Privacy, patterns, and factors in urban open spaces (Case study: Jannat Park in Shiraz City)

As urban populations continue to increase, residents face a number of challenges including the need for spaces to spend their leisure time and satisfy the demand for social interaction and privacy. Privacy in urban environments means feeling comfortable in controlling the relationship with others without being disturbed. This research aims to examine the privacy patterns and environmental and human factors affecting it. The research method is quantitative and qualitative analyses and data is collected through field surveys. Moreover, behavioural mapping was also used for recording privacy patterns in urban spaces as a new method that has not been used before in the privacy field. The results showed privacy in two forms: individual and collective. Individual privacy, generally formed on benches and along main routes; and collective privacy for team games or particular sports areas as formal leisure. The human dimension, particularly age and gender, exerts the most prominent influence over individuals’ privacy. Considering the environmental dimensions, the possibility of contemplation in place had the highest effect on people’s privacy. The design strategies for some parameters that create social environments with desired privacy were mentioned at the end. There are some approaches to providing desirable privacy in urban open spaces, such as the circular arrangement of sits with a supporting angle of more than 45 degrees, using semiopen spaces in the park, installing lights in the green areas of the park to create security, and design pergolas with suitable furniture that can be personalised.

Cite this article as: Asadpour H, Razmara M, Heidari A, Taghipour M. Privacy, patterns, and factors in urban open spaces (Case study: Jannat Park in Shiraz City). Megaron 2022;17(2): 195–208.