Sensory Devices for Parks

About this pattern

Communities are complex and they experience the physical world in diverse ways. There are differences between the elderly, youth, children and different cultural groups in terms of the ways they use and enjoy public open spaces. Some parks in Japan have included sensory devices for both visually and physically impaired visitors that enables them to enjoy the coolth provided by still water (see the pattern ACCESSIBLE WATER).

The Garden of Senses in Copenhagen is the largest public sensory garden in Denmark. It was designed by Landscape Architect Helle Nebelong who specialises in gardens and playgrounds for children with a disability. Here: “Plants are chosen for their distinct shapes and there are herbs for their smell or even their taste” while “the dense but low planting also shields the garden from the more noisy and boisterous park beyond to make the space feel somehow calm and protective” (Nebelong, n.d.). Her desire is for the people who use her garden to touch, smell and listen if they cannot see, to touch, smell and see, if they cannot hear and/or to touch, smell, listen and look at anything within their reach if they cannot walk.

Meanwhile, budding gardener programs give children the opportunity to explore the plant world and discover the miracles of gardens.

Pattern Conditions

Enablers:

• Innovative mobile structures can be assembled by community groups such as the projects undertaken by R-URBAN, Paris

Constraints:

• Larger structures such as ramps and lakes need to be governed and cared for by Local Government.

Commoning Concerns

Access: Unrestricted (although there may sometimes be opening and closing times)

Use: Recreation, education. 

Benefit: Community well-being, inclusive communities. 

Care, Responsibility and Ownership: Body Corporate; Local Government.