Technology Innovations in Public Space Management: City Central Park Cases

Abstract

The goal of this study is to discover current and potential opportunities of IT services for administration in of parks and for park visitors, its social and economic significance. For this purpose the preliminary analysis of international practices of deployment of IT services in parks was done. Analysis results with three main groups of IT services utilized in parks worldwide. After that the opportunities of each IT service were identified by applying theoretical framework of Urban Informatics. Additionally, main problems on implementation of IT services were examined in the case studies of three central parks in Russia. First of all, case studies describe IT services deployed at the moment in central parks in Russia. Additionally, by conducting interviews with park management and park visitors current and potential opportunities of IT services for both groups were explored and main problems with its implementation and utilization were defined. Finally, the qualitative analysis of the case studies of central parks in Russia the reasonability of IT services for central parks was proved. The master thesis concludes with the suggestions for future research and practical recommendations for administration of parks and management of public spaces that will help them to understand better the opportunities that IT services can bring to public space management.