The role of environmental factors in reading urban spaces from the perspective of the elderly Case study: Hamadan People's Park

Abstract

The elderly are among the social groups that, due to their age and relative reduction in work activities, have more opportunities to use urban spaces for optional and social activities than other segments of society. Parks are among the urban open spaces that the elderly often visit for leisure and walking. The present article aims to measure and evaluate the environmental components in the reading of urban spaces from the perspective of the elderly, after identifying the needs of the elderly in using urban spaces, including parks, using documentary studies and a survey method and preparing 350 questionnaires and using a t-test from the users of Hamedan People's Park. In this study, two objective factors including functional, environmental and accessibility factors and a subjective factor including perceptual factors, social identity, collective memories, sense of security and attachment to place were identified in the reading of urban spaces from the perspective of the elderly. Accordingly, among the objective factors, the elderly consider the existence of urban equipment, natural factors, and the use of sloping surfaces instead of stairs, and among the subjective factors, the existence of space for social interactions, the visibility of the space, the existence of collective spaces, and various activities in the space to be effective in using urban parks