Environmental Needs Assessment of the Elderly in Karaj Urban Parks

Increasing the population of older people according of increasing hope of life in one hand and population control policies in another hand, became one of the most important social issues in Iran that challenge urban planners and designers. One of the important issues in landscape designing, is respect for its attention. The elderly are social groups who, with their special conditions and retirement, have plenty of leisure time and optionally use more open spaces and parks. Accordingly, the present study aims to identify the needs of the elderly for designing an elderly friendly park, and examining the existence and lack of fitness for the physical and mental characteristics of the elderly in the parks. n this research, using library resources and previous researches, we first studied the factors affecting the quality of the elderly parks, and then by 299 questionnaires from all elderly people aged 50 and older and those who lived with them along with the elderly and had a relative understanding from their condition, we measured the quality of those factors using the Likert spectrum at five levels. Then, using SPSS software, the mean and standard deviation were determined for each item and the cv coefficient was computed and arranged low to high. Since cv indicates a consensus among most sample individuals, the priority of each item was extracted. 36 of the facilities and services were provided to the respondents and based on the diversity and beauty of the green space in the park, the suitability of the number and location of the couches, the suitability of the pedestrian slope, the appropriate width of the trails, respectively, as priorities in the parks for The elderly have been from the elderly perspective, and There are fences in the stairs and steep surfaces for easy access, there are some memorable elements in the park, a hall and building with a heating system to use the park in the cold seasons, the availability of medical facilities and disposal in the park, the presence of wheelchairs in the park Except for the last priorities in the study, there is a lack of any of the above. Therefore, observance of safety issues in sanitary and sanitary facilities and the construction of buildings with a heating and cooling system in parks and security measures in the use of elements and legibility of warning panels and guidance, it is recommended to reinforce cases of people's dissatisfaction.