Researcher(s)
- Aleena Sabir, Landscape Architecture, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Eric Bardenhagen, Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware
- Anna Wik, Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware
Abstract
In one park there are so many factors that take place in deciding what goes there and how an area functions like where a parent should sit while their kid is playing. In our case more specifically, we needed to have to figure out what decisions go into Talley Day Bark Park, a small dog park located in Wilmington, DE. Before we started this internship with the New Castle County Parks Department a dog park did not seem that much since a dog park was much smaller than a children’s park in scale. This study aims to explore some of the decisions we made when designing the Talley Day Bark Park during the few months we were at the parks department. A few factors that we researched were dog behavior relating to dog parks. We found that getting a dog used to an environment would allow a calmer dog which can happen by adding plantings that help soothe dogs like herbs such as Lavendula (lavender) and Salvia officinalis (sage). Results have shown that designing a park so that the dogs can steadily adjust and become comfortable by creating a balance between open space and built structures allows a successful dog park. The purpose of this study was to understand that various interactive elements and structures allow dogs to experience different types of activity and promote their health through exercise.