implicit assumptions regarding park design

What are parks used for?

What assumptions are we making when designing new parks?

• Group sports/activities (basketball, tennis, handball, tai chi) • Individual sports/physical activity (swimming, cycling, walking, running, sledding, skiing, hiking, skateboarding, rollerblading) • Passive recreation (sitting, walking chess, birding, reading) • Fitness classes • Volunteering • Urban agriculture/farmers markets • Dog walking/ dog runs • Socializing • Public and individual activities • Dining and eating (picnics) • People watching • Playgrounds and sand boxes • Gathering space for different groups (teenagers, moms and kids, elderly, homeless people) • Foraging • Growing food • Illegal, illicit activities • Escape • Protests, rallies • Public events (concerts, movies) • Gardening • Small vendors, farmers markets • Tarot card reading • stargazing • Compost/recycling collection • Personal celebrations

• A place for foliage, greenery, nature • Physically open space • To express yourself, place to get away, escape city traffic, noise, commotion, respite • Civic space, public interaction • Place for physical activity, sports • Children’s play equipment • Positively associated with real estate value • Makes the neighbourhood look nice (beautification) • Rest • Socialize • Liveability • Possibly unsafe after dark/dangerous place to congregate • Good for kids • Free • A place for illicit activities • Outside/above ground • Accessible