The Role and Functions of City Parks in the Adaptation Process of Refugees to the City: The Case of Ulubey Şehit Ömer Karaosmanoğlu Park

Abstract

Today, migration mobility is experienced intensely all over the world. As refugees seek asylum in their countries of origin, the process of integration begins spontaneously, and urban parks, which are the most important part of the public space and provide the unity of the city dwellers, play an active role in this process. "How does the use of urban parks change with the unpredictable number of refugees all over the world and especially in Turkey and how does this situation find expression in Ankara?" is the starting point of the study, while "the fact that refugees are under difficult socio-cultural and economic conditions has led to the use of urban parks and negatively affected the use of parks by local people" is the hypothesis of the study. Within the scope of the study, Ulubey Şehit Ömer Karaosmanoğlu Park, located in Altındağ district of Ankara, which is one of the countries hosting the highest number of refugees in the world and has the highest Syrian population in Ankara, was selected as the sample area and the park usage tendencies of both refugees and local people, how they feel about using the park together and whether the park contributes to the adaptation process were examined through a face-to-face survey. According to the survey data; it has been determined that there is not a full harmonization between the refugees using Ulubey Şehit Ömer Karaosmanoğlu Park and the local people and refugee women have more difficulties in harmonization than refugee men. With this study, solution suggestions are presented to local governments at the point of planning and design of urban parks in countries hosting refugees.