A Specific Park for Women or a Public Park: Women’s Preferences and Perspectives on Using City Parks, Case Study: Four Parks in Tehran

A Specific Park for Women or a Public Park: Women’s Preferences and Perspectives on Using City Parks, Case Study: Four Parks in Tehran

Iranian women who, in the traditional conditions of the past and norms of the Iranian society, have had a limited access to the public spaces of the city, with the changes taken place in our modern day society and factors such as education, employment and so on. Nowadays, they have distinguished themselves in various fields and introduced their own issues and concerns to the society. However, it seems that their issues concerning the city spaces are part of the aspects of the Iranian society which have remained unchanged and in the dark. Many studies have been carried out on the differences among the Iranian women and their use of city spaces and parks in Iran. The present study aims to express the necessity for caring about the wishes, the behavioral and the psychological needs of women in using the city parks which originate from their gender differences (as a modern phenomenon in the Iranian city spaces). The study further aims to compare the opinions of other women who use the public parks of city of Tehran and investigate their preferences, point of views and reasons for using both types of city parks. The present research is based on the hypothesis that says: “despite the fact that women’s park takes care of a limited number of women’s needs which the public parks don’t, they still prefer to have access to public parks which are different and more suitable to their needs than the ones that currently exist to build women’s park in their neighborhoods”. To achieve the goals of the research, two public parks in Tehran (Razi and Gheitariehe) and two women’s park (Beheshte Madaran and Shahr Banoo Complex) were selected as the case studies. A pilot study consisting of 60 women was conducted. Ultimately 400 questionnaires were distributed to women in these four parks and the results were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software. The result indicated that most of women who attended the women’s park preferred to have a public park with spaces and facilities specifically for women in their neighborhood or near their residence. In addition, those women who were surveyed at the two previously mentioned public parks preferred having and using public parks. Moreover, the ladies from Tehran claimed that their reason and interest in using women’s park was their freedom of clothing and Hijab while enjoying the nature and the park space.