Apply a methodology of collecting and organizing data using classical and digital approach, managing the collected information from the planners’ point of view.
The aim of the mission is to analyse Fitzgerald Park in Cork, as a potential Smart Public Open Space. For the data collection process, we proposed to use traditional method (like direct interview) and the digital method (for instance by using the available Digital Tool WAY CyberParks).
The purpose of using two methods for collecting information from the visitors is having the possibility to compare the results and answer the questions: "What people think that they are doing in Public Open
Space and what they are really doing there?" The idea is to understand how good the digital approach is for catching the individual emotion and if the digital approach is representing the insights of the people
who experience a public space.
This STSM took place in the Department of Geography of the University College Cork, Ireland. It was a practical testing of the methodology that I am developing during my PhD research. It focused on the evolution of park as a system of three elements (Nature, Culture, Geist). This has been achieved through the use of the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), for data collection purposes, as a
bridge that connects these three systems. According to this approach, the data analysis will represent the starting point for planning Smart Public Open Space (we can refer to these areas as cyberparks space).
Fitzgerald Park has been chosen because of its location in the heart of the city and its availability to the public all over the year.
It covers an area that includes different elements of Public Open Space (museum, university, river, sport, green and etc.) and it has a good potential to become a cyberpark in the future.
The public can be categorized into different types of users: tourist, students, citizen, workers and others. Some areas of the Park has been renovated, becoming more interesting and attractive for the users, but
for the urban planning point of the city as well. The objective of the STSM is studying how the Planner can develop and unlock the hidden potential of the spaces using both ICT (digital) and traditional (classical) approaches.