Park Activities around the globe

Exploring the current and possible different activities in city parks around the world.

This question was sparked overhearing a conversation with a British and an Indian colleague. The Indian colleague was travelling to the Lake District, England and was asking what lived in the park that could kill him. To a British person, this question seems absurd — “it’s the Lake District!”. But to a foreigner where wild tigers roam their national parks, it’s a reasonable question.

Parks in Indian Cultures.

Current differences

• Wild animals such as tigers and leopards roam the streets and parks of Mumbai.
• People get mugged by monkeys and they steal from shops.

Planet Earth II - 6. Cities

• Indian squirrel species are different to those found in London and include giant species of squirrel.

The Secret Life of Parks in India

• Our acorn microphones may not be able to withstand Indian wildlife and may be stolen by monkeys. This means that park visitors may not be able to listen to squirrels directly.
• Taking this toolkit to India may mean we would need to look into developing sturdier apparatus to decipher other wildlife conversations.
• May need to design locks on the toolkit box so that monkeys don’t get into the box and destroy the items.

Parks in Far Eastern Cultures

Current differences

• Hofstede’s research shows Asian cultures such as Japan, China and South Korea to be collectivist.
• Families and communities have a central role to play in the wider community.

Possible differences

• The idea of the toolkit was for it to be used by individual park visitors, which may not relate to cultures who ‘belong to groups’.
• Given a bigger budget, it would be interesting to explore how parks fit into collectivist cultures and activities conducted within these parks with groups.

Parks in North American Cultures.

Current differences

• Urban parks are in high demand with limited spaces and varied clientele.
• Surveys conducted by Gobster, P.H., 2002 in Chicago involved clientele of 898 park users, including 217 Black, 210 Latino, 182 Asian, and 289 White.
• In addition, large cities like Chicago involve other demographics such as those with special needs and interests of older adults, young children, persons with disabilities, and other groups.
• Reviews by Kaplan and Talbot; and Chavez’s (2001) of studies of Latino groups show a preference by racial and ethnic minorities for development and site arrangements that promote higher levels of social interaction within and among groups of users.

Possible differences

• North American cultures appear to be diverse, which has an impact on the way in parks are or should be designed.
• Based on a clash of cultures in the way Hofstede’s research shows, the toolkit would need to be more varied. For example, the Latin communities in Chicago focus more on group activities than the White park visitors.
• The toolkit would need to accommodate for both individualist and collectivist park visitors.

References

Gobster, P.H., 2002. Managing urban parks for a racially and ethnically diverse clientele. Leisure sciences, 24(2), pp.143–159.

Chavez, Deborah J. 2001. Managing outdoor recreation in California: visitor contact studies 1989–1998. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-180. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture; 100 p.