Use and Image of Neighborhood Parks

Abstract

Human use and perceptions of residential parks have received significant attention from researchers in the West (for instance, Bangs and Mahler, 1970; Cole, 1977; Gold, 1977, 1972; Hester, 1975; Jacobs, 1969; Pigram, 1983; Rutledge, 1981), but little is known about how people across poor and crowded Third World cities respond to the very limited outdoor recreational facilities available within their day-to-day living milieu. Citizens' high mobility and purchas-ing power, as well as the supply of varied recreational resources, counterbalance the need for urban residential parks in the West, whereas small outdoor areas interwoven into the residential fabric of poor Third World cities are potentially the prime resource to meet the day-to-day outdoor recreational needs of their residents.