Representation of Children in Urban Space: Playgrounds and its Distribution - The Case of Malatya

This study discusses the distribution of the playgrounds, features, their usage and sufficiency on the case of the Malatya city center. According to the TSI (Turkish Statistical Institute, 2012) Malatya’s child population makes up approximately 25 percent of the Malatya province’s total population (762.366). There are about 130 thousand children living in the city center. The total playground area within the total available park area of 561.652 sqm is 217.712 sqm. That means 38% of all parks areas is comprised of playgrounds. When the average of 52 neighborhoods is taken, the amount of playground area per person is 2,62 sqm in terms of children population in city center. The historical and descriptive research methods are basically used in this study. The study also evaluates the data obtained from the field studies of playgrounds and green spaces through sources such as interview questionnaire, photographing. In the light of the obtained data, it is planned to make a sufficiency evaluation of the playgrounds of Malatya city and solutions are suggested for the existing problems.