Park vitality as a framework for vibrant urban parks: a scoping review

Abstract

The concept of urban vitality put forward by Jane Jacobs in the 60s, and then theorized further by notable scholars like Kevin Lynch in the 80s and John Montogomery in the 90s among others, has also been applied to urban parks. This paper aims to identify conceptual and practical gaps in the park vitality concept by conducting a scoping review. Academic databases like Scopus and Web of Sciences have been utilized, and only peer-reviewed journal articles are included. The scoping review follows the JBI guidelines and PRISMA-ScR checklist.

In the backdrop of an ever-increasing urban population, growing inequity, and racial/ethnic tensions around the world, this review takes into account studies that determine or discuss user volumes and user diversity in urban green spaces and how internal park attributes, external neighborhood characteristics, and broader socio-cultural context can affect usage of these spaces. This review also discusses the need to apply the park vitality framework in park planning, design, and operation in order to achieve vibrant urban parks. Preliminary insights highlight the relatively recent popularity of this topic (e.g., 73.7% of shortlisted papers are less than ten years old) although the first articles that discuss park vitality were published in the 70s. Findings also indicate that the user volume is influenced by park amenities, surrounding neighborhoods’ built environment chrematistics, demographics of users and residents living nearby, and personal preferences including perception. On the other hand, user diversity is influenced by broader socio-political phenomena, government policies, space design, and management approaches.