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www.mtddergisi.com
ULUSLARARASI HAKEMLİ TASARIM VE MİMARLIK DERGİSİ
Ocak / Şubat / Mart / Nisan 2017 Sayı: 10 Kış - İlkbahar
INTERNATIONALREFEREEDJOURNAL OF DESIGNANDARCHITECTURE
January / February / March / April 2017 Issue: 10 Winter – Spring
ID:141 K:231
ISSN Print: 2148-8142 Online: 2148-4880
(ISO 18001-OH-0090-13001706 / ISO 14001-EM-0090-13001706 / ISO 9001-QM-0090-13001706 / ISO 10002-CM-0090-13001706)
(Marka Patent No / Trademark)
(2015/04018 – 2015/GE/17595)
14
ULUSLARARASI HAKEMLİ
TASARIM MİMARLIK DERGİSİ
INTERNATIONAL
REFEREED
JOURNAL
OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
PRINT ISSN: 2148-8142 - ONLINE ISSN: 2148-4880
EXPANDED ABSTRACT
Introduction: Urban parks are quite important part of the urban life since they have various character-
istics, functions and possibilities provided to users. The benefits of urban parks to users can be grouped
under major subjects as physical, social and mental benefits. In this context, it can be said that a beautiful
park environment provides happiness in addition to the opportunities for physical activities by means of
engaging sports and mental occupation by looking at landscape characteristics. Although the landscape
at the parks has important affect for human beings and the effects of the human-environment interaction
is an intersection point for the discipline of psychology and architecture, the studies considering this
interaction are quite limited in the literature.
Subjective well-being includes frequency of negative and
positive emotions as well as evaluation of complete life satisfaction (Diener, 1984). Subjective well-
being has two dimensions called cognitive and emotional well-being. Affective well-being refers to the
abundance of negative emotions and the multitude of positive emotions (Duckworth, Steen, &Selig-
man, 2005). On the other hand, cognitive well-being includes assessment of all life satisfaction, and
flourishing (Dieneret al., 2010).
In the literature, although the association between human and their
environment have effect on subjective-well being (Thompson Coonet al.., 2011) and environments’ af-
fect on personal happiness (Lafortezza, Carrus, Sanesi ve Davies, (2009), there were limited number of
studies examining the seassociations.
Purpose: The main purpose of the present study is to investigate
the association between using urban parks in Ankara and subjective well-being.
Limitations of the
research: The results of the research are based on self-reports and include the cross-sectional method
of the research.
Problem: Does using park affect the subjective well-being of individuals positively?
Does using
park affect the physical, mental and social well-being of individuals positively? Does using
park make positive changes on individuals affection?
Method: As a study area, Altınpark, Botanik Park
and Gençlik Park of the urban parks of the city of Ankara were selected. The dominant characteristics
of those parks as follows: Altınpark represents physical activity opportunities; Botanik Park represents
resting, navigation and nature beauty; Gençlik Park represents socialization and spending time together.
Participants composing 210 urban park users are asked to complete two scales. These are
Change in
Subjective Well-Being Survey including three question evaluating physical, mental and social change-0
to 10 point and having internal consistency as .90 and item total correlations ranged between .78 to
.85- and
Subjective Well-being Affective Questionnaire including 10 emotions items ranging beween
1 to 5 with internal consistency as .86 and item total correlations as .44 to .72). ın addition to these two
measures participants are asked to answer their socio-demographic variables and questions about urban
parks that they are using in the frame of voluntary participation and informed consent.
Results: The fol-
lowing findings were obtained in the present study:
1. Participants went to the
park less often than expected χ
2
(4,
N = 207) = 30.85,
p = 3.28e-06.
2. Male participants visited parks more often than expected, and women participants visited parks less
frequently
χ
2
(4,
N = 207) = 12.07,
p = 1.69e-02. The majority of participants reported that they did not
have trouble getting to the park meaning transportation
χ
2
(2,
N = 207) = 3.78,
p = 1.51e-01. The time
spent in the park and the
park type were not related χ
2
(6,
N = 207) = 3.70,
p = 7.17e-01.
3. There were positive and significant association between using urban parks and subjective wellbeing.
Urban park users reported higher scores of positive experiences when they compared their experiences
MTD
www.mtddergisi.com
ULUSLARARASI HAKEMLİ TASARIM VE MİMARLIK DERGİSİ
Ocak / Şubat / Mart / Nisan 2017 Sayı: 10 Kış - İlkbahar
INTERNATIONALREFEREEDJOURNAL OF DESIGNANDARCHITECTURE
January / February / March / April 2017 Issue: 10 Winter – Spring
ID:141 K:231
ISSN Print: 2148-8142 Online: 2148-4880
(ISO 18001-OH-0090-13001706 / ISO 14001-EM-0090-13001706 / ISO 9001-QM-0090-13001706 / ISO 10002-CM-0090-13001706)
(Marka Patent No / Trademark)
(2015/04018 – 2015/GE/17595)
15
ULUSLARARASI HAKEMLİ
TASARIM MİMARLIK DERGİSİ
INTERNATIONAL REFEREED
JOURNAL OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
PRINT ISSN: 2148-8142 - ONLINE ISSN: 2148-4880
before using a park, on the basis of physical, mental and social experiences;
F(2, 6) = 8.24,
p = 1,90e-02;
F(2, 6) = 5.76,
p = 4,01e-02;
F(2, 6) = 13.29,
p = 6,24e-03.
4. Participants reported more affective well-being after using park for park users [
t(206) = 26.65,
p =
1,00e-06], for Altınpark [
t(68) = 12.65,
p = 1,00e-06], for Gençlik Park [
t(66) = 14.47,
p = 1,00e-06] and
for Botanik Park [
t(70) = 20.83,
p = 1,00e-06].
5. The users of the Botanik Park (
X = 41.33) reported higher affective well-being than the users of
Altınpark (
X = 39.07) and Gençlik Park (
X = 39.60),
F(2, 204) = 3.42,
p = 3,45e-02.
6. There was no association between gender
and affective well-being t(205) = -.96,
p = .338.
7. There was no association between frequency of park using and affective well-being
F(4, 202) = 1.15,
p = .336.
Discussion: The results show that the time spent in the parks positively affects the subjective well-being
of the individuals. The parks equipped with natural and instrumental equipment leads to the individuals
feel better psychologically. Individuals may have seen parks as an opportunity to relieve stress and calm
down their own psychological needs. In the light of findings, promoting to increase urban park users and
considering psycho-social needs of individuals are encouraged to be taken into consideration for further
studies. Decisions based on design and planning a park are recommended to consider user-friendly de-
sign which will also contribute to the subjective wellbeing.