User Perception in Urban Parks: Çağlayan Park in Nicosia as Case Study

Abstract

The importance of urban open green spaces is increasing day by day in today's cities, which grow rapidly with their problems. Open green areas provide direct or indirect benefits for the city in ecological, social, economic and cultural dimensions. The need for open green spaces is also noticeable for the urban areas of Northern Cyprus. Such that, especially in the last two decades, cities have been constructed rapidly, but this process has occurred without fulfilling sustainable urban planning principles. However, as we face with global warming and climate change, sustainable planning and design has been a key concept of the 21st centuryt. In this framework, in this study, Çağlayan Park, an important park of the capital north Nicosia, was evaluated.The satisfaction level and opinions of the park users on different issues related to the park were investigated through the survey study. Following the literature review in which the green space concept and urban parks are examined, Nicosia and Çağlayan Park are evaluated as study areas in the material and method section.In the same section, the findings of the survey conducted with 50 participants are also included. According to the results, users stated that the park should be improved in terms of activity areas and maintenance. In this context, it can be argued that although the satisfaction with the park is not high, it is used. Findings in the survey study point out that both Çağlayan Park and other existing green areas in the city should be improved both qualitatively and quantitatively.