Urban parks and leisure activities: insights from an Iranian case study

Urban parks can be used for a wide variety of leisure activities. The objective of this study was to explore leisure activities done by users in Fateh Garden. This study adopted an ethnographic approach to explore and analyze leisure activities in an Iranian urban park. The results revealed that a wide range of leisure activities take place in Fateh Garden, such as walking, playing sports, playing board and card games, playing music and singing, dog walking, feeding animals, and holding occasional events. Some activities that are common in urban parks around the world are banned in Iranian parks; however, some of such forbidden activities, such as dog walking and playing musical instruments, take place in Fateh Garden. Some sports such as tennis, parkour, and slacklining, which are common in a small number of urban parks in Iran, can also be seen in Fateh Garden.

Keywords:

leisure activities , urban parks , Fateh Garden , Iranian parks