Research Questions

To better help Garden Village through the redevelopment process of their park; our team took the weeks prior to arriving in Cape Town to research four main aspects of this project.   We focused our research on early childhood development within parks, determining how to involve the community throughout the project, and the process and physical development methods to design a park.  Below are our four main research topics followed by the questions we hoped to answer from our research.

How the Park can be used by the Community

  • What is the park used for now?
  • How does play affect Early Childhood Development?
  • What are the physical benefits to people’s health?
  • What are the recreational activities the MGV community is interested in?

Community Connection/Involvement/Outreach

  • How we can get the community involved in whatever project we do?
  • How do we get the community involved and invested in the park, both present and future?
  • What is the best way to communicate with people in the community?
  • What groups or organizations are already in place that we can use as resources?

Design of the Park (Physical)

  • How do you design a park? (Physically)
  • What materials are feasible?
  • What kind of equipment/resources should it have?
  • Should it follow some sort of theme?
  • How can you make a park unique?
  • What low cost/maintenance shrubs/trees can we utilize in the park’s landscape?
  • How do we improve upon what is already there?

Design of the Park (Development Process)

  • Who do we talk to about park development?
  • How are parks created?
  • How do you get the community involved in development?
  • Are there other parks in Cape Town that we can look at?
  • How do we make the park multipurpose?