The Significance of Park and Playground to End Users in Municipal Setting

Ar. Anasela Zarisa Gaviola

University of San Carlos – Talamban Campus,
Sitio Nasipit, Cebu City, Philippines

Abstract site inspection and observations. With this data, the

researcher can determine some of the evident
This research is about the importance of parks and significance and benefits of having park and playground
playgrounds in municipal settings. According to Clayton in the municipal setting. To find out the answer to this
and Opotow’s research in 2003, there are several effects problem, the following questions are to be take in
of open spaces on individuals living in towns or cities. consideration:
One example is that open spaces such as parks and
playgrounds provide a balance to community needs 1. What is the significance of park and
regarding recreational outdoor activities. It also gives playground to end users in the municipality?
liberty to the activities and facilities in the surrounding This main question gives an overall perception
community. Furthermore, parks and playgrounds are if the park and playground in the municipality
good for the local economy and significantly improves give benefits that are deemed important to be
the resident’s well-being. However, in most rural areas considered in a rural community.
or towns around the Philippines, parks, and playgrounds 2. Who are the user group of park and playground
are not a priority or a necessity. But living in the most in the municipality? Understanding the end-user
populated and biggest town in the Province of Bohol group gives the researcher an idea to provide
encourages the researcher to pursue this study and prove needed information and necessity of that group.
that even rural areas need open spaces such as parks and These findings substantiate into knowing the
playgrounds. The study’s goal is to assess the insights of market need for the open space.
users in the importance and benefits of parks and 3. What is the prevailing use of the park and
playgrounds. playground? Understanding of the park and
playground’s usage gives the researcher an
Background Information information to the function of these spaces. This
perception explains if the space is being utilized
in a way in which it was originally planned for
This study pinpoints the insights of end-users and
and if it set out the intended use for which it
researchers about three classifications of open spaces
was constructed; ascertaining the
benefit such as parks and playgrounds (Sherer 2006): (1)
accomplishment of the park and playground.
Public Health Benefits - The main on-site benefits are
4. What are the benefits obtained from the
the possibility for recreation impart by the parks and
availableness of the park and playground?
playgrounds. Through active and passive recreations, it
These query wishes to determine the
gives improvements to health both physical and mental
importance of the parks and playgrounds to the
(Harnik and Welle 2011). (2) Social Benefits –
end-users and the identity of the municipality.
According to Sherer 2006 and Gies 2006, these benefits
Furthermore, it affects the end user view of
may incorporate but are not limited to lesser crime,
public health, social and economic benefits in
recreation opportunities that focus on the significance of
the community. The question evaluates the
play and creating steady neighborhoods with a well-built
relationship between the end-users and the
community, and gives chances for socializing and
designers.
environmental awareness. (3) Economic Benefits - These
benefits involve appraised property values such as
commercial and residential property values. The queries listed above determine the significance of
open spaces such as park and playground for public use
Furthermore, it increases the economic revitalization of a
town by retaining and attracting residents and of a community in the municipality of Trinidad. This
study scrutinizes the job of the architect or urban
businesses, and tourism benefits (Sherer 2006).
designer in enriching and also gives a source of data to
create precedence for the management and development
The major purpose of this research is to make out the
in the future of parks, playgrounds, and other recreation
significance of park and playground in the Municipality
facilities in the municipal setting. Therefore, the
of Trinidad to end users by survey, data gathering, and
researcher aims to find out the significance of park and below. Based on Payne et. al.’s study in 2005, there are
playground to the end users in the municipality of at least three activities that facilitates the use of open
Trinidad, followed by some sub objectives: (1) To spaces such as parks and playgrounds. Figure 1.2. below
determine the user group of park and playground in the shows the most use of parks and playgrounds.
municipality. (2) To define the prevailing use of the park
and playground. (3) To enumerate the benefits obtained
from the availability of park and playground.

Research Methodology
This research utilizes qualitative methods by Taylor and
Bogdan (1998) and methodological triangulation by
Guba et al. (1985). The research primarily includes data Figure 1.2. Prevailing Use of Parks and Playgrounds
mining and surveys along with on-site observations
prepared by the researcher. Most of the respondents believe, that the prevailing use
of parks and playgrounds are for physical activities.
For this research, a total of thirty participants will be Activities that exert the use of energy in the body such as
approached to participate in the study. It will be divided walking, jogging, playing, and exercising which is
into two groups for fifteen participants each. Fifteen shown in Figure 1.3. The graph shows walking and
participants for the municipality that use parks and playing is the most physical use of parks and
playgrounds while the remaining half are for those playgrounds.
participants which do not have parks and playgrounds in
their municipality.

The study will be done in two different municipalities in

the Province of Bohol. The municipality without park
and playground which is Ubay, and the municipality
with parks and playgrounds which is Trinidad. The users
will be given survey questionnaires thru online survey
specifically Google Forms. This data gathering will be Figure 1.3. Physical Activities
conducted to use data statistical analysis to retrieve data
relevant to the research. Figure 1.4. below shows that meet ups or meetings is the
most social use of the open space, followed by picnics,
Site investigations are done through google maps, google gatherings, and camping. Social use means the function
earth and Facebook site photos, to gain better knowledge of a place or area, that involves gathering of people for
and background about the open space of the the purpose of socializing.
municipality. Data gathered from surveys will be
presented through tables and graphs, ocular and other
observations will be documented.

Presentation of Data
This section of the paper shows the results of the
gathering of data done by the researcher in order to
answer the identifying research questions. Figure 1.1. Figure 1.4. Social Activities
below shows data gathered to answer the first sub
question which is to determine the user group of parks Figure 1.5. below shows that environmental activities
and playgrounds. such sightseeing, clean ups, and tree planting are the
environment related use of parks and playgrounds. With
sight seeing as the majority use and clean ups and tree
planting last.

Figure 1.1. User Group of Parks & Playgrounds

The horizontal bar graph in Figure 1.1. shows that the

majority of the user group of parks and playgrounds are Figure 1.5. Environmental Activities
children between the age of fourteen years old and
These data shown above answers the second question In finding out the answer to the main objective, which is
that defines the use of parks and playgrounds. By to know the significance of parks and playgrounds to end
knowing the use of it, the researcher then can enumerate users in municipal setting, the figure below shows the
the benefits that parks and playgrounds give. In the study rating of how important the parks and playgrounds are to
done by Sherer (2006), there are three major benefits the the quality of life to its users.
parks and playgrounds can give to end users. These
benefits are namely public health benefits, social
benefits, and economic benefits. The researcher based on
data mining includes environmental benefits. Figure 1.6.
below shows that the main public health related benefit
parks and playgrounds can give is fit and healthy body.

Figure 1.10. Significance of Parks and Playgrounds

Figure 1.10. above shows that most of the respondents,

believe that open spaces such as parks and playgrounds
Figure 1.6. Public Health Benefits are very important to the quality of life, of the end users
which mostly are children. The whole presentation of
Some of the social benefits these open spaces can give data shows that parks and playgrounds play a significant
are community identity, reduction in crime, and closer part of the users and environment.
neighborhood relationship. Figure 1.7. below shows that Data Analysis and Discussion
closer neighborhood relationship is the most social
benefit the respondents choose.
This part of the research shows and expounds the results
of the study. Based on the data gathered by the
researcher, the major user group of parks and
playgrounds are children below fourteen years old.
Followed by youth between fifteen and twenty-four
years old, adult ages between twenty-five and sixty-four
years old, and lastly senior citizens ages sixty-five years
Figure 1.7. Social Benefits old and above. Figure 2.0 below shows the bar graph
result of the data gathering. It indicates that the tallest
Another category of benefits that can help a community bar graph which has twelve votes from participants
financially is its economic benefits. Figure 1.8. below proves that children user groups are what is mostly seen
shows that appraised property value, increase local tax in parks and playgrounds.
base, and generates money around businesses are some
of these economic benefits. Use r Gr o ups o f Pa r ks a nd
Pl a y g r o unds
14
12
12
10
10
8
Figure 1.8. Economic Benefits 6
6
4
The last benefit parks and playgrounds can give is
environment related benefits which is shown in figure 2 3
1.9. below. The Figure 1.9. shows that parks and 0
playgrounds can protect public land, serves as water BELOW 14 15 - 24 Years 25 - 64 Years 65 Years Old
Years Old Old Old ABOVE
shed, and gives better air quality to the environment.

Figure 2.0. User Group Results

To answer the sub question which is to determine the

prevailing use of parks and playground, the researcher
Figure 1.9. Environmental Benefits used correlation matrix to show the relationship between
physical, social, and environmental use. Table 1.0. below
shows that there is a high correlating relationship
between the activities done in parks and playgrounds. To answer the third sub objective which is to enumerate
The colors represent the high (blue), middle (white), or the benefits of parks and playgrounds gives, Figure 2.2.
low (red), relationship of each variable. Since all the below shows the data in bar graph with percentage
colors are blue, the study concludes that there is a high values of the benefits categorized in public health, social,
correlation relation between the three activities which economic, and environmental activities. Results show
are physical, social, and environmental with social and that social benefit has the highest percentage specifically
physical the highest relationship. Followed by closer neighborhood relationship with sixty-six-point
environmental and physical, and lastly environmental seven percent (66.7%). Followed by fit and healthy body
and social activities. Therefore, the data shown in the for public health benefits, appraised property values and
table proves that these activities that represents the generates income around businesses for economic
prevailing use of parks and playgrounds have a close benefits, and lastly for environmental benefits which
relationship. protects public land and better air quality, all with
46.7%.
Table 1.0 Correlation Matrix of Prevailing Use

ENVIRONME
Parks & Playgrounds Benefits
PHYSICAL SOCIAL NTAL
  ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES
PHYSICAL Series1
ACTIVITIES 1 80.00%
SOCIAL
0.984261
ACTIVITIES 532 1
70.00%
ENVIRONME 0.687454 0.571259
NTAL 66.70%
ACTIVITIES 589 984 1
60.00%

Furthermore, the bar grapgh below shows more elaborate

activities that belongs to physical, social, and 50.00%
environmental activities. For the physical activities 46.70% 46.70%
46.70%46.70%
46.70%
walking and playing came on tie while exercising the 40.00%
lowest and jogging in the middle. For the social 40.00%
activities, meet ups or meetings came first, picnics in
second, social gatherings third, and camings last. Lastly 30.00%
for environmental related activities, site seeing cam in 26.70%
first, tree planting last while clean ups in the middle.
20.00%
These data showed in Figure 2.1. below concludes that
the prevailing use of parks and playgrounds is for social
activity which is meet ups and meetings followed by 10.00% 13.30%
physical activities such as walking and playing. 6.70% 6.70%
6.60%
0.00%
Pr e v a i l i ng Use o f Pa rks &
Pl a y g r o unds
14
12
10 12 12
8 10 10 10
9 9
6 8
4 6
2 3
0 1

Figure 2.2. Benefits Results

The qualitative data showed in figure 2.2 above shows

that the least benefit of parks and playgrounds are
reduction in crime, increase local tax, and serves as
water shed with the same 6.70%.

Figure 2.1. Prevailing Use Results To answer the major question of this research which is to
find out the significance of parks and playgrounds in
municipal setting, a histogram in Figure 2.3. below
shows a presentation of the results using standard of data suggest that parks and playgrounds improve the
deviation and normal distribution curve. The data in the quality of life of end users in all aspects.
histogram shows the rate of how the respondents see
parks and playgrounds as significant open space. The Acknowledgement
researcher used ratings from one to five as five which
ranges from not at all important to very important This research would not have been possible without the
respectively. The findings in the data showed in the guidance and help of several individuals, who in one
histogram shows that the curve is skewed to the right way or another contributed and intended their valuable
which proves parks and playgrounds are somehow and assistance in preparation and completion of this research.
very important to the quality of life to the residents. First and foremost, to God Almighty who has guided the
researcher throughout this research and who is always
Si g ni fi c a nc e o f Pa r ks & there to bless her with infinite knowledge.
Pl a y g r o unds
i n Muni c i pa l i ty o f T r i ni da d
To the researcher’s loving parents who never fail in
supporting her emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and
8
financially. And for their unending encouragement for
7 her to finish this research, Thank You.
6
To the Local Government Unit of Trinidad and Ubay,
5 Mayor’s Office, Tourism Office and City Planning
4 Office, thank you for politely and heart wamingly
helping the researcher in gathering the data and
3
documents needed in for this study. This research would
2 not have been done without your help.
1
To Sir Robert Malayao, the researcher’s research
0 professor, I would like to extend my greatest gratitude
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5
for the knowledge you have taught her in doing this
research.
Figure 2.3. Significance Results
Nomenclature
Conclusion
Significance – also means the state of being important.
For the first sub-problem which dealt with determining
the user group of parks and playgrounds, based on the Parks – a public area usually an open space that consists
results and analysis of data done by the researcher, the of natural and artificial greeneries that functions for
major user of parks and playgrounds are children with human recreation and enjoyment.
ages fourteen years old and below.
Playgrounds – a public open space for children that
For the second sub-problem which defines the prevailing provides environment typically for playing, socializing,
use of parks and playgrounds, social activities such as and outdoor learning.
meet ups or meetings is the dominant use of parks and
playgrounds, based on the results and analysis of data. End Users – people who benefits from the use or purpose
of a certain place or area.
For the third sub-problem which enumerates the benefits
parks and playgrounds give, fit and healthy body atop Use – the function of an area
the public health benefits while appraised property
values and generates money around business came tie n Benefits – the positive help people get from a certain
economic benefits. Furthermore, closer neighborhood place.
relationship came first for social benefits while for the
environmental benefits, protects public land and better References
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