Evaluation of childrens' playgrounds in Ankara Mürsel Uluç district based on inclusive design criteria

This study was developed as a result of observations that existing children's playgrounds do not offer opportunities to play to all children (with and/or without disabilities). It has been argued that playgrounds should be places where children can socialize and that can contribute to their development, and also provide a safe place to children with or without disabilities to play together. For this purpose, playground design criteria were created in line with the inclusive design principles and these criteria were used in the analysis of the playgrounds in the Mürsel Uluç neighborhood of Dikmen region of Çankaya district in Ankara. The reason for choosing the playgrounds in this neighborhood is the excess of sloping land in Dikmen region and the necessity of not disregarding the inclusiveness principles on children's playgrounds in sloped areas. In this study, inclusive design principles were examined and their applications were discussed with examples. Seven playgrounds in the "Mürsel Uluç" neighborhood were analyzed, using structured observation method to determine the situation. In the conclusion part, how the playground should be designed in accordance with the inclusive design principles is discussed and then how it should be developed in line with the inclusive design principles in the applied examples.