Creating Pocket Parks for Regenerating People’s Social Interactions, Case study: Khorramdareh City

Urban space is an essential element of a healthy urban life and an arena for shaping human beings since this public life requires tolerance between human beings. Today, the pocket park approach has been introduced as a platform for creating potential capacities for public space development. The fragmentation of the urban fabric, the destruction of public spaces, and the outbreak of the Coronavirus as a rogue crisis have increased the depth and breadth of production of such a space. Until yesterday, neighborhoods, public baths, mosques, etc., were the basis for friendly and neighborly relations between individuals and families. Today, the development of parks, especially local orchards, can pave the way for the beginning, consolidation, and continuation of friendly and neighborhood relations between local people due to the reduction and elimination of the people’s social role. This is because local parks are places where different groups and social strata get to familiarize themselves and interact with each other. Therefore, the need to use pocket parks as important social stimulus projects of the city, promoting authority and social development, establishing capacity, and developing social capital is considered essential. Khorramdareh city’s capacities and potential in creating local green space in general and pocket parks, in particular, can increase the city’s social presence by benefiting from citizens’ participation; because such parks are considered a lost space in the hierarchy of Khorramdareh urban parks. They can play an effective role in creating relaxation, interactions, and leisure spaces for citizens. The reproduction of pocket parks as a driving force for social presence in Khorramdareh was one of the main objectives of this study. The creation of pocket parks as a driving force for social presence in Khorramdareh was one of the main objectives of this study, and creating a city with a social, democratic, and citizen-oriented quality is one of the consequential goals of this research. This research is aimed at revitalizing the neighborhoods of Khorramdareh in the form of pocket parks and to provide solutions to use its capacity to develop relationships and interactions in the form of neighborhood units. According to the topic, the mental gap of the research investigates the conditions in which pocket parks revitalize the socialization of Khorramdareh neighborhoods. With this approach, the purpose of the present article is to introduce the pocket park development approach as the most effective method in promoting the production of social presence in the neighborhoods of the Iranian city.

The present study is applied in terms of research type, and the research nature is based on a combination of qualitative strategies and correlation method. The current research is hybrid in terms of type, application, and nature. The present study is also considered cross-sectional in terms of time span (September 2017). In order to collect the data required for the research, documentary sources were studied, and some field observations were conducted. Consequently, a factor analysis test, one-sample T-test, and path analysis test in the form of DPSIR model have been run to analyze the data.

The presence of plants, trees, and generally natural elements in public spaces encourages people to be present in these spaces. Research has shown that there is a direct relationship between the use of public spaces and the duration of people’s presence in these spaces with the number and location of trees. Therefore, the existence of green space, by increasing the use of public spaces and the presence of people, will increase the solidarity and social motivation for the neighborhoods in Khorramdareh city. According to the results, the more such high-quality areas are created in neighborhoods, the more opportunities are provided for group social interactions such as meeting, chatting, playing games, sports, etc. As a result of the above activities, these aforementioned spaces acquire the characteristics of vitality and civil life while offering the characteristics of a place. 

The results of the studies showed that the promotion index of social and neighborhood relations has the highest coefficient, with an impact rate of 4.83. In addition, the classification of indicators affecting the creation of social presence in the form of DPSIR model showed that the “pressure” index with a total effect factor of 0.713 has the greatest impact and causal relationship for creating social coexistence by creating parks in the city of Khorramdareh. Given that the pressure component consists of indicators (quality of social trust between residents; quality of feeling social security; quality of responding to the personality of individuals; a variety of activities tailored to the different needs of different groups of people during the day), these components should be emphasized in the creation of social presence in the city of Khorramdareh. Furthermore, examining what people want from pocket parks and leisure areas and the qualities they like should be on the agenda of employers, investors, and executive working groups. Therefore, the need to review and explore pocket parks, which can be a place for social interaction and increase the presence of people, is significant.