Park for disabled children and equipment elements: Investigation and design suggestions of park for disabled children in İzmir and its districts

Children's playgrounds and parks constitute an indispensable element of child development. The parks and their equipment, which cover most of the childhood years, which is the first stage of individual formation, have effects on children. However, not every individual is equal, and not every child is equal. In this case, disabled children's parks were designed to equalize both children's potentials in playgrounds. In this study it is aimed to determine the usability, functionality, accessibility, ergonomic and anthropometric characteristics of the children's playgrounds for the disabled and their equipment in which are the common playgrounds of all children in İzmir Province and its districts. Accordingly, the playgrounds and playground equipment in the researched parks were examined according to the defined concepts and evaluated in terms of suitability. As a result of the research, various problems experienced in these parks, which were designed as standard, were determined and new design proposals were presented for the solution of these problems. In addition, new corrections that can be made in these parks are included.