A Study on the Environmental Design Factors of Children's Park Access Area - A Survey Focusing on the Perceptions of Professional Groups -

어린이공원 주변공간의 환경계획요인에 관한 연구 - 전문가 의식조사를 중심으로 -

This study seeks to identify elements of spatial planning for areas surrounding children's parks in order to improve child safety. It will identify different aspects of child safety and extract elements of safety planning for the areas surrounding children's parks from a literature review of both domestic and international research. The study classifies the space between one's residence and the children's park as either a "means of access", such as pedestrian walkways and streets, or a "boundary", which consists of the entrance, exit, and fences; then, the derived safety planning elements were categorized in accordance with this classification. In order to ensure the validity of the planning elements, an expert survey was conducted of environment planners who specialize in the palnning and designing of residential area as well as government employees who are in direct charge of managing children's parks. The survey findings were as follow. First, the pedestrian walkway(means of access) near the park is the most crucial factor in regards to the safety of children, followed by the entrance and exit(boundary), fency(boundary), and streets (means of access), in descending order of importance. Thus, improving the safety of the pedestrian walkway should be considered first and foremost, and it should precede improving the surrounding streets. Second, an investigation of the need for safety devices near the children's park showed that securing visibility, through the installation of an illegal parking prevention device, is imperative. Illegal parking near children's parks poses a grave risk to pedestrian safety and demands immediate action. Furthermore, a section of streets within 300m of the park entrance should be designated as a children protection zone, in addition to the designation of school zones near elementary schools.