Public Parks Going Private: A Ground Fact or Just a State of Mind | ||||
| Journal of Urban Research | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 23, Issue 1, January 2017, Page 121-135 PDF (763.55 K) | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jur.2017.89107 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Ahmed Shetawy; Moureen Asaad | ||||
| 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. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Privatization; Public space; Public Parks; Socio-Cultural Ecosystem | ||||
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