Dynamics among user, management and policy : a case study of playgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong

Abstract

Playgrounds were also closed off to prevent children from having close contacts with others to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Field visits were carried out to investigate the situation. It was found that many play facilities were closed off by using barrier tapes and barricades, and some children and their caregivers still played in the playground. However, the management company and policy-makers were unable to respond to children's and caregivers’ needs. The paper thus suggests a user-management-policy (UMP) model illustrating the ideal communication and collaboration among user, management company and policy-makers in an existing facility.