Citation

Pham TTH, Labbé D, Lachapelle U, Pelletier. Landsc. Urban Plann. 2019; 189: 156-165.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.04.021

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Urban parks offer many benefits for youth, including providing a place to express and build their social identity. Yet we know very little about how this group accesses and uses parks in Vietnam, and in non-western urban contexts in general. This paper begins to fill this gap by using the case of Hanoi where youth (18-24 years old) make up almost 20% of the population and their socio-cultural characteristics are changing rapidly. An intercept survey, using convenience sampling with quotas, was deployed in four parks in dense central areas and newer suburban zones (n = 382). Heat, crowded sidewalks, street crossings and traffic near parks are the most problematic obstacles to park access. Security was mentioned as an obstacle, with no significant difference between men and women. Participants reported on average 6.6 visits over two weeks and 77.5 min per visit. Perceived obstacles to access, duration of stay and frequency of visits were then fitted in a series of models against gender, timing of visits, travel modes, previous location, travel time, and performed activities (only in the last two models). Travel modes proved the most important features explaining obstacles to access. Practicing sports and exercises were predominant in explaining higher frequency and duration of visits. Gender differences were significant after controlling for other variables: women go to the park less frequently and stay for shorter periods than men. Our findings suggest avenues for park design and planning, such as providing equipment to support physical activities and addressing travelling obstacles near parks.

Language: en