Urban parks play an important role in the lives of people and cities. Their success to respond to people's preferences is owed to several characteristics; one of which is their physical edges. Physical edges are generally classified under topographic, vegetation, waterfeatured and manmade edges. The present research examines empirically the impact of these edges upon people's preference of urban parks in Cairo - Egypt. Towards the accomplishment of this aim, the study first develops the theoretical framework that addresses the types of park edges together with the theories of human preference. This part concludes to the landscape preference variables to be examined in relation to park edges. The empirical study then undergoes two consecutive phases. Phase One sets the exploratory study, to identify the preference variables that are most relevant to the Egyptian context. These variables are then examined in relation to four parks in Cairo, representing the main edge types. Phase Two of the empirical study then employs a questionnaire survey that was distributed to ninety professional and lay participants. The findings of the survey are statistically examined using T-test and Chi-square indexes, to find out how both groups relate preference variables to different edge types. Finally, the research concludes to a set of edge design guidelines to promote people's preference of urban parks, towards improving the overall environmental qualities.

Keyword:Urban parks, User preference, Park edges, Egypt.

• Full Text: PDF(989.96KB)
• Full Text: HTML