Author(s): RIVERA, E., VEITCH, J., HIPP, A., CASSAR, S., WILLIAMS, R., ROMERO, V., SCHOEPPE, S. , Institution: CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY , Country: AUSTRALIA, Abstract-ID: 585

Youth physical inactivity is a global public health concern. Parks can promote physical activity and sport by offering venues to be active, social, and connect with nature. Despite their benefits, parks are not well attended by young people (16-21 years). This may be due to current park planning being driven by adult experts (park planners, landscape architects) without involving young people in this process to ensure parks suit them. Co-creating parks designs with young people is a promising avenue for engaging them in park planning that considers the views of youth as park users, which may lead to greater park visitation for youth physical activity. This study aimed to explore young people’s park use views, needs, and experiences.

This qualitative study is nested within a larger project that is developing and piloting a new park design method that uses design thinking and artificial intelligence to co-create and prototype parks with young people. Two workshops were conducted with young people (n=15; 10 female). The first workshop used empathy mapping to illustrate participants’ feelings, thoughts, and wants about park use, and journey mapping was applied to visualise their park visits, including actions, accompaniment, enablers, and barriers. The same participants then reimagined park experiences in a second workshop by brainstorming and prototyping park designs using text-to-media artificial intelligence. Qualitative content analysis was performed for data analysis. Data from the first workshop (empathy and journey maps) were triangulated with data from the second workshop (park design prompts and images).

Preliminary findings indicated that the most common activities performed are relaxation, physical activity, and socialising. Young people mostly reported wanting to feel calm, happy, safe, and social. Participants predominantly reported using amenities, natural features, playgrounds, paths, and sports infrastructure in parks. Further, young people usually visit parks with friends or peers. Barriers to park use included insufficient amenities (e.g., toilets, seating), poor condition of park and equipment, and social factors (e.g., crowding, noise). When reimagining parks, the most common features included in park protypes created by the participants included grass, trees, gardens, paths, seating, shade, play equipment, and blue spaces. This indicates that parks with natural features, comfortable amenities and infrastructure conducive to physical activity and sport are most appealing for young people.

This research determined young people’s park needs and experiences and provides a new method for involving them meaningfully in park design. Findings from this study will be further explored with park planners and landscape architects to assess the feasibility and acceptability of this method for park planning practice. This work offers a pathway to designing parks that betters support young people’s physical activity and sport participatio