MEASURING THE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION IN URBAN OPEN AND GREEN SPACE ACTIVITIES ON CHILD AND FAMILY RELATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF DUZCE CITY

Abstract

The child represents a considerable number of the population living in a city. On the other hand, child is one of the groups whose existence is least taken into consideration when making urban arrangements. Many children living in today's cities are not able to spend time in the open space during their childhood due to their parents' busy work tempo, urban open and green deficiencies and lack of activity types. Studies reveal that children who are exposed to the stress of the city and who grow up in cities that cannot spend enough time with their families in outdoor areas may have feelings of anger and even hostility towards their parents.In this study, a questionnaire was applied to measure the contribution of families participating in activities in urban open spaces of Duzce to the participation of urban open space activities in good parenting and physical and psychological development of their children. Within the scope of the study, 100 families were interviewed and the survey results were analyzed in SPSS 22.0 Program. Frequency and percentage, average and one-way analysis of variance were applied. It was found that the families of the children who participated in urban outdoor activities more frequently, spend more time in the playgrounds with their children and participated in the after-work games were defined as children with higher self-esteem, self-distraction, and easily happy.