The role of physical readability in the security of urban parks (Case study: People’s Park and Eram Park in Hamadan)

As a foundation of responsiveness and desirability of urban environments, physical Legibility affects the users’ perception, utilization and satisfaction of urban environments. In the context of urban parks, components of spatial Legibility can provide a variety of degrees of security; so the impact physical Legibility of urban parks on attendance and presence of individuals and also the security of these spaces formed the basis of present study. The statistical population of this study includes visitors of the mardom and Eram Park in Hamadan. The information of two experiment collected through space syntax method, open and closed questionnaires and the researchers’ answers and observations. The Ucl depth map software was used to provide Legibility map (mathematical analysis of intelligibility) Independent t-test; Pearson correlation coefficient and systematic linear regression analysis are employed for statistical analysis of the questionnaires. The results of the open questionnaire and researchers’ observations suggest that the respondents consider the same contexts as insecure spaces in the entire park. Findings of the closed questionnaire show that the sample evaluate the Legibility and security of Hamedan People Park as a high degree, in contrast to the general impression; in fact, the results of the research in two experiment, indicate that there is a positive and relatively strong relation between physical Legibility and citizens’ sense of security in the park. The order of importance of spatial Legibility components affecting the sense of security also demonstrate that the variables of visualizing elements recognition (path, node, edge, domain, sign and perspective), accessibility, structural composition and spatial configuration as well as geometry have the greatest influence, respectively, and the variables of visual obstacles and disturbances and highlighted architectural components of routing have the least impact on citizens’ sense of security in the park. Therefore, the improvement of Legibility components can be an effective step towards better security, desirability and quality of urban parks.