• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.41-52
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate visitor satisfaction(VS) in waterfront parks in terms of resources, facilities, embodiment of theme(ET), site composition(SC), relaxation activity space(RAS), and dynamic activity space(DAS), which are supply-side components in the planning process of waterfront parks, in order to answer the research question; 'How is visitor satisfaction of waterfront parks determined?' After reviewing the literature on parks and the building process of waterfront parks in Korea, we constructed a conceptual framework and have ascertained a research hypothesis. We had obtained data through a questionnaire survey from 327 visitors at waterfront parks, based on the quota sampling method. We have analyzed the data using the path analysis method. We found that: 1) The direct effects of resources and facilities on VS turned out to be 0.273 and 0.306, respectively while the indirect effects are 0.114, 0.170, respectively. 2) The direct effects of SC, as a component of the planning process on VS, turned out to be 0.243 while that of ET had no affect on VS. The indirect effect of ET and SC on VS turned out to be 0.059 and 0.018, respectively. 3) The direct effects of RAS on VS turned out to be 0.129 while the indirect effects of RAS and DAS on VS turned out to be 0.002 and 0.017, respectively. 4) The size of causal effect, in order, were facilities, resources, SC, RAS, ET, and DAS. 5) Resources and facilities, as a park foundation, compose 64.84 percent of total causal effect while ET and SC have 24.04 percent and RAS and DAS have 11.12 percent, respectively. These research results imply that: 1) Existing waterfront parks should be regenerated with the embodiment of water related theme and with improved facilities for RAS and visitor programs and/or facilities for DAS. 2) The relationship among ET, SC, RAS and DAS should be increased for a significant improvement of VS, and 3) A process-oriented approach turned out to be highly useful for the development of substantive theory and methodology. It is recommended that a structural equation model on waterfront parks be developed using more empirical data and this approach be widely applied for testing its validity.