Community Neighbourhood Park (CNP) Use in Cape Town’s Townships

Living sustainably entails fulfilling Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The need for leisure and recreation is one of the most essential higher-order needs, and local authorities can meet these needs through park delivery. The existing park literature in South Africa is limited in scope and dates back to the apartheid era, with little evidence pertaining to community neighbourhood park (CNP) use in townships. The aim of this paper is to determine the perceptions, preferences, needs and uses of CNPs in five black townships in Cape Town. Findings indicate that townships have few CNPs, which therefore require travelling greater distances by public transport for access. Due to a lack of private garden space, respondents visit CNPs regularly and spend more time there, participating in either active or passive recreation. The main concerns about CNPs include safety and maintenance, and a lack of CNP facilities. These concerns extend to the type of facilities that respondents want to develop in CNPs, to create their ideal setting.

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