Urban River Parks

Urban River Parks (URPs) refer to publicly accessible blue-green spaces located along rivers or streams in urban and peri-urban areas. They are designed or managed for recreation, ecological functions, and climate adaptation and represent a specific type of riverside park within the broader blue-green infrastructure. At the same time, they fulfill important functions for well-being, recreation, and the everyday use of urban spaces. At the same time, such spaces are not “neutral” landscapes but are perceived, used, and imbued with meaning in different ways by different people.

As part of this master’s thesis, an empirical study will be conducted in selected Urban River Parks in Vienna. Building on existing studies from the Landscape research area (Landscape Architecture and Landscape Planning), a standardized survey will be used to investigate how URPs are perceived by people and what role they play in recreation, perceived quality of stay, and subjective well-being. Key aspects include, for example, multisensory experiences of nature, the motivations and activities underlying visits to URPs, as well as accessibility, mode of travel, and length of stay.

The thesis includes the planning and implementation of a quantitative survey in public spaces as well as the statistical analysis of the collected data. The aim is to gain a better understanding of how the spatial characteristics of urban river landscapes are associated with perceived recreational qualities and how they can contribute to resilient and health-promoting urban environments.

An interest in basic knowledge of empirical social research, quantitative methods and statistics (preferably R or SPSS), as well as an interest in landscape perception, urban landscapes, and empirical research, is an advantage.

Supervision:
Boris Salak
Susann Ahn

Application via email:
boris.salak@tuwien.ac.at