Participatory approach in the design of urban green spaces. A case study of Lervig park in Stavanger.

Abstract

This thesis is focusing on participatory approach in the design of urban green spaces. The aim of this study is to apply the participatory method in a case study and demonstrate the feasibility and progress of this method. Definition of urban green spaces in this research has been clarified in the theory and the reason and benefits of considering and involving people in design of urban green spaces have been revealed. To demonstrate the participatory process in the design of urban green spaces, Lervig park in Stavanger has been chosen as a case study. Since this park is not still built, it gives a good opportunity to start the design process from scratch. The process and methods which are applied in this thesis are based on three reference projects in national and international scales. These reference projects gave a coherent and clear understanding of progressing and implementing of the participatory methods in urban green spaces. The primary materials of this thesis are provided by Urban sjøfront which run two workshops in January 2019. The design process and evaluating the design ideas are done based on those data. The result of this thesis is proposed in the form of a masterplan and the discussions of the strength and weaknesses of applying the participatory method which are useful for future studies.