Immigrants’ habitus transference and recreational expectations in urban parks cultural landscape settings

ABSTRACT

This paper draws attention to the importance of immigrants’ efforts to maintain their cultural identities, which are often manifested through the way they use the built environment for recreational activities. It investigates the way recent first-generation Iranian immigrants use the Australian cultural landscape, specifically urban parks, for recreational activities. The process of habitus transference and the role of park settings and design characters in immigrants’ use of these spaces are examined by applying Q methodology with photographs, along with observation and semi- structured in-depth individual interviews. This study suggests that in the process of habitus transference recent immigrants tend to undertake recreational activities in the settings that support their understanding of landscape as mediated by their cultural background. It highlights the recent immigrants’ expectations of these spaces and the importance of a ‘fit’ between habitus and the park settings in generating a ‘sense of belonging’. However, the settings that are not aligned with the immigrants’ expectations and understanding of park spaces may alter their patterns of use after migration. The results of this study support urban park settings that offer a broad range of experiences: from naturalness to developed settings suitable for social activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban park settings
• immigrants’ expectations
• habitus transference

INTRODUCTION

Immigrants make efforts to maintain their cultural identities, and these efforts are often manifested through the way they perceive, use, and arrange the built environment (Proshansky et al., 1983; Twigger-Ross & Uzzell 1996). Due to differentiation in climate, cultural parameters, and the influence of these factors on the design and arrangements of built environments and people’s understanding and expectations of them, park visitation patterns are likely to be different amongst ethnic and racial minorities (Byrne & Wolch 2009; Gobster 2002; Tinsley et al. 2002).

Research on how park preferences and uses differ between non-Hispanic white and racial/ ethnic groups in the US has shown that minorities are more likely to use parks for passive, social purposes and are interested in fitness areas and sports facilities, whereas non-Hispanic white visitors mostly use parks for active recreation such as dog walking (Vaughan et al. 2018). Another study on natural environments and leisure among rural-to- urban immigrants in the US and Europe found that immigrants developed various strategies to use local natural environments for leisure activities depending on their position in the new environment. Some strategies contributed to preserving old habits,¹ while some led to changes in immigrants’ nature- related habitus (Horolets et al. 2019).

Understanding the landscape as a cultural phenomenon can help us elaborate on the principles that have led to the design, perception and usage of the landscape among a certain group of people. Landscape myths have widely influenced Australian culture and understanding of natural landscapes. The concept of the bush beyond urban limits and Arcadian attitudes to the countryside (Seddon 2003; Waterhouse 2000) have both influenced the characteristic of Australian parks as refuges from the challenges of urban life (Yazdani & Lozanovksa 2017).

The idealisation of the country and revulsion from city life has had a long history. The provincial Romantic movement in Australia represented by The Bulletin group was nourished on Tom Paine, Charles Dickens and James Thompson. Perceptions derived from a literary source were sharpened by the depression and urban conflicts of the early 1890s … Arcadian imagery was part of the cultural baggage brought by some of the more affluent early colonists. It had been greatly reinforced in Britain by the Enclosures of the 18th century, promoting an idealised landscape of trees and grass. The new settlers found Arcady in eastern Australia, often prepared for them by the Aborigines (Seddon 2003, pp. 48–50).

Therefore, parks were expected to have few symbols of urbanised settings to create a stronger sense of ‘bush’ and to develop idealised ‘Arcadian’ scenes by illustrating aesthetic order upon the wilderness. These cultural desires for park characteristics and settings have resulted in the creation of tamed, but open, natural landscapes in Australian urban parks. The influence of bush and Arcadia myths, and attitudes towards constructed natural landscapes, have caused an extensive trend towards English picturesque and broad, natural open spaces in the design of parks in Australia (for more information see Yazdani & Lozanovksa 2017).

This cultural guiding framework of design derived from the mythical notions of the ‘bush’ and ‘Arcadia’ has granted more natural and less urbanised characteristics to Australian parks. Although passive activities such as walking, sitting and picnicking are undertaken in park spaces, these characteristics have mostly led to the design of large open spaces in parks with little consideration for night-time usage, different weather conditions, and diverse social/ passive purposes. Considering this cultural guiding framework of design that has led to contemporary park planning in Australia, and the multicultural composition of its people, it is important to ask the question: how do recent immigrants in Australia with non-English backgrounds and different park usage patterns use Australian urban parks, and to what extent immigrants’ use of urban parks may transform after migration.

Research has shown that the importance of spaces of ‘stillness’ in Persian landscape design, inherited from the Persian garden ideology, has highly influenced recreational behaviour in Iran’s contemporary urban parks (Yazdani 2015). ‘Stillness’ in park landscapes for social/ passive purposes and sedentary pursuits needs specific provisions and settings to encourage visitors to engage in social activities and to stay longer. ‘Stillness’ in the current study is the opposite of ‘movement’ and refers to static characteristics rather than dynamic characteristics. ‘Passive purposes’ includes sedentary pursuits and those activities which are not considered as ‘active recreation’, such as picnicking and socialising.

The Iranian diaspora in Australia is growing and the total population increased to 70,899 in 2021. According to the recent census data in 2021, New South Wales had the highest number of Iran- born people at 27,515, after Victoria (21,923), Queensland (8,016), and Western Australia (6,440)

Research has demonstrated that social systems within migrant groups provide opportunities for meaningful social engagement and identity development. The settings have both protective and integrative functions for individuals and communities. For example, sporting and social organisations can provide opportunities for immi- grants to experience belongingness, acceptance and equality (Sonn 2002; Sonn & Fisher 1996). The Iranian Society of Australia has provided Iranian immigrants with some cultural continuity — for example, celebrations of Norouz (Persian New Year) and other Iranian New Year festivals, which are mostly held in urban parks. Engaging in these cultural activities can preserve identity and contribute to a sense of belonging; it can also be effective in passing on cultural traditions and habitus to the new generation.

In the present study, using theories of place, habitus and landscape as a cultural phenomenon, I draw attention to the important role of Melbourne park environments as a favourite destination for active and passive recreations by immigrants. The historical backgrounds of the case study parks and the new uses of park spaces by recent Iranian immigrants to Australia and their experience in these spaces will be investigated. Previous research has investigated the evolution of cultural attitudes and their influence on contemporary meanings, layout, and use of parks in Iran (Yazdani 2015). This study extends Yazdani’s (2015) explorations and examines how cultural attitudes affect Iranian patterns of park use after migration to Australia.

PLACE, HABITUS AND BELONGING

The concept of ‘habitus’ was introduced in 1977 by Bourdieu, a French social philosopher, who argued that the structures constitutive of a particular type of environment generate habitus which may be defined as ‘systems of durable, transposable dispositions’ (Bourdieu 1977, p. 72). These structures are the product of past conditions in which habitus was created among members of a community (Ryan 2015). Bourdieu’s concept of habitus has been interpreted by numerous scholars. In his study of landscape archaeology, Johnson (2007) demonstrates that actions of individuals with the same cultural background or structure can be connected to Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, and defines the practice as the ‘way in which abstract structures and norms of ‘culture’ are translated into actions on the ground’ (Johnson 2007, p. 142). Aner (2014) relates habitus to the concept of ‘sense of place’ to develop an understanding of the motives into which sense of place is integrated. Place experience and attachment are intimately associated with people’s life stories and the way people make use of past experiences of place to orient themselves in the present. Aner’s study argues that the musings of early human geographers such as Relph (1976) and Tuan (1977) on the sense of place can be related to the perspectives of Bourdieu on social practice.

Armstrong (2004) proposes the phenomenon of ‘belonging’ as a way of thinking about the concept of place which is particularly relevant to migration studies. Bourdieu (1980) puts more emphasis on actions and argues that place meaning is constructed through activities. He introduces the concept of ‘habitus’ as ‘a sense of one’s (and others’) place and role in the world of one’s lived environment’ (Bourdieu 1980 as quoted in Hiller & Rooksby 2002, p. 5).

The habitus, a product of history, produces individual and colective practices – more history – in accordance with the schemes generated by history. It ensures the active presence of past experiences, which, deposited in each organism in the form of schemes of perception, thought and action, tend to guarantee the ‘correctness’ of practices and their constancy over time, more reliably than all formal rules and explicit norms (Bourdieu 1980, p. 54).

According to Hiller & Rooksby (2002, p. 6), Bourdieu also believes that habitus is an open concept because actors’ dispositions are constantly subjected to a range of experiences. Johnson (2007) and Tilley (2004) connect actions within a physical or cultural space or structure to identity by applying Bourdieu’s concept of habitus. Bourdieu argues that ‘the structures constitutive of a particular type of environment (e.g. the material conditions of existence characteristic of a class condition) produce habitus, systems of durable, transposable dispositions’ (Bourdieu 1977, p. 72).

The concept of belonging as a product of performativity enables us to go beyond the limita- tions of narrative, by giving meaning to the environment through collective and individual behaviour (Leach 2002). The term habitus has also been applied by Tilley to connect actions within a physical and cultural space to identity. Tilley relates landscape phenomenology to identity and asserts that ‘ideas and feelings about identity are inevitably located in the specificities of familiar places together creating landscapes and how it feels to be there’ (Tilley 2004, p. 25).

Immigrants are both placed and unplaced through the process of migration, therefore it is important to know which parameters affect immigrants’ sense of place and to what extent these parameters con- tribute to place making or placelessness. Architecture offers a potential mechanism for inscribing the self into the environment. It facilitates a form of identification and can contribute to a sense of belonging. Therefore, it is essential to consider our engagement with the environment as well as the nature of the environment itself, to reassess the relationship between architecture and cultural identity (Leach 2002).

In this study I aim to explore how immigrants’ engagements with the new landscape in park environments may enable them to reassess their relationship with place. To examine the process of habitus transference, a range of experiences of park environments by Iranian Australians both in Iran (before migration) and in Australia will be investigated.

METHODOLOGY

This study applies a case study approach to investigate immigrants’ engagements with the park environ- ments and gain a multifaceted understanding of this engagement. The case study area is Ruffey Lake Park, an urban park in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and one of the most popular parks in Manningham municipality. Ruffey Lake Park, with an area of 68 hectares, includes Ruffey Creek, large expanses of grasses, and a mixture of native and exotic trees, as well as two large playgrounds, three picnic areas, a lake, a jogging track, and a disc golf course (Manningham City Coun 2016). Ruffey Lake Park provides a range of important recreation and social opportunities for people in the City of Manningham and from other municipalities. The park has been a place for events such as Park Fest, Cinema Under the Stars, Australia Day Festival, and the annual community organised Passion Play (Manningham City Counc 2005). Ruffey Lake Park has been selected as a case study due to its location close to where a large number of Iranian immigrants live. Also, it is close to the Iranian Cultural School and has been a place for Iranian cultural ceremonies and New Year festivals such as the 13th day of Norouz and the Iranian fire jumping festival for many years. The park is used regularly by many Iranian people who live nearby, and occasionally by the rest of the Iranian community for cultural celebrations. The park is also a meeting place for parents whose children go to the Iranian Cultural School on Saturdays, especially for those who live far from the school and stay in the park during school time.

RUFFEY LAKE PARK BACKGROUND AND THE HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

The land that is now known as Ruffey Lake Park belonged to the Wurundjeri Willam clan of Aboriginal people, before European settlement. The Yarra River and its tributaries, including Ruffey Creek, were the life source of the Wurundjeri who moved across the river flats and along the creeks according to the seasons and availability of food. After European settlement, the land was planted primarily with orchards such as pears, peaches, nectarines, apples, cherries and plums until 1974. From the mid-1960s the land now known as Ruffey Lake Park was purchased and acquired by the City of Doncaster and Templestowe over a period of more than ten years. In 1977 the land was named the Doncaster Municipal Gardens and opened as a regional reserve; orchards were cleared and dams filled in. Some of the remnants of original pine trees can still be seen today (Manningham City Council July 2005).

Fig. 1. Ruffey Lake Park, (1) The old Tree, (2) Waldau village, (3) Friedensruh, (4) The Thiele Orchard, (5) Gordon Creek, (6) Ruffey Creek, (7) Old Bullock Track Ford, (8) Woodcutters & Coke Burners, (9) Monterey Pine Windbreaks, (10) Magic Mountain, (11) The Tully Orchard, (12) The Crouch Orchard, (13) Williamson’s Dairy Farm, (14) Remnant Woodlands, (15) Wurundjeri Willam, (16) Old Mudstone Quarries, (17) Finger’s Bunya Pines, (18) Old Cart Track, (19) Schramm’s Cottage & Museum, (20) Victoria (Bismarck) Street (Source Manningham City Council www.manningham.vic.gov.au).

During the winter and spring of 1835 pastoralists began shipping sheep from Tasmania to the rich pastures near Melbourne. Some of this stock turned eastward from the young colony beside the lower Yarra River, and pastoralists gradually moved along the river to Heidelberg, then to Warrandyte, in search of fresh grazing lands and later for gold. The discovery of gold in 1851 led to the development of Heidelberg, which became the rural centre of gentlemen’s estates and a successful market- gardening district.

In 1853 a military tailor to Governor La Trobe, John Gottlieb Thiele, purchased an initial 20 acres of virgin bush south of Ruffey Creek and beside Victoria Street. He was the first of the industrious German pioneers who formed the settlement of Waldau, a German word which was the name of a street located to the south of Ruffey Park, meaning ‘a clearing in the forest’. The Thiele family were able to establish an orchard and gradually acquired more land between Church Road and Victoria Street. They purchased the north land of Ruffey Creek between the corner of Victoria Street and Cricklewood Drive that had been used for many years as a vineyard. The land between that lot and Ruffey Creek was also purchased by them and both lots were planted with orchards.

Many of the German pioneer families were encouraged to settle at Waldau by this family. Some of them had emigrated from the Rhine Valley of Germany, so it is not surprising that vineyards were established in the district in the early days. It can be said that in the later years of fruit growing, peaches and lemons replaced the vines, and in many cases pears remain popular. Due to expanding family orchards, supplying water for cultivation became vital and two large dams were constructed in the gullies (Calder et al. 1974, p. 105).

Fig. 2. Ruffey Creek in relation to Melbourne (Source: City of Manningham (Calder et al., 1974).

During 1966–1974 the site of the Ruffey Creek Municipal Gardens reserve was bought from all of its owners and in 1974 the Centre for Environmental Studies at the University of Melbourne began an environmental study on the Ruffey Creek area (Calder et al. 1974).

Calder et al. (1974) argues that Ruffey Creek reserve provides the basis for an integrated landscape concept for recreational requirements of Doncaster with its diversity of landscape features. Thus, the landscape character should determine the recreational capability in any design concept. There is another parallel aim towards a design concept, which is keeping natural features as well as conserving an indication of past land use.

Plate I. Victoria Street, around 1905, looking north (Source: City of Manningham: Calder et al., 1974).

Plate II. Friedensruh and original pear tree, from the north bank of Ruffey Creek, 1973 (Source: City of Manningham: Calder et al. 1974).

In 1966, following a design based on the theme of orchard plantations with colour and blossom in all seasons, an extensive young tree planting programme was begun and focused on the two large ornamental lakes. This design concept granted a romantic landscape garden and an English picturesque characteristic to the park. It has then been voted for overall effectiveness of these plantings and it has been found that the community taste has changed from the love of colour and blossom at all seasons towards the more muted colours of the Australian environment and preventing the use of strong colours. Therefore, the ambition to create a highly artificial landscape garden was converted into a more natural parkland, due to a shift in the wishes of the local community.

There was also another important concept in the earlier design of Ruffey Creek that is worth considering. A part of the design of the large central lake, with a fountain which threw water up into the sky, and linear planting converging on this central focus, was not an English characteristic of either the eighteenth or the nineteenth century. It was primarily French, the monumental style of Versailles, which made a composition of an imaginative concept. The French design manner was based on powerful geometry and the use of different colours. Since the life style of the Doncaster was not close to that of the glittering court of Versailles, there was a question of how this idea would fit into this area (Calder et al. 1974).

Figure 3 illustrates the schematic design for the Ruffey Lake Park which had been presented by Calder et al. in 1974. It indicates the car-parks, a path system, picnic areas, and the structural framework of planting, while it had been suggested that there is still room for more additional details such as children’s play area, an exercise trail or an outdoor theatre.

Fig. 3 Schematic design map of Ruffey Lake Park, 1974 (Source: Calder et al., 1974).

IRAN’S CASE STUDY PARKS

Six famous urban parks in Tehran (the capital city of Iran) have been also selected including: Niavaran, Qeytarieh, Sayee, Laleh, Jamshidieh, and Mellat Parks, to ensure that they are familiar for all of the research participants and have been visited by them when they lived in Iran. Niavaran Park was built in 1969, located in Pasdaran Street, and with an area of 62,000 square metres (Fig. 4). The park was a private property of a descendant of a Qajar² destiny. After the completion of the construction of Niavaran Palace, its ownership was transferred to the municipality of Tehran. There are various kinds of trees and flowers in the park mostly in Persian garden style, and the park also provides facilities such as library, water-views, playground, skate rink, food outlet, pool, and sports complex (Pl. III ). Qeytarieh Park with 122,206 sq m area, established in 1973 and located in Qeytarieh Street. The plot was a private garden at the heart of Qeytarieh Village before it was purchased by the municipality and allocated for the development plan of the neighbourhood. The park has curved paths, different flora, trees and colourful flowers, and facilities like the cultural house, art gallery, library, prayer room, pond and playground. The cultural house was established and opened in 1994 as a hub for training courses in arts and crafts, while local and international art exhibitions are held in the art gallery (Mokhtari 2007).

Fig. 4. Niavaran Park (Map source Mokhtari 2007. Photograph the author).

Sayee Park was established in 1958 in Vali Asr Street and with the area of 120,000 sq. m. (Fig. 5, Pl. IV). In 1945, Karim Sayee, a Tehran university lecturer and the director of the Forest Foundation of Iran, established a wooded park on this plot of land. In 1958, with the development of Tehran into a major town with a full-fledged municipality, Sayee Park joined the list of modern public parks run by the municipality. The park has a broad range of plantations with pond, playground, skate rink, outdoor amphitheatre, and musical water-view (Mokhtari 2007).

Fig. 5. Sayee Park (Map source Mokhtari 2007. Photograph the author).

Pl. III. Niavaran Park.

Pl. IV. Sayee Park

Laleh Park (Fig. 6 , Pl. V) is located in the city centre, near Tehran’s university, and has become a popular meeting place for young people and a picnic area for families from all over the city. The park provides pathways for walking and shades for picnicking and relaxation. Laleh Park was designed in 1966 by an English designer in a 35 ha military field called ‘Jalalieh’ on the northern side of Tehran university campus that was constructed in the garden of ‘Jallalieh’ in 1934. Laleh Park is surrounded by many cultural and recreational centres such as Carpet Museum, Laleh Hotel and Children’s Art Creative Centre to the north, tennis ground to the east, and Contemporary Art Museum and Handicrafts Market to the west. The park provides different facilities like the children’s library, puppet theatre, amphitheatre, volleyball and small football grounds, table tennis, chess, and a Japanese Garden in its south-east corner, which all make the park one of the most popular parks in Tehran, and also in Iran (Mirgholami 2009).

Fig. 6. Laleh Park (Map source Mokhtari 2007. Photograph the author).

Pl. V. Laleh Park

Jamshidieh Park is located in the north of Tehran in Omidvar Street, with 69,000 sq m, which was established in 1977. The park was originally a traditional Iranian garden and belonged to a Qajar aristocrat. The park has a variety of plantations and old trees, as well as facilities such as the amphitheatre, art gallery, pond, water-view and restaurant. One of the distinctive characteristics of Jamshidieh Park is its stone pavements that evoke mountain forest paths. Mellat Park in Vali Asr Street, with the area of 340,000 sq. m. is actually divided into two parts — one is a strip along Vali Asr Street, built in 1968, and the other was built upon the adjacent hills in 1974. The latter is inspired by the British garden design by an English architect, John Paulson. The plantations comprise a wide range of flora, trees and colourful flowers. The park also provides different recreational facilities like water-views, playgrounds, skate rinks, lake, restaurant, and mosque (Mokhtari 2007).

Persian garden design as an ancient Iranian landscape design concept has influenced most of Iranian contemporary park characteristics, and the way these spaces are used. The Persian garden is a cultural and historical landscape where water, plantations and buildings are incorporated in a particular geometrical order. Centrality, symmetry, rhythm, and square or rectangle geometry are the most prominent features of the Persian garden layout. Most of the contemporary parks in Iran, including the selected case study parks, comprise some of Persian garden elements such as specific geometry, the existence of pavilions and other cultural/ functional buildings, water features, fountains, ponds, shaded spaces, and special arrange- ments in planting trees and placing paths. Research shows that Persian garden icons as an ancient legacy have the capability to be sustained across historical periods. in Iran and even in different cultures and countries, and its elements are still preferred in public park landscapes by Iranian people (Mokhtari & Saleem 2015).

Q METHODOLOGY

Data were collected, organised and analysed for the case studies in the form of:

1. Observation and photographic documenta- tion of parks at different times such as weekdays, weekends, special ceremonies and festivities.

2. Q methodology analysis of photographs to examine how a particular landscape setting is seen and interpreted by the research par- ticipants.

3. Semi-structured in-depth individual inter- views to gather complementary information.

Q methodology was created by British psycho- logist Stephenson (1935) and provides a bedrock for the systematic study of subjectivity, that is, a person’s viewpoint, opinion, beliefs, and attitude (Brown 1993). Q methodology allows the subjective information collected from the respondents to be quantified using statistical analysis. This analysis can then be described and interpreted in a way that reflects individual or group viewpoints about such experience (McKeown & Thomas 1988; Shuib 2008; Van Exel & de Graaf 2005).

Q methodology is a complete methodology that includes a set of procedures, theory and philosophy that focuses on the study of people’s subjectivity or viewpoints. Subjectivity is usually associated with qualitative research and objectivity is normally associated with quantitative research (Brown 2008; Newman & Ramlo 2010; Stenner & Stainton- Rogers 2004). On the one hand, Q methodology fits into the qualitative framework of naturalistic contextualisation of research (Newman & Ramlo 2010; Stenner & Stainton-Rogers 2004). On the other hand, Q methodology minimises the impact of the researcher’s frame of reference (Newman & Ramlo 2010; Stainton-Rogers 1995) through complex quantitative and statistical analysis such as correlation and factor analysis (Brown 1980; Newman & Ramlo 2010; Stephenson 1953).

Q methodology has been applied in studies that assessed residents’ classifications of landscape character (Amedeo et al. 1989; Palmer 1983) and investigated cross-cultural comparisons of scenic and heritage landscape perceptions (Zube & Pitt 1981). More recently, environmental planning and management research has found that applying Q methodology is useful in identifying shared discourses and providing insights into how people understand specific issues (Curry et al. 2013). Additionally, Q methodology blends qualitative and quantitative methods, which makes it a useful method in both identifying and measuring people’s viewpoints on specific issues. However, some scholars find this ‘mix’ confusing and state that Q methodology struggles against dismissive voices and faulty assumptions (Ramlo 2016).

The present study, which is one part of a larger study, focuses on the recreational usage of the landscape settings of urban parks and explores one of three Q methodology stages, using the same photographs. The other parts of the larger study used the other two stages of Q methodology to study the ‘personal and cultural meanings of place in urban park landscapes’ (Yazdani 2018) and the ‘visual attributes of urban park landscapes and aesthetic preferences’ (Yazdani 2019).

Photographs were taken by the researcher in the same season (summer) except for two photographs. Photo No. 1 in Iran’s parks’ cluster that shows picnicking on the 13th day of Norouz, a traditional ceremony celebrated in March on the 13th day of spring, was obtained through the Tabnak website, a professional Iranian news website. Photo No. 5 in Iran’s parks’ cluster was taken from Design in Nature (Pasebanhazrat 2008). Photographs illustrate peoples’ activities in the park, park features, recreational facilities, and the built and natural environments of the parks.

Participation in this research was voluntary and was achieved through simple explanation and discussion with Iranian people and asking them if they would like to take part. Following speaking with the Iranian Cultural School Principal and the Iranian Poetry Meeting organiser, the group workshops were held at the Iranian Cultural School (where a number of parents were staying while their children were learning Farsi Language on Saturdays) and Poetry Meetings.

The study involved forty participants in the Q methodology of photographs sorting and ten in- depth interviews of Iranian immigrants who had visited Ruffey Lake Park at least once and were familiar with the specified urban parks in Tehran. During the in-depth interviews participants were asked to describe their favourite space in the Ruffey Lake Park, their reasons as to why this particular space is most appealing, and the changes they would like to be made to the present Ruffey Lake Park. Their responses were written on the interview forms and translated and transcribed by the researcher.

Q method includes sorting photographs and analysing what respondents interpret about them to understand their thoughts, attitudes and values concerning what is portrayed in the photographs (Fairweather & Swaffield 2002). The sorting process is quite subjective. Participants may be interviewed during the sorting process regarding their sorting selections to better inform the researcher’s interpretation of the results (Newman & Ramlo 2010). This was the strategy in the present study. The findings were then considered with reference to a range of ideas including cultural identity, habitus transference and the context of non-English-speaking immigrants’ experiences.

Additionally, in-depth interviews with ten volunteer respondents out of forty, who had time available, provided a deeper understanding of their thoughts and elicited explanations of the choices that were made to support the Q methodology results. The whole process provided a diverse set of information on various types of urban park interactions and usage by recent Iranian immigrants both in Iran and in Australia. These explorations also provided a path to understanding Iranians’ environmental perceptions and behaviour in these settings. The findings will provide a perspective of non-English-speaking users’ interactions and expectations of park spaces in Australia. Further- more, the method used to study Iranian immigrants can be applied to other immigrants.

Q process is designed for a systematic arrange- ment of photographs in which a respondent typically responds linearly from the lowest favourable to the highest favourable photograph. Respondents are asked to place the photographs beginning from the left or the right side of the chart and follow through to the end. Each photograph has a number. Respondents should evaluate their choices and make decisions relative to all photographs under the conditions of the instruction that are provided by the researcher (Shuib 2008).

In this study, there were seven piles of photo- graphs. Starting from the left side, there is one photograph in pile number one, two photographs in pile number two, and so on till the middle pile. The score given for each pile is the highest at each end with one end having a negative value and the other end a positive value and decreases towards the middle pile that has the lowest score. In Q terms, the placement of answers leads to a statistical distribution in which the mean and frequency are equal for all respondents (Brown 1980; McKeown & Thomas 1988; Shuib 2008).

Photographs from both targeted parks in Tehran (Iran) and Ruffey Lake Park in Melbourne were selected based on three interrelated components of place meaning derived from the literature as generic concepts for attributing meaning to places: 1. The physical aspects of place; 2. Personal and cultural meanings; and 3. Social and recreational interac- tions. Accordingly, the participants were invited to sort thirty-six photographs from Melbourne and Iran’s park spaces (eighteen photographs for each), in three stages: 1. Landscape scenery and aesthetic values; 2. Landscape personal and cultural values; 3. Landscape social and recreational values; and then state their perception of these landscape photographs based on Most Valued Landscape and Least Valued Landscape. This study focuses on the third stage.

Based on this structure the researcher created a model in the computer and used the PQ method programme. The analysis of Q sorts includes correla- tion, factor analysis and the calculation of factor scores (Brown 1980, 2008; Newman & Ramlo 2010). For more details on the analysis procedure, see Newman and Ramlo (2010).

Due to the specific use of the Q method in the initial research project, which had three stages for each case study, and the number of participants in the Q methodology (forty participants consisting of twenty males and twenty females), two factors were selected to rotate. Accordingly, the programme provided two resulting final factors, each represent- ing a group of participants’ viewpoints that are highly correlated with each other and uncorrelated with others. The participants were mostly skilled immigrants. Regarding age, 52.5 per cent were 30–40 years, 45 per cent were 40–60 years, and 2.5 per cent were over 60 years. The majority (85 per cent) of the participants had children (three or less). In terms of education 5 per cent had a Ph.D, 22.5 per cent had a Master’s Degree, 60 per cent had a Bachelor Degree, and 12.5 per cent had a Diploma.

RESULTS

The first Q sort involved the photographs of Iran’s parks and the results demonstrated preferences for activities concerning festivities, socialising, public gathering, and picnicking in Iran’s parks for the nineteen participants (nine females and ten males). The existence of water, as well as flat and appropriate spaces for sitting, gathering and picnicking, were viewed as desirable in urban parks. Socio-cultural activities, cooking food over fire, playing music, chatting, and walking were identified as important activities in park spaces by this group. However, for the second group of seven respondents consisting of five females and two males, constructed settings, playgrounds and sport and fitness equipment for active recreation were considered significant, see Table 1. Despite the fact that only seven respondents loaded on this factor, the analysis shows that it was a distinct group that should be included to give insight into their perspectives on preferred activities in park environments. Apart from picnicking and festivity, respondents in this group expressed a strong desire for places to sit and watch children playing, the existence of cafes and restaurants, and facilities for playing active games as well as sport and fitness equipment for active recreation.

TABLE 1. LANDSCAPE SETTINGS WITH RECREATIONAL VALUES IN IRAN’S PARKS, IDENTIFIED BY TWO GROUPS OF RESPONDENTS

The second Q sort involved photographs of Ruffey Lake Park, in which the existence of shelters and BBQ facilities for large group gatherings, cafes and restaurants, food stalls, and facilities such as rubbish bins, good lawns and safe places for picnicking were considered essential by the first group. Moreover, cultural festivals such as the 13th day of Norouz and the Iranian fire jumping festival (chaharshanbe-Sury, which involves jumping over fires), social traditions, cooking food over a coal fire, playing music, traditional dancing, and meeting friends were viewed as desirable activities by this group of twenty-two respondents consisting of ten females and twelve males, which is more than half of the participants.

The second group of thirteen people (seven females and six males) reflected strong preferences for landscapes offering views that provide appropriate places for restoration, nature watching, walking, and chatting, see Table 2. Naturalness as an important aspect of restorative landscapes (Ode et al. 2008) is evident in these photogtraphs through the existence of the lake, trees and greenery, while legibility can also be described through continuity and focality upon the lake. The lake creates a coherent pattern in the landscape as landscape components are arranged around it while it provides consistency amongst the components. The concept of legibility here refers to geographical legibility, which is the clarity to understand the layout of a place for a particular activity. Cultural and emotional bonding and restoration in wide, natural, legible landscape settings with shady trees and benches underneath them were desired and valuable recreational activities in Ruffey Lake Park for this group of respondents. ‘View’, ‘legibility’, and ‘naturalness’ contributed to creating a place that was perceived as ‘quiet’ and ‘peaceful’. Enclosure and reclusion, quietness and peacefulness are greatly preferred.

TABLE 2. LANDSCAPE SETTINGS WITH RECREATIONAL VALUES IN RUFFEY LAKE PARK, IDENTIFIED BY TWO GROUPS OF RESPONDENTS.

Using parks at night time, the existence of restaurants, cafes, buildings in which people gather for social or recreational activities, flower beds, and different forms of sporting facilities are some examples of provisions desired by Iranian immigrants in park spaces that were mentioned by the respondents. They had a great desire to visit the park at night, especially on hot days, and to spend more time in the park socialising in a cafe or restaurant. They miss flowers in park spaces and the kind of sport facilities that they used to have in parks before migrating to Australia, which enabled them to undertake more physical activities. Table 3 below, summarises landscape values in terms of recreational attributes and leisure activities, identified by the two sets of Q sorts.

‘Iran’s parks are smaller. They got sport equipment for people, which is so good, and one of the important differences in my view is that Iran’s parks got lots of flowers and good maintenance. Melbourne’s ones are usually natural which is very beautiful, and I personally prefer Melbourne’s open and wide park spaces especially for having picnic with friends. It needs some flowers, colourful flowers.’

‘Melbourne’s parks are beautiful and natural. There are less man-made and designed structures in the park spaces, no gardens, flowers, water features, or planned entertainments or recreation facilities.’

TABLE 3. LANDSCAPE RECREATIONAL QUALITIES IN RUFFEYLAKE PARK AND IRAN’S PARKS

DISCUSSION

Respondents presented a ‘fit’ between their habitus and desirable recreational activities in urban park spaces and the new socio-cultural and physical settings that they are in. According to Benson (2014), a ‘fit’ between habitus and field (both physical and socio-cultural domains) may generate a sense of belonging. Research has also shown that leisure activities give people a sense of belonging and identity as these are things that they like to do (Rishbeth 2016; Spracklen et al. 2015). Hence, acknowledging immigrants’ landscape values in urban parks can contribute to an increase in usage and a sense of belonging in new immigrant communities.

Identities, in the form of individual and collective practices, are brought into a particular setting and are played out in it, through emotions, feelings, dwelling, movement, and practical activities (Tilley 2004). Findings from the present study suggest that perception and usage of urban park landscapes are dependent on both Iranians’ understanding of park landscapes as mediated by their identity and past experiences, and landscape characteristics and settings that support this understanding (see Fig. 7). Habitus, as a product of history which produced individual and collective practices, induces the memory of the past experiences in a new setting after migration, which is evident ‘in the form of schemes of perception, thought and action’ (Bourdieu 1980, p. 54). Thus, in seeking to recreate past memories, respondents prefer settings that support their understanding of urban parks for recreational activities.

Fig. 7. Perception and usage of urban park spaces.

Considering the rapid increase of ethnic diversity, it is essential to pay attention to the ways different residents and social groups experience the city, and foster their sense of belonging (Devadason 2010; Savage et al. 2005). Research has found social interactions in urban parks can stimulate social cohesion in multicultural societies (Peters et al. 2010). Rearranging urban public spaces in a way that facilitates more interactions between different ethnic groups can promote integration. Urban park environments are frequently used for leisure activities by various ethnic groups. Despite the idea that places have identities that need to be maintained, the aesthetics of landscape architecture must also consider everybody’s interests. If architectural constructions are shaped to match human needs, interests or desires, then whose interests are to dominate, and how are they to be constructed (Dovey 2002).

Given the physical characteristics of Melbourne’s park landscapes and immigrants’ continuities with their past recreational experiences, respondents presented a ‘fit’ between their habitus and desirable recreational activities and the new urban park settings. It has been previously found that sports activities and exercise are the activities undertaken the least in Ruffey Lake Park by the respondents (Yazdani 2019), which may be due to the lack of desired sports/ fitness fields and facilities.

However, while a ‘fit’ between habitus and field (both physical and socio-cultural domains) may generate a sense of belonging, this ‘fit’ may be re- made, challenged, and even dismantled as a result of the dynamic relationship between place and identity (Benson 2014). Therefore, it is essential to recognise that belonging is an uncertain process, in which habitus and field are both adaptable so that a sense of belonging may be achieved. A recent study on natural environments and leisure among rural-to- urban immigrants in the US and Europe (Horolets et al. 2019) employed Bourdieu’s approach (Bourdieu 1977) to exploring how immigrants’ leisurely use of nature after immigration is related to their social and cultural capitals. The research findings demonstrated that the changes in the use of natural environments for leisure among immigrants in the host country are related to changes in social and cultural capital However, applying new strategies for using natural environments after immigration depends on immigrants’ habitus (Horolets et al. 2019).

Respondents’ desire for gatherings, socio-cultural activities, and visiting parks at night, along with their choices of photographs which depict settings such as shelters, flat spaces and BBQ facilities, confirm that immigrants’ understanding and usage of park environments are related to their habitus, while highlighting that landscape settings that support immigrants’ habitus are highly preferred and may increase immigrants’ enjoyment and usage of park spaces. Therefore, it is important to pay more attention to their park experience and give them a wide range of desired experiences by facilitating their expectations of these spaces.

Iranian immigrants are very interested in cele- brating most of their cultural events in parks. Some of these cultural practices such as chaharshanbe- Sury need to be undertaken at night, and therefore require illumination. Chaharshanbe-Sury is an ancient festival of fire, a prelude to Norouz (the Iranian New Year) on the last Tuesday night of the year, and is celebrated with firework displays and jumping over fires. Research has shown that the idea of the Chaharshanbe-Sury fire festival could have been derived from Zoroastrianism³ celebrations in the sixth century bce (Kia 2016) (Pl. VI).

Pl. VI Iranian fire jumping festival (chaharshanbe-Sury) in Ruffey Lake Park (Photograph by the author).

Moreover, the growth of population and lack of constructed natural/ open spaces in Iranians’ residential neighbourhoods have increased the need for urban parks in Iran. These factors have influenced the kind of activities that Iranians undertake in urban park spaces which are similar to those that they used to do in their backyards e.g. resting, having dinner, or drinking tea, and getting together (Yazdani 2019). These examples demonstrate the complexity of the ways that immigrants may use park spaces for recreational activities.

This study suggests that facilitating landscape settings that support the immigrants’ understanding of park landscapes, as mediated by their past experiences and cultural background, may increase park usage and contribute to a ‘sense of belonging’ in communities with recent immigrants.

A desire for sport/ fitness equipment and facilities for undertaking preferred active recreation was also mentioned by the research participants. Non- English-speaking park visitors in New South Wales have previously been found to have low rates of participation in active recreation such as sport activities (Byrne et al. 2013). This low rate may be due to the prioritisation of certain sporting facilities in parks that has been influenced by the dominant English culture. Generally, Iranians and more broadly non-Anglo immigrants have been found to prefer passive activities and group gatherings, and therefore engage in a process of place making in Australian urban parks (Yazdani & Lozanovksa 2017). This process takes place through enjoying park landscapes, restoration, cultural and emotional bonding, festivities, and undertaking family fun activities and socialising. These engagements have also been observed among other non-English-speaking immigrants in Ruffey Lake Park e.g. Chinese, Greeks, Italians, Malaysians, and South Koreans. Understanding how park visitors across different cultures and communities spend their time in parks helps improve park visitation in multicultural societies. Parkland which has no social value will not survive, and the most effective way to enhance community-level support for sustainable use is to ensure that parklands are valued and enjoyed by diverse groups of people (Goodall et al. 2004).

More research is required to investigate what role age, gender, class, and length of residency may play in immigrants’ habitus adaptation and usage transformation in association with park settings. As the respondents were mostly recent immigrants this study does not discuss the length of residency. There is also a need for more research to investigate how park spaces can be modified to facilitate more interactions between people from various ethnic groups and the role landscape planning may play in bringing people from different backgrounds together.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms that immigrants’ understanding and usage of park environments are related to their habitus, while highlighting that landscape settings that support immigrants’ habitus are highly preferred and may increase immigrants’ enjoyment and usage of park spaces. It underlines that place meaning in urban park landscapes is structured by users’ habitus and cultural identity while also offering the possibility of transforming it.

In Ruffey Lake Park the existence of sports fields and facilities for active recreation e.g. tennis courts, fitness equipment, and utilitarian facilities in urban park environments such as illumination, shelters, BBQ facilities, restaurants, cafes, food stalls, rubbish bins, good lawns, and safe places for picnicking are highly demanded and will make park spaces more enjoyable and aligned with Iranian immigrants’ recreational use patterns. Cultural festivals, cooking food over a coal fire, playing music, traditional dancing and meeting friends were identified as desirable activities, while preferences for landscapes with views that provide appropriate places for restoration, nature watching, walking, and chatting were also expressed.

Passive recreation primarily requires stillness, spaces of enclosure, recreational provisions, and entertainment facilities. The way facilities are distributed will influence different types of usage. Providing large open spaces in the design of urban parks without utilitarian facilities may not be conducive to longer park visits at certain times such as at night.

The results of this study support urban park design and management that offers a broad range of experiences; from naturalness to developed settings suitable for social activities. To achieve a balance between the conservation of cultural landscapes and biodiversity, and public demands for recreational facilities, the principles of sustainable development in the planning, design, development and management of urban parks should be further considered.

The findings of the present study may be potentially applicable across diverse immigrant communities. By the same token, however, experi- ences such as Persian festivals are arguably quite specific to the situation of Iranian immigrants. The present in-depth exploration of the Iranian immigrant experience can facilitate more nuanced understandings of the immigrant experience in general, as well as facilitating further work that locates the uniqueness of the Iranian immigrant experience in contrast to other immigrant cohorts.

Notes

1 Habitus in this study refers to systems of transposable dispositions (Bourdieu 1977).

2 The Qajar dynasty was a native Iranian royal family of Turkic origin that held ancestral lands in present- day Azerbaijan which ruled Persia (Iran) from 1794 to 1925; http://www.iranchamber.com

3 Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions originated in Persia, for more information see Rose 2014.