Bahrain Parks

Information

We document the national infrastructure of public parks and gardens. We list, collect information, measure and map features that are relevant for the planning and design of inclusive parks.

Image

We also gather photos and videos of the parks to use as stimultion for users to take advantage of the great benefits that parks offer.

Rating

We collect park ratings (anyone can rate through our app). This contributes to our understanding of park usage and also helps the municipalities to manage the parks.

About us

Multidisciplinary and Cross Institutional Project.

Although initiated at the Unversity of Bahrain, the project counts with the support of the Ministry of Works and the Municipalities. We also count with the support and sponsorship of the Nationl Initiative for the Agricultural Development (NIAD).
The multidisciplinary scope is instrumental to the process of generating knowledge based on the information gathered. This takes place through an evidence-based process on which we measure results to test hipothesis pn an assessment of fitness before widespread application.

The Value of Urban Parks

Urban parks have a deep and long standing place in cities worldwide, and have gotten prominency in the fight against climate change. Parks have several roles in at least two domains:

Social

Environmental

Socially, they provide opportunities for socializing, exercising, for children to play. The exercising component is particularly important for matters of public health, such as physical Inactivity, an epidemic of the developed world. Environmentally, parks contribute to mitigate air pollution, high temperatures and acoustic pollution; they promote aquifer recharge and support biodiversity. Bahrain has more than 200 public parks. Some of the parks are very good, and popular. So much so that at times some become an issue due to over use, creating severe congestion. However, it is not clear what makes some parks so much more successful than others. Ideally, we would like to have a more balanced performance, or at least to be able to anticipate the level of use to allow us to design accordingly. Bahrain Parks was shaped based on thoughts around this issue.
We are building software tools for planners, designers and managers of parks to have a more detailed and also broader view of the park stock. One example of such a tool is the Bahrain Parks application (see link below). Crucially, these application also allow anyone to interact with the parks' authorities through rating.

Care for the Parks - Rate a Park

Why We Care

The values listed above place urban parks at the centre of sustainable development. How could we not care?

– People ignore design that ignores people.

Frank Chimero