Investigating the role of pocket parks and small green areas in the place-making process of new knowledge-based urban developments

• Grant number: 23/15704-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Urban and Regional Planning
• Principal Investigator: Maria Gabriela Caffarena Celani
• Grantee: Zahra Alinam
• Supervisor: Justin B Hollander
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Tufts University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/00905-5 - Communicating urban perception through City Information Modeling and Virtual Reality a study based on environmental psychology, BP.PD

Abstract

The new generation of knowledge districts provide plenty of third places for living, learning, playing, and networking-rather than solely focusing on workspaces. These districts are being increasingly recognized as not only economic engines, but also as the home of creative class. Therefore, depicting specific place characteristics that help knowledge economies grow is beneficial for gathering agglomeration of talent, attracting investment, and forming an appealing socioeconomic platform. Pocket parks and small green areas, with their small size, have the potential to trigger social transformation in Knowledge and innovation districts by connecting workers to create social activities, prompting an overall urban regeneration process. The main objective of the research is to analyze material affordances of small parks in Knowledge districts and their priming effect to serve the possibility of social interaction, based on concepts from environmental psychology. A mixed approach will be adopted to this research. The methods used in this study consist of Literature review and qualitative comparison of selected international projects to draw up and examine key principles on how small green areas adapt to various urban contexts and analyzing Case studies from knowledge and innovation districts. The results can help establish design guidelines for creating new small green areas in knowledge districts. Also, the analyses can supply general approaches towards their long-term maintenance.