Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of city parks which are reclaimed from the defunct urban service facilities as places of environmental education and ecological experiences and to suggest practical plans of developing them as ecotourism destinations. Sunyudo Park, Hanuel Park, a...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of city parks which are reclaimed from the defunct urban service facilities as places of environmental education and ecological experiences and to suggest practical plans of developing them as ecotourism destinations. Sunyudo Park, Hanuel Park, and Seoul Forest which were recycled from obsolete service facilities were selected as study areas. Questionnaire surveys and interviews were conducted in the three city parks in Seoul to gather data on the characteristics of the park users' behaviors and the value of park facilities. The findings of the study can be summarized as follows. The environment-friendliness and convenience of park facilities were first examined. The buildings in Sunyudo Park and Seoul Forest are the constructions recycled from non-operational water purification plants to minimize damages to the environment. In the case of Haneul Park, artificial structures, except for the visitors' center, are not established because the place of the current park used to be a landfill of municipal solid waste with an unstable foundation. So, the only building in this park is the visitors' center made of woods. In terms of energy production, Haneul Park and Seoul Forest generate renewable energy by using natural resources such as sunlight and wind, whereas Sunyudo Park does not produce alternative energy. The three parks provide visitors with general information on park uses and the processes of constructing parks on the abandoned urban utilities. However, the visitors' centers except for Seoul Forest's do not provide park maps and brochures guiding park uses. The signboards of information on facilities in the three parks are arranged properly to guide the visitors' walking route. On the other hand, some interviewees of Sunyudo Park mentioned that more signboards need to be installed to facilitate visitors' convenience in the park. The differences in the degrees of the visitors' satisfaction with park facilities in the three parks are statistically significant. The respondents in Seoul Forest and Sunyudo Park were satisfied with park facilities on the whole while the interviewees in Haneul Park showed their discontent with the park mainly due to the stairs connecting from the entrance to the park space located on the hill as well as the lack of convenient facilities. With regard to the environmental education function of the parks, all of the three parks accomodate various animals and plants for visitors' ecological experiences and show specific information on biological characteristics of animals and plants on signboards. The Haneul Park's information signs consisting of quizzes on ecological characteristics of plants are effective in that they attract visitors' interests. All of the three parks offer eco-experience service programs to educate people about the importance of environmental conservation. Nevertheless, most of the programs are intended for kindergarten and elementary school students, as the contents of the programs consist mainly of observing insects and plants. The participants of eco-experience programs showed relatively high satisfaction with the program although the number of the respondents was small. As described above, city parks recycled from the defunct service facilities can be effectively used as an ecotourism destination owing to the convenience of park facilities and the function of parks as environmental education and ecological experiences. Most of all, the accessibility to the parks by public transportation needs to be improved in order for parks to be utilized as an urban ecotourism destination. Secondly, the eco-experience programs should be diversified to appeal to visitors of all ages. Thirdly, park facilities including visitors' centers, renewable energy generators, and information signboards will have to be used as tools to enhance the effects of environmental education. Finally, various events and programs need to be developed on the basis of the distinctive characteristics of parks' ecological resources including diverse species of fauna and flora. As this study is based on data gathered from the questionnaire surveys of the convenience sampling from the three parks in Seoul, it has limitations in terms of drawing generalized conclusions. There should be more comprehensive studies on the values of parks as ecotourism resources.