Design factors of park facilities for Muslim female participation in extreme sports

• Main Authors: Johan, Siti Aisyah, Salleh, Nurul Hamiruddin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IIUM Press 2023
• Subjects: NA Architecture
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/107240/1/107240_Design%20factors%20of%20park%20facilities.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/107240/; https://journals.iium.edu.my/kaed/index.php/dij/article/view/786

Extreme sports, such as water sports, airborne sports, and mountain sports, become the sensational alternative among youth as they began to involve in various sports either indoor or outdoor activities as it enhances the individual's endurance and physical fitness and helps to control and eliminate stress besides promote healthy lifestyle. It is considered as one of the greatest challenges for people who prefer the freedom of extreme activities rather than organised sports. However, the number of participation in Malaysia is less from women especially the Muslim women. Through a pilot survey conducted, it indicates that discomfort on existing extreme sport facilities is the main reason of less participation among women. This research aims to identify the design factors that contribute towards lack of participation and dissatisfaction of Muslim women on the existing extreme parks to find out the best design, spatial planning and facilities that will meet women’s need and comfort of sports facilities as a space for women to practice and participating in extreme sports. The methodologies applied are survey on user’s satisfaction, observation on physical factor and physical planning (access audit), interview to the management officers, and case study on women sport complex design that apply sharia compliance. A total of 80 survey respondents were drawn from a cluster sample of Muslim women randomly in Klang Valley area to record the perceptions, satisfactions and preferences of the users. Observation and interview was conducted at the four (4) selected extreme parks in Klang Valley which are Enerz Indoor Extreme Park, Putrajaya Challenge Park, District 21 and Shah Alam Extreme Park. The result obtained from the research will be able to contribute to the ideal guideline, design and spatial planning of extreme park that will give the individual especially the Muslim women freedom, comfort and satisfaction in practicing the activities and extreme sports besides for the educational references for the future.