An assortment perceptiopn of night life in urban areas

MAR-257

DISSERTATION-II

“AN ASSORTMENT PERCEPTION OF NIGHT LIFE IN

URBAN AREAS”

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the

Requirement for the award of degree of

Master of Architecture

Submitted by Zeeshan Ibrar

Roll no :

Guided by PROF. S.M.AKHTAR

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE & EKISTICS

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA NEW DELHI-110025

2013-2014

Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics,

Jamia Millia Islamia,

New Delhi

Certificate

In the partial fulfilment of the M. Arch degree program, this is to certify that ‘Zeeshan Ibrar’ has worked on the dissertation report entitled “AN ASSORTMENT PERCEPTION OF NIGHT LIFE IN

URBAN AREAS” under my guidance and supervision.

Prof. S.M. Akhtar Prof. S.M. Akhtar

Dissertation Guide Dean

Ar. Nisar Khan Ar. Abdul Halim Babu

Course Co-ordinator Head of Department

External Examiner (1) External Examiner (2)

DECLARATION

I ZEESHAN IBRAR hereby declares that the dissertation entitled “AN ASSORTMENT PERCEPTION OF

NIGHT LIFE IN URBAN AREAS” submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award

of the degree of Masters of Architecture is my original design/ research work and that the

information taken from secondary sources is given due citations and references.

Date:____________ Zeeshan Ibrar

Place: ___________ M-Arch II sem

Urban regeneration

AN ASSORTMENT PERCEPTION OF NIGHT LIFE IN URBAN AREAS 2013-14

ZEESHAN IBRAR M ARCH II SEM (U/R) JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA , NEW DELHI-25

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am highly obliged and indebted to my research guide PROF.S.M AKHTAR for his support and help

extended during the course of study.

AR.IQTEDAR ALAM, Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics, JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA inspired me to cover

this project in my course. He helped me in collecting the pearls of wisdom from different sources,

arranging them in a systematic manner and in removing the cobwebs whenever they appeared. He

was always there to inspire me to remain focused in my mission. He was a source of immense

strength in the preparation and completion of this project for which I am deeply gratified to him.

My special gratitude to Librarian, Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics for his steady support in giving

me appropriate information all the time.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank my friend,Manu Agarwal, Mohit Gupta, Yusra Gul and

Vidya Anil for their patience and at times innovative ideas during the compilation of the project.

ZEESHAN IBRAR

M.ARCH II sem

F/O ARCHITECTURE AND EKISTICS,

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA



Contents PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................. 7

1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 8

2 Literature review ........................................................................................................................... 11

2.1 Concept of leisure activities .................................................................................................. 11

2.2 Urban community lifestyle .................................................................................................... 12

2.3 Designing urban public space for night time usage .............................................................. 13

3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 14

3.1 The objective and case study ................................................................................................ 14

3.2 Aim of the Study ................................................................................................................... 14

3.3 Research design and procedure ............................................................................................ 15

4 Results and discussion .................................................................................................................. 16

4.1 Perception of comfort on leisure activities ........................................................................... 18

4.2 Perception of convenience on leisure activities ................................................................... 19

4.3 Perception of safety on leisure activities .............................................................................. 19

5 Conclusions and recommendations .............................................................................................. 20

6 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 21



TABLE OF FIGURES FIGURE 0-1 DIFFERENT PERCEPTION OF NIGHTIME LEISURE ACTIVITIES. ................................................................. 7

FIGURE 1-1 NIGHT VIEW OF URBAN PARK (NOIDA) ........................................................................................... 8

FIGURE 1-2 GOOGLE IMAGE OF ASHOKA PARK ......................................................................................... 8

FIGURE 1-3 PUBLIC PARK: A PLACE FOR EXCHANGING THOUGHTS. ....................................................................... 9

FIGURE 1-4 COUPLE ENJOYING IN A PARK ................................................................................................. 9

FIGURE 1-5 PEOPLE ENJOYING IN A PARK ................................................................................................. 9

FIGURE 1-6 REASON TO USE PUBLIC PARKS ............................................................................................ 10

FIGURE 1-7 SHOWING DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES IN A PUBLIC PARK ........................................................... 10

FIGURE 1-8 FAMILY ENJOYING IN A PARK ............................................................................................... 10

FIGURE 2-1 DIFFERENT LEISURE ACTIVITIES ........................................................................................... 11

FIGURE 2-2 NIGHT TIME AT INDIA GATE ................................................................................................. 13

FIGURE 2-3 LIGHTING ATMOSPHERE AT INDIA GATE .............................................................................. 13

FIGURE 3-1 OPEN PUBLIC PARK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF KAROL BAGH ............................................ 14

FIGURE 3-2 BUSY STREET OF GHAFFAR MARKET ..................................................................................... 14

FIGURE 3-3 NIGHT TIME LEISURE ACTIVITIES (I) ...................................................................................... 15

FIGURE 3-4 NIGHT TIME LEISURE ACTIVITIES (II) ..................................................................................... 15

FIGURE 4-1 DESEARTED LOOK AT ASHOKA PARK .............................................................................................. 18

FIGURE 4-2 FOOD JOINTS AT INDIA GATE ....................................................................................................... 18

FIGURE 4-3 PARKING AT INDIA GATE ....................................................................................................................... 19



PREFACE

Living in the 21st century and in a free, democratic country has its own pros and cons. Our

constitution boasts of guarantees our freedom but on the other hand it controls single

handed on every movement. Night lives in metros cities are always centre of attraction.

Earnest Hemmingway once penned down about the night life in which he said staying up

late and getting up late is not the life. This is nothing but delaying the day. Nightlife is when

you get up with a hangover in the morning. Night life is when everybody says what the hell

and you do 1remembered who paid the bill. Night life goes round and round and you look at

the wall to make it stop. Night life comes out of a bottle and goes into a jar. If you think how

much are the drinks it is not night life. But this is confined to one section of society only who

comes in a chauffeur driven car wearing designer outfits. And then moving to one scale

down we have the most suffered class i.e. middle class whose night life is confined to

weekend only. Keeping aside all the hustles of life and the tensions that they gained in those

five days, this is their only chance to leave their bag of burdens aside and enjoys their

pseudo happiness.

Then we have the amazing section in the strata of our heterogeneous society that is student

section. Free from every tension of the life, every night is their party night. They don’t need

high class pub or restaurant. Small dhabha where only tea n cigarettes are available are

their adda. This is the definition of night life for them.

Now the last one is the poor sections whose sole aim is to earn their two times bread. What

would be their night life when they don’t have any proper life of their own? They just need

the sound sleep so that they could ready for their next day battle.

So in this paper the different perception of night time’s leisure activities will be discussed of

different section of societies and their connecting link between them.

“Urban Community Perception on Night time Leisure Activities”

1 (Mohd Riduan Ngesana, 4-6 September 2013) Figure 0-1 Different perception of nightime leisure activities.



1 INTRODUCTION

As we know that different people have different

meaning for their night outs. And being in a metro

city this culture is day by day creeping in our life,

but the link that connects different strata with the

common thread is the open space that can be

enjoyed by each and every group and being more

specific it’s the public park but in our case we are

far way behind in enjoying the cool breeze during

summer night by just relaxing in the public park

during night time with our family, friends or alone.

Urban public parks form areas of division between neighbourhoods adjacent to them. for ex

if we look at the Ashoka park which lies in the neighbourhood of New friends colony, it serve

as a common platform for the residents of high end society of NFC and an urban village i.e.

zakir nagar. The same space may also operate as a link between the urban residents of

these neighbourhoods, offering common service and facilities such as playground, areas for

rest, and passageways for different age of the group.

Figure 1-1 Night view of urban park (Noida)

Figure 1-2 GOOGLE IMAGE OF ASHOKA PARK



As such, the urban public park serves as a meeting place for urban community in the city.

The sociocultural function of urban public parks can be especially important for lower income

groups. While the conditions in such area are

less attractive to those of the higher income area,

however these areas can provide the lower

income people an ample opportunities for

recreation and entertainment within an area with

environmental quality equal to those of other

urban residents forming sustainable of urban

community. But the success of the urban public

park can be measured by the no of visitors and its

frequencies by the urban community.

The degree of participation depends also upon the existence of proper condition. It is

reasonable to assume that the more interesting and convenience opportunities there are to

enjoy in open public space, the higher degree of participation. The most efficient way to

prevent crime in public parks is the presence of as many people in the park as

possible, during all hours of the day and evening2. If this point of view is correct, there

will be a need for a directed planning policy concerning urban public parks, which aims to

maximize the times and intensity of their use. Such planning should determine the location of

facilities and roads in the urban network, as well as planning details of the surrounding urban

area, such as land use around the park, institution to attract persons into the area during

various hours of the day and others.

This is also relevant if the place is experienced during night time. It definitely offers a

different environment and experience of place throughout the whole day. Moreover, night

time activities in public-park are part leisure and part recreation that has become an urban

trend .

2 (S.Auh, 2009)

Figure 1-3 public park: A place for exchanging thoughts.

Figure 1-5 PEOPLE ENJOYING IN A PARK Figure 1-4 COUPLE ENJOYING IN A PARK



Figure 1-6 REASON TO USE PUBLIC PARKS

Figure 1-8 FAMILY ENJOYING IN A PARK Figure 1-7 SHOWING DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES IN A PUBLIC PARK

Illustration: self

Source: self



2 Literature review

2.1 Concept of leisure activities

Leisure is defined as free time that does not involve work or performing other life sustaining

functions or it can be defined as a non-work activity or the activity engaged in during free

time3. The concept of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation to divide the types of leisure

activities. Intrinsic motivation refers to internal motivation (wanting to participate in the

activity for its own sake). In contrast, extrinsic motivation refers to external motivation

(wanting to do an activity for the external rewards associated with the activity). Some

activities are intrinsically motivated, others are extrinsically motivated, and perhaps the

largest number of activities is caused by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Night does not begin until the last trace of light has disappeared from the sky. The night

begins when all the light has disappeared from the sky after sunset and ends when the first

trace of light appears in the sky before sunrise. During these two periods, light and darkness

mix. It is not totally dark nor is it totally lit. Just before sunset, which is part of the day, the

darkness starts to creep in and thus the night is rolled over the end of the day.

SOURCE: http://cloudenterprise.info/do-we-have-similar-leisure-activities-in-colombia-yes-no-why.html

3 (Christopher R. Edginton, 2008)

Figure 2-1 DIFFERENT LEISURE ACTIVITIES



2.2 Urban community lifestyle

The high temperature during the day due to the effect of global warming discouraged

community activities in an urban public park, the busy lifestyle of urban community also

affects the lack of time for leisure and recreation activities in public outdoor spaces. As

mentioned above out of 50 hours of leisure time an average adult person spends only 2% of

it in the outdoor activities, the main reason for such discouragement is the changing lifestyle

and lack of opportunities in the terms of outdoor leisure activities. Leisure and works are

competitors for time. If one increases, the other decreases. This is the same for individual

and for society as a whole. These constraints have changed the behavioural patterns of the

urban communities where people prefer to carry out their leisure activities in outdoor public-

park after the sun has set because this offers a cooler temperature with different leisure

experience at night. It also encourages the urban community socializing with their family

members and friends within their community after working hours. Meanwhile, the current

planning designed and guidelines of urban public parks are not accommodative for

community night time leisure and recreation, currently, most of the leisure activities during

night time only take place indoors; in cinema, restaurants, shopping complexes, etc. The use

of indoor rather than open and green outdoor spaces in leisure time activities has led to

more passive urban community lifestyle. People in urban areas neglect the fact that

physically active lifestyle with outdoor green environment are important in term of physical

and mental health to enhance the urban quality of life There are also nightlife activities such

as pubs, bars and night clubs, but it gives a negative impact related with alcohol drinking and

other monoculture-use of city centres by the younger generations highlights that parks

facilitate social interactions are critical in maintaining community cohesion and pride. Park

plays a role in increasing social capital by providing a meeting place where people can

develop social ties. Moreover pointed that leisure at the park is able to improve moods,

reducing stress and enhancing a sense of wellness.4

4 (Mohd Riduan Ngesana, 4-6 September 2013)



2.3 Designing urban public space for night time usage

According to Project for Public Space (2005), the use of parks has changed from quiet

activities during the day to more socializing activities in the evening and extends up until at

night. The users also seem to distribute throughout the park during the day, while evenings

until night the area become more vibrant with community leisure activities focused on the

center of the park and the agglomeration of night time activity is able to create different

activity to attract people. They also

confirm that the creative

arrangement of urban components

can increase the urbanites

movement in urban outdoor

spaces.5The artificial light emerged

as a powerful instrument to enhance

the place, providing visibility and

protection. It helps to promote night

time leisure activities supporting

urban well-being and gives people

the perception of night territory

appropriation.In the design of urban spaces, managing light is associated with generating

quality of life for its citizens. Night becomes a palette of landscapes that have never been

seen before, transforming the landscape and image that triggers a living atmosphere of cities

at night. Light can give sense to a place,

giving new uses and new values. Social and

cultural changes of the recent decades have

increased the importance of space-time

relations at night. The cities concerned have

generated artificial day into the night, in

order to continue the sunlight hour activities

that are unable to get during the day. This

dichotomy separates day and night very

clearly, in which night was associated with

the unknown, provoking fears, mystery,

curiosity and contradiction.6

5 (Ngesana, 2013)


Figure 2-2 NIGHT TIME AT INDIA GATE

Figure 2-3 LIGHTING ATMOSPHERE AT INDIA GATE



3 Methodology

3.1 The objective and case study

This paper is part of a:

Night time leisure behaviour;

Image of night time urban public park; and

Perception of night time leisure activities.

Meanwhile, this paper would only consider the Perception of night time leisure activities.

3.2 Aim of the Study The aim of this study is to explore the urban community perception of night time leisure

activities in urban Public Park.

The aspects that were studied are :

comfort,

convenience and

safety

These are expected to give ideas for designing lively urban public outdoor spaces for

community during night time. The case study chosen is the neighbourhood of India gate and

new friends colony , due to the richness of green urban nature, well provided community

facilities; and the presence of busy night time commercial and entertainment centres nearby.

During night time, the thermal properties such as green surface in the open area with less

trees cover are more cooling that realize the effect of Urban Heat Island.

Figure 3-2 BUSY STREET OF GHAFFAR MARKET Figure 3-1 OPEN PUBLIC PARK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF KAROL BAGH



3.3 Research design and procedure

The background and

literature study had been

carried out to gather

information and findings

from previous researches

regarding the leisure in

urban public parks. The

research is carried out in

the local neighbourhood

of new friends’ colony

ASHOKA PARK, karol

bagh and India gate. The

result from the literature study helps in identifying the problems area in these open spaces

and helps in formulating the design strategies. The survey was carried out at 7.30pm until

12.00 midnight using random sampling by taking a convenience park. To answer the

questionnaire, the respondents were asked to state their preference of priority on a scale

rating of 1 to 7; where 1 represent as very poor, 2 represent as poor, 3 represent slightly

poor, 4 represent as moderate, 5 represent as slightly good, 6 represent as good, and 7

represent as very good. The higher score means showed the higher degree of comfort,

convenient and safety.

Figure 3-3 NIGHT TIME LEISURE ACTIVITIES (i)

Figure 3-4 NIGHT TIME LEISURE ACTIVITIES (ii)



4 Results and discussion

Table 1 Demographic profile of India gate and Ashoka Park

Demographic profile of respondents in India Gate and Ashoka Park

S. no Demographic profile

Attribute Items India gate (150) Ashoka Park (70)

Frequency % Frequency %

1 Gender Male 54 36 22 31.4

Female 96 64 48 68.6

2 Income

>RS10000PM 38 25.3 33 47.1

RS10000-20000PM 63 42 12 17.1

20000-30000 pm 31 20.7 8 11.4

<30000 18 12 17 24.3

3 Place of stay Inside of study area 112 74.7 61 87.1

Outside of study area 38 25.3 9 12.9

4 Married status Single 58 38.7 59 84.3

Married 92 61.3 11 15.7

5 Group of leisure

Alone 6 4 24 34.3

Families 78 52 12 17.1

Friends 45 30 28 40

Friends and families 21 14 6 8.6

6 Length of leisure

Less than 1 hours 19 12.7 42 60

1 -2 hours 96 64 22 31.4

3- 4 hours 35 23.3 6 8.6

Table 1. described the demographic profile of respondents as the users of urban public park

during nighttime. Both areas of case study received higher female respondents than male

respondents. The safety of the place can be seen by the existence groups of women. The

longer the length of leisure in both areas which is one until two hours represents the

conditions of comfort and convenience while carrying out nighttime leisure. Survey

concludes that the middle class people shares 42% of gathering at India Gate where as 47%

of gathering at Ashoka parks are from BPL categories. 52% of gathering came with families

where as 34.3% at Ashoka Park came alone.



Table 2 % of attributes in group of leisure

34.3

17.1

40

8.64

52

30

14

Alone Families Friends Friends and families

Group of leisure

% of Attributes in group of leisure

Ashoka Park (70) India gate (150)

12.7

64

23.3

60

31.4

8.6

Less than 1 hours 1 -2 hours 3- 4 hours

% of Length of Leisure

India gate (150) Ashoka Park (70)

25.3

42

20.7

12

47.1

17.111.4

24.3

>RS10000PM RS10000-20000PM 20000-30000 pm <30000

Income

% of Income categories

India gate (150) Ashoka Park (70)



4.1 Perception of comfort on leisure activities

1= (Very uncomfortable); 2= (Uncomfortable); 3= (Slightly uncomfortable); 4= (Moderate); 5= (Slightly comfortable); 6-7= (Comfortable); 8-10= (Very comfortable)

Perception of comfort on leisure activities are depends upon the various attributes such as

cleanliness, noise pollution, insect threat etc. And all these factors contribute to the comfort

ability of the place weather it is of city scale or neighbourhood scale. As the survey of these

two urban parks revealed that the comfortably factor for India gate as it is of city scale and it

is the major open space, the parameters however varies in comparison with ashoka park.

However based on its size and scale, the visitors are more comfortable in enjoying their

leisure times there where as at ashoka park , evening time has almost very deserted look.

The isolation of space creates very unhealthy and dangerous environment over there.

Perception of comfort on leisure activities in India Gate and Ashoka Park

S.No Attribute items of comfort on

leisure activities India gate Ashoka Park

Score Score

1 Cleanliness of urban public park

6 3

2 Space to sit on ground

8 6

3 Space to play 7 5

4 Noise from vehicle 3 8

5 Smoke/ Dust/ Gases 3 8

6 Pest/ Insect/ Mosquito threat 7 1

7 Present of visitor from

outsider 9

2

8 To communicate with others

friends and families 7 6

Figure 4-1 Desearted look at ashoka park Figure 4-2 Food joints at india gate



4.2 Perception of convenience on leisure activities

Convenience for any activity is very important weather it’s for leisure or work. If the outdoor

area where one desires to spend some leisure time is not convenient to reach , then no one

even dare to think to go over there regardless of how beautiful or amazing is that place.

Various attributes that I used for measuring

convenience are as follows:

Accessibility of vehicle Accessibility of

pedestrian spaces

Variety of park facilities

Parking vehicle area

Dust bin

Bench

Food and games vendors

4.3 Perception of safety on leisure activities

Safety refers to the personal security of park users and covers both as perceived and

objective measure, where perceived safety refers to people perception and feeling of safety

while objective safety refers to actual incidents of crime.7 Distinguishing the two concepts is

important in order to adequately address the safety concern.

The attributes used to measure the safety in a public park during night times are as follows:

Sufficient and location of lighting

Present of children and senior

Presence of women groups

Presence of families groups

Security of visitor belonging

Criminal activities

Police patrol

However ona neighborhood scale at ashoka park women , specially teenage girls feels very

uncomfortyable after sunset as there is lack of police patrolling in this area and unscrupulous

group of people used to roam around these areas and tries to disturb the atmosphere .


Figure 4-3 Parking at India gate



5 Conclusions and recommendations This study reveals the positive perception of the community towards night time leisure

activities in urban public park in both of case study area of from the aspect of comfort,

convenience and safety. They also accepted the provision of night time urban public park as

the place for families leisure which help to rejuvenate urban community lifestyle and also act

as socializing tools. The results showed that the night time leisure in urban public park has a

potential to be explored as a future community leisure activities offering cooling outdoor

leisure environment with unique experiences of night scenery. Urban public park during night

time would promote a local nocturnal flora and fauna while optimizing the use of urban green

spaces. Such evidence may contribute to novel knowledge in the field of environmental

behavior studies, urban planning and urban landscape in creating a sustainable urban public

park design for urban communities while promoting vibrant urban public outdoor spaces

during night time. The findings may also be used to improve the local authority policies and

guidelines regarding future urban public park design. This study had identified the items

related to night time leisure activities in urban public park to ensure the safety. The urban

public park should provide a buffer zone to overcome the noise from vehicle on nearby roads

to improve the comfort of night time users. Moreover, the location of urban public park also

should be placed closed to mosque if the population area are among Muslim community.

Proper kiosks for food and games vendor should be provided. And pedestrian facilities

should also be provided to encourage the urban community to walk. Besides the frequency

of police of security patrol, the urban public park should be designed for leisure to enhance

the sense of safety during night time. Nowadays, urban public park during night time are not

only enjoyed by the urban community from the catchment area but also people outside who

needed a night time leisure. Therefore, the future urban public park development should

consider these variables and items in this research to ensure that urban public parks are not

only used during the day but also accessible during night time to satisfied the social need of

urban community leisure. Moreover, with the increasing of urban population and the

challenging of urban lifestyle in the future; the sizes of urban public park should been

enlarged to reduces a negative feelings users while carried out night time leisure due to the

effect of crowds. As this study is confined to the urban public parks KAROL BAGH and

ASHOKA PARK, it is suggested that future research should involve more samples of urban

parks nationwide. The implication of night time activities towards urban community well-

being can also be proposed for future studies to identify the relation of night time leisure

behaviour towards the quality of urban life.



6 Bibliography Christopher R. Edginton, P. C. (2008). Leisure as Transformation. Champaign, US: Sagamore

Publishing, L.L.C.

Lal, N. (2014). NILAA ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN . Retrieved may 2, 2014, from

http://www.nila-a.com/

Mohd Riduan Ngesana, H. A. (4-6 September 2013). Urban Community Perception on Nighttime

Leisure Activities. Asia Pacific International Conference on Environment-Behaviour Studies. London:

University of Westminster, London, UK.

Ngesana, M. R. (2013). Image of Urban Public Park During Nighttime in Relation to Place Identity.

S.Auh, C. (2009). Quality of community life among rural residents: An integrated model.

WIKIPEDIA. (n.d.). Retrieved MAY 3, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Bagh

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