Evaluation of the Way Physical Components Impact the Enhancement of Children's Creativity in Play Grounds of Urban Parks

The development of cities and uncontrolled increase in the number of vehicles have led to the inability of children to use many spaces and lands appropriate for play. This is while urban areas, especially urban parks, can have the greatest impact on fostering children's creativity. The aim of this study is to identify physical components that affect the creativity of Iranian children aged 6 to 12 in playgrounds located in urban parks, and to explain the most important index of each of the components and the relation between them. In this study, by combining theories related to the subject, survey research method is used. Also, in order to determine the view of professionals on effective physical factors, targeted self-made questionnaires were distributed between 154 Iranian experts in the area of urban planning, architecture, phycology, and educational science and 94 acceptable responses were received. The collected data was analyzed and ranked using SPSS22 and statistical tests; then, with Path Analysis Method and the help of Smart PLS software, the research model was developed based on relationships between variables. The results, according to expert's view, show that the most important components influencing the enhancement of the children's creativity are diversity, vitality and physical flexibility in urban play spaces. With this said, material diversity and sitting spaces have the greatest direct and indirect impact on children’s creativity.