Evaluating the playground: Focus group interviews with families of disabled children

Özet

As landscape architects deal with the design of environments for children, the inclusion of children with disabilities in their peers should be one of the core goals in designing natural settings. They often times face problems while working in public playgrounds, parks and green landscapes mainly due to lack of ade- quate provisions to meet their special needs. The purpose of the present study is twofold: to investigate different kinds of problems and specific needs of disabled children in natural settings including parks and playgrounds in Ankara (Turkey), and also to offer solutions for solving these problems. This study that is of case study type consists of parents with disabled children aged between 8 and 12 years old. Parents were investigated and interviewed in the research to obtain their per- spectives. The findings revealed that there was a necessary need to improve and construct equipped natural settings specialized for children with disabilities.