Park access policies: measuring the effects of the introduction of fees and women-only days on the volume of park visitors and physical activity in Bahrain

Joao Pinelo Silva

Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 2021, vol. 14, issue 2, 204-221

Abstract: Some parks suffer from overuse, which raises safety issues. Municipalities introduced access-control policies such as entrance fees and women-only days. We studied the impact of these policies on the volume of visitors in one park and the consequent reduction of physical activity. A year-long timestamped categorized visitor log allowed for before/after comparisons tested for statistical significance at a 99% confidence level. We used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire to quantify physical activity at the park and estimated the amount lost due to the new admittance policies. The number of park visitors declined 86% after the introduction of entrance fees, with a consequent loss of 24% of an individual’s weekly physical activity, reducing the efficiency of the park. Unexpectedly, women-only days are associated with an increase in the ratio of children per woman from 1.4 to 2.33, reflecting a change in parental behavior, which suggests an increased sense of security.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17549175.2020.1801489 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rjouxx:v:14:y:2021:i:2:p:204-221

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rjou20

DOI: 10.1080/17549175.2020.1801489

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability is currently edited by Matthew Hardy and Emily Talen

More articles in Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().