Shetawy, A., Asaad, M. (2017). Public Parks Going Private: A Ground Fact or Just a State of Mind. Journal of Urban Research, 23(1), 121-135. doi: 10.21608/jur.2017.89107
Ahmed Shetawy; Moureen Asaad. "Public Parks Going Private: A Ground Fact or Just a State of Mind". Journal of Urban Research, 23, 1, 2017, 121-135. doi: 10.21608/jur.2017.89107
Shetawy, A., Asaad, M. (2017). 'Public Parks Going Private: A Ground Fact or Just a State of Mind', Journal of Urban Research, 23(1), pp. 121-135. doi: 10.21608/jur.2017.89107
Shetawy, A., Asaad, M. Public Parks Going Private: A Ground Fact or Just a State of Mind. Journal of Urban Research, 2017; 23(1): 121-135. doi: 10.21608/jur.2017.89107
Public Parks Going Private: A Ground Fact or Just a State of Mind
Ain Shams University, Department of Planning and Urban Design
Abstract
Privatization of public parks refers to the claim of ownership of public parks by a specific socio-economic class with certain types of commercial, social and/or sports activities. The situation triggers an unofficial hidden process of transformation of public parks into private parks. The transformation process starts when other socio-economic classes have a no-go-space state of mind where performed activities do not match and/or invite them to participate. In other words, it results in a ground shift in the planned socio-cultural ecosystem.
The Paper presents a literature review on the principles underpinning the functioning of public parks as public spaces with specific reference to the socio-economic aspect. It aims to highlight the reasons behind the privatization of public parks by specific socio-economic causing class exclusion and affecting parks' spatial settings. Hence, it also aims to help localities understand the development process of public parks in order to maintain a balanced socio-cultural Ecosystem.
The paper uses the case of The International Park in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt (i.e. Alhadeka Aldawlia) to analyze the gap between the existing and planned socio-cultural ecosystems and their impact on users and surrounding socio-economic classes’ perceptions.