How to design parks that will make you want to spend your time outdoors?

Our parks and natural spaces are where we can still feel a fundamental connection to nature in the twenty-first century. In terms of public health, preservation, and conservation, parks serve an important role in everything from providing areas for people to get some exercise to keeping kids safe while they play. In addition, their beauty serves as a source of pride for the community. In a nutshell, our parks are essential to our communities, as we all know.

Why do are parks vital to communities?
In metropolitan regions, residents appreciate parks and recreation centers for their green open spaces and activities. A park not only entertains children and adults, but also contributes to the local infrastructure. Parks and playgrounds provide personal, environmental, familial, communal, and economic value.

Here are some basic guide we compiled to make your parks functional:

Choose a park location strategically
Choosing a place for a park is always the first step. Consider the following basic characteristics if you have a park site in mind or are considering many options:
- Is the place wheelchair accessible, and is it conveniently accessible by public transportation, vehicle, or bike? The more convenient it is to go to the park, the more it will be used. To make everyone feel welcome, it's critical to provide inclusive playgrounds.
- Is there a historic site or particular place in the park that might draw visitors for reasons other than nature? To increase park attendance and develop community relations, capitalize on your city's unique qualities and history.
- Is the location you're contemplating situated in an area that's deemed safe and has a low crime rate?

Many of today's new parks are built on land that has been set aside by planning commissions. It might be an area that is already linked with public property, such as school grounds, or it could be unoccupied and available for development. It might also be private land that has been made public by estate donations or service organization acquisitions.
Regardless, if parks are to meet the community's highest and greatest requirements, they must be open to the public.
Involve the public throughout the planning stage
Park design isn't and shouldn't be a solo endeavor. No one understands the community's needs better than its residents. It is vital to include the community in the park design process. Strengths and flaws in planned and evolving strategies will be identified by a group of community thinkers. Concerned people will undoubtedly express their preferences.

Know the market and the area
Does your town have many young families and a large school district? If so, your park should cater to their needs. Or, do you have a community for older people with older couples in your area, too? Maybe a lovely mix of both?

If your park is near many local schools, you might consider making it kid-friendly. Likewise, if the park is near senior residences or homes, it should engage local seniors. According to a recent research, seniors made up 20% of the population but only 4% of park visitors. As a park designer, you should think about ways to increase community participation and use of local green areas.

Consider architecture and landscaping
While you may use your imagination to develop the facilities and overall layout of your park, some of it will be influenced by the local environment. Architecture and landscaping is an important component of building a park. To gain more expertise, avail the HDI Park Design Course.

Consider the landscape. In many circumstances, working with the earth is preferable. Your park's hills, banks, and flats add to its natural atmosphere. There are far too many “parking lot” parks, and your design should be the reverse.

Vistas or view corridors must be protected to enable park visitors to appreciate their surroundings. That means avoiding installing playground equipment in a way that blocks views. It might also require rearranging park elements to hide utility lines or surrounding structures.

Consider the sun pattern. You can't alter the sun, but you can change the time and season. Best tree utilization may provide natural shade. Or create shade using fake screens. This is particularly dangerous in playgrounds where children might be sunburned or scalded.
Provide a variety of park activities
Most park plans include deciding how to create your park area for different activities or recreation. Open fields for sports, a pavilion with barbecues for parties and cookouts? Or on-site loos?  Or will it be a smaller area with just a few well-chosen playground components?

Playground equipment is a requirement in most residential parks. Modern playground equipment is designed with a lot of imagination and originality. Consider these park and playground features like playground, inclusive elements, outdoor fitness equipment, portables and sheds.
Design a park with lighting
Lighting is an important part of park design. You want your park utilized as often as possible, not only during daytime hours. A summer's day with a short night may appear unimportant. But that changes in the autumn, and it remains dark until April.

Like playground equipment, park lighting choices abound. The greatest advise for a park planner is to choose a theme. No matter whether the park is re-creating a historical aesthetic, highlighting natural characteristics, or developing whole new worlds. Illustrate the park's theme while remaining inconspicuous. But rays!

Make it eco-friendly
Visitors to your park want to know they're helping the environment by being outside and using eco-friendly products. Parks are sometimes the sole access to greenery for city dwellers, so they must be designed with animals, clean air, and water in mind.

Use educational signs to name trees and plants in your park or leisure center to promote children's love of nature. Install recycling stations near garbage cans with specific glass, plastic, and paper bins. As a result, you may be able to get your entire town to recycle. You may also organize park-wide cleanups to engage the community.

Use the right site furnishings in the design
A park design is incomplete without site furnishings. These are aspects that help visitors feel more at ease and more inclined to enjoy their stay at the park. Your inventiveness may battle with your budget, but adding the correct facilities to your park layout can pay dividends. Consider these factors while selecting park site furnishings:
- Bicycles-It promotes community health and reduces pollution. Secure bike racks should be built-in.
- Benches and tables-It might be simple park seats or picnic tables. The greatest chair components are long-lasting.
- Litter bins-Don't go overboard. No one enjoys a littered park, so provide lots of garbage cans.
- Grills and fire rings-Many people like outdoor picnics and grilling. Give them some places. Place grills and fire rings in your park so people may barbecue with charcoal or gas.

To ensure people can enjoy your park for a long time to come, you need quality equipment that can withstand the elements and heavy use. This doesn’t have to be just a vision. It can be a reality when you invest HDI’s Park Design Course.  The Park Design course is designed to equip you with knowledge and skills about important architectural elements, structures, and constructions created in open urban spaces, particularly in park and recreation areas. Prepare the land for landscaping, cultivate the soil, build terraces, and plant trees and plants in order to make a full park project. All of this will be covered in our course.