Avaliação dos espaços ao ar livre do campus daUniversidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

University campuses provide important attributes for university life as they are an important place to the dissemination of knowledge. They are also configured as an environment where users spend a large part of their time and establish social, cultural, and personal relationships. In this sense, the outdoor spaces have fundamental impacts on the quality of life and performance of academic community.Outdoor spaces are essential parts of university campuses with fundamental impacts on the quality of life of users and their academic performance. However, there is a lack of investigations on the impacts of the design and planning of such spaces in promoting vitality and social interaction. Thus, the need to evaluate such spaces is justified, despite the fact that it is a topic that has not yet been explored. However, it is still necessary to identify the importance of groups of attributes on the use of physically different campus open spaces through multimethod approaches that encompass quantitative and qualitative findings. Thus, using a campus of a Brazilian public university as case study, this research aims to identify which aspects of the outdoor spaces are the most significant in attracting people. This research relies on the application of different Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) methods including user tracking, behavioural mapping, application of questionnaires and field survey through geoprocessing. Three group of aspects (socialization, proximity, and infrastructure) were identified as key elements in explaining the impact of physical characteristics of the outdoor spaces on users’ behaviour. The findings compare the results of three physically distinct areas of the campus and show that the most relevant attribute for attracting people to the outdoor spaces is the existence of infrastructure, while the proximity of those spaces to buildings service is the least important factor. The results contribute to the planning ofoutdoor spaces, as well as to proposals that enhance the virtues and minimize the weaknesses of university campuses.