Children Physical Traces in Open Space

Wahyu Utami
University of Sumatera Utara
Architecture Department
Jl Perpustakaan Gedung D Kampus USU Padang Bulan Medan 20155
Telp. 061-8211237
E-mail : wahyuutami_dn@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Children behavior is a significant aspect to design children open space in spite of this aspect often forgotten accidentally. Behavior is a significant aspect in architectural design process. Human-Environmental relation was closely and should to be consideration to produce optimum design that include functional and esthetic. All of that aim comfort for user and appropriate for activity and concern to children activity that refer to gestalt toward physic environment and human behavior. Children have an attractive attitude that they’re take a reaction immediately and children have a unique feature that doing activity agree with their demand.
A physical trace is a human behavior research method and the aim of this method is know path or traces that can take a guide to furthermore design or revision design. Physical traces can be use to analyze a built environment and to detect the environment employing was appropriate with the plan functional. In addition can know divergences by the user.
The research concern to user facilities in Ahmad Yani Park and the ways to use it. Observing physical traces looking at physical park and boundaries of the park that related to children activity in there. Include of this research is looking children come, walk in pedestrian or grass in the park, use the facilities, move from the one facility to the other facilities in the park, rest in the park and time of they left this park. This process starting from they come and finished at they go.

INTRODUCTION
Ahmad Yani Park in Medan constitutes one of the open spaces that on behalf of public. In this park contains playing children and recreation place. In this park there are four (4) zones that divide of 4 footsteps. The two of the zone as recreation place that contains of built seats that spread in this zone, park lamps, trees and circumference footstep. In this zone there’s not a children playing facilities. The two others zone on behalf of the children that contains bob up and down game, glide board game, swing game, iron turning game and place where they break or just sit there and say jokingly with friends (except children, this facilities use the adult that accompany their children).
In the center of this park there is an Ahmad Yani sculpture and circumference grass and footstep that have related to the each of the fourth zone and have related with the fourth gate in the park. One of the four gates is a main entrance that have related with recreation zone and big gate. In addition there are two-bicycle place. For the security there is a circumference fence with the fourth gate. Recent, in this park only three gate that use public because one of the gate always close that have related with the food stall in front of the Elizabeth Hospital.
Ahmad Yani Park location close by Harapan School and Play Group that there’s a lot of children play in there and the parents or nursemaid sit and wait their children at the same time. Children play at there on break school hour. Out of this time only a few children who come and play in this park. The children who come in this park is a children that live in surrounding this area and can take a moment minutes to attach this park by bicycle or just walk. Some times they come with their friend or with their adult.

PURPOSE
This research will describes and evaluates facilities and setting for children activity and demand for their playing comfort in Ahmad Yani Park, Medan. The purpose of this research to know and analyze the relation of traces condition, children activity and spontaneous divergences from children activity with the result that can guide the setting revision.

RESEARCH PROCEDURE

Research site visits were made only activity of the children that play in Ahmad Yani Park. Because the children occasionally have same activity (they’re come together with their friends or their family) so in this research only take 10 (ten) children activity from 30 until 50 as a early study that they play in this park on Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon and Saturday afternoon.
The research concern to user facilities in the park and the ways to use it. Observing physical traces looking at physical park and boundaries of the park that related to children activity in there. Include of this research is looking children come, walk in pedestrian or grass in the park, use the facilities, move from the one facility to the other facilities in the park, rest in the park and time of they left this park. This process starting from they come and finished at they go. All of the activities produce physical traces that make a new path or new setting in the park. The new path and the new setting can see from the children activity repeatedly. The new path and the new setting can guide that they’re a really comfort activity of the children. After concern all of the children activity, the furthermore step is classification of them and make the category of their activity. There are ten children activity that can describe children activity in there and produce physical traces. The furthermore step is make conclusion of the children activity from their physical traces in the Ahmad Yani Park.

ANALIZE

Influence Facilities Existence To Crowding Level
In the Ahmad Yani Park contains 4 zones that have different crowding facilities. The existence of the facilities can influence the children playing or not playing of there. In the recreation zone (Zone A and Zone B) that not existed the child game rarely use for children, except the time when the children passing by in there. The parents or the nursemaid rarely sit and wait there because this location so far from the school and playground. The children never play at this zone because no game and no place full. If the children want to break they also use the children zone (Zone C and Zone D). The children like to use the children zone that in this zone contains such game and its facilities. In playing time a lot of children use this zone to spend their time and if they want to break they can sit there and say jokingly with friends.
Zone C and zone D is different too, in zone C only one game in the each game type and in zone D there are two game in the game type like there are two glide board game group and two swing game. Because of this condition the quantity of the children who play there was different too. A lot of children like to playing in zone D because zone D more comfort than zone C from location and thermal (there’re a lot of big tree there).

The Categories From The Age Children and Children-Behavior-Setting Relation
Children behavior that playing at the Ahmad Yani Park has three categories from the age of the children. This category considers the behavior to the environment and their activity feature. Behavior like said by Rapoport1 as a significant aspect in design process and that is a dialectic interaction approach between human and environment that consider interaction process take an individual human in setting concept. Behavior approach concerns the human-environment relation that influence by human appreciation and cognition.

The Children Above Seven Years
In this category contains that they come in this park together with their friend. They have an attractive feature that can make a new comfort path but they’re still looking the regulation at there. There’s no gate for them because they rarely use the gate and like to jump the gate (this case specially for the son). So in some location there is some broken gate at there because of their behavior. Then they pass the footstep in there with slowly walking or running because they don’t like pass the broken ground. After they came, they choose the game that they feel comfort for them and they don’t like passing the footstep for this. They like to swing game and the iron turning game and take the path spontaneous. At the break time they like to sit and say jokingly with friends at the nearest area. There is some favorite place as grass, gate or under the tree. They never use the built seat because they feel no comfort and no strategy place. As Lang 2 said that the behavior setting is focused on coming to an understanding of the built environment as part of a nested set of behavior setting. If the layout of environment doesn’t afford the behavior pattern required by people to attain their goals. In addition the lay out of the environment also affect behavior in other ways. After the break time they will start to play again and no zone movement. If the time is over they’ll go and still no gate for it.

The Children Between Three Until Seven Years
The children between 3 until 7 not attractive but they have spontaneous feature that still consider with the regulation. They come to this park with their parents or their adult and passing the gate or never jump it. But some times their parents or their adult jump the gate too for the simple access. Then they play alone and choose the like game at the time their parents or their adult sits in the specially break place in Zone C or Zone D. At the time for Zone C playing, the parents or their adult sit at the zone C and at the zone D they move at there. They like nearest place with their children because they to be afraid to left them.
The children category like move from Zone C or Zone D and the other way. They move playing to the other zone if they want use the other game in spite of in the early zone they use too. They pass the footstep or the new path there that built the behavior. This attitudes to do them because they want to comfort pass and move to the other zone but not as long as if they must pass the really of footstep. If they only move to the other game in the same zone they pass the available path and play again. They don’t like to sit at grass or under to the tree but they like sit at the built seat at the break time. They feel their activity more comfort and no make dirty their clothes. If they feel tired they’ll go home and left the park with available gate.

The Children Under Three Years
At this category, there is dependence especially at this age they must care seriously. At this age they have no regulation and never think it. Some times they pass with there spontaneously feature and sometimes they contravene with there spontaneously too. They come to this park with their parents or their adult. A lot of the they pass the available gate and pas the available footstep in there. But if they will nearest the game location this category age jump or run with the simple access or take the short access without they conceder that their way no safety. They don’t have a regulation game without the guide of the parents. If they want to move to the other game they pass to the simple path of them that sometime they jump the small groove and they fall. So there is some break brick that as a boundaries this zone . And they like to change the game as soon as possible in spite they back again to the early game. At the break time they joint with their parents and rest for time and then they play again. At the time to go they pass the available footstep and available gate.

Physical Traces in The Park
Zeisel3 said that traces may have been unconsciously left behind or they may be conscious changes human have made in their environment. Researcher begin the physical traces research to inter how an environment got to be way, what decision designers about the built environment, how human actually use it, how they feel in there, how particular environment meets the demand of the user and from this research designer can take an idea of what the human are like who use that environment. In addition by Zeisel4 observing traces is an exceptionally useful research tool that can produce valuable insights at the beginning of a project, test hypotheses in the middle and be a source of ideas and new concepts throughout. Accumulative activity can make a new pattern that can be a guide the furthermore revision park. From the all of the children who playing at the park there are ten lane that they often use them.
There is some divergence to use the gate with to jump the gate
There is no children activity at this area because no game
The area that often children passing because the footstep to the game zone

Physical traces that produce the children activity can see from the path or the traces of there. Like a broken gate because the children like jump it and broke it to make a simple access, a broken grass in the ground because the children always pass there or the children like sit there, the broke or indentation ground because the children like use the game and broke it to their comfort, a broken tree because the children want to pass and broke to their simplest. And in the boundaries of the each game there are some traces that the game often used or rarely used. If we can see the broke grass in the boundaries of the game is show that the game often used. And there is some new path to access the other game or the other zone.

RESULT OF THE RESEARCH
This research takes the activity children that can’t handle the designer at early design program. If the designer makes the park and this park especially to children and their parent or their adult designer must consider the demand children actually. This aspect must to do the designer because from the activity the children can feel comfort or not and feel safety or not to their parents.
The existence of the facilities can influence the children playing or not playing of there. The children often want to spread game in the each zone because they see that the zone without the game never use some body (children and adolescent) so it’s better if the each of the zone contains of children game. Game not only a active object, but can passive object like as sculpture of the animal or just place with a group seat that can be used together.
All of this can be revive bring to life the entire available zone and all of that aim comfort for user and appropriate for activity and concern to children activity that refer to gestalt toward physic environment and human behavior
The use of formal footstep often fail in this park because children like a released regulation that they feel they fell more comfort and satisfied. The ungainly just produce divergence. If the formal footstep still use in children designs so there will some new path or some footstep finally. There no need that the footstep must circumstance the zone because the children don’t like this. The children like the simplest footstep that between the one zone and the other zone has a short distance. And between the games in the same zone must make a footstep to avoid the divergence to make the other footstep. The footstep make seriously to avoid the divergence.
The built seats not a formal pattern but they must spread location and make an informal pattern to access the nearest game or the other object. The aim of this spread and make informal pattern to make comfort and the parents not afraid to leave their children play alone.

RECOMMENDATION
In the research there are some recommendation that must consider to the designer of the children built environment. In early design must know what the demand of the user built environment to produce the optimal product, children have a attractive feature so the designer must consider this to avoid the divergence that should make a broken element of the built environment finally because of their spontaneous. The designer should consider that the design is not the end of the product but the design is a process and can change because the activity at there.

REFERENCES
Lang,John 1987, Creating Architectural Theory, The Role of The Behavioral Sciences in Environmental Design, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, page 110
Rapoport, Amos, 1977, Human Aspect of Urban Form, Oxford, Pergamon
Zeise, John , 1980, Inquiry by Design: Tools for Environment-Behavior Research, Brook/Cole Publishing Company, California, page 89
1 Amos Rapoport
2 John Lang, 1987, Creating Architectural Theory, The Role of The Behavioral Sciences in Environmental Design, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, page 110
3 John Zeisel, 1980, Inquiry by Design: Tools for Environment-Behavior Research, Brook/Cole Publishing Company, California, page 89
4 ibid