PROCEEDINGS | Scientific Symposium
not highlighted, but the findings from ethnographic and intercultural tools showed examples of where
design and management of POS supported different outdoor leisure cultural practices and interaction
across differences.
Conducting the research in formal and informal spaces highlighted how the formal greenspaces and
streetscapes with social functioning are inclusive and supporting conviviality with meanings of integration,
wellbeing, adaptation and a sense of belonging. Users were very conscious about the qualities of
landscape elements in POS, which facilitate their use. The pedestrianised traffic-free urban areas supported
affordances for encountering and socialising. During ethnographic observations and interviews
in these shared mundane pedestrianised spaces, diverse classes and ethnicities come together to share
joyful and pleasant moments. The ambience of Amwaj Lagoon with its walkway and seating areas, the
pavement and benches in Block-338 and the Pearling Trail, their artistic features and egalitarianism seating
areas, especially in places where most of the chairs belong to restaurants and cafés, were valued. The
provided facilities and landscape design elements in the public parks and gardens such as the topography,
walkways, play areas, parking areas, vending activities, picnic pod, pavement, benches, picnic tables, gazebos
and shaded gathering areas support choices in use and are appealing alternatives for congregating.
These design affordances for being outdoors provide base for spatial and temporal negotiation in sharing
POS. Occasionally, different formal events such as markets, walking events and national celebration days
are held in these formal POS; these events support conviviality and meaningful encounters.
The findings indicated that in Bahrain, we should not assume that parks and gardens are the only outdoor
leisure places; many people also enjoy heritage sites and being on the streets (e.g. in the pedestrianised
case studies) or in the desert (e.g. in Hunainiyah) for leisure. Facilitating leisure activities in these locations
would further support meaningful encounters. Social and leisure activities are also part of the
heritage and need to be recognized as integral to the historical quality in heritage sites and professional
conservation strategies (Offenhäußer et al., 2010; Al-Madani and Rishbeth, 2020). Both the spatial and
physical qualities of POS, infrastructure and allied facilities are important in maintaining and facilitating
the regular practice of being outdoors. The context of Hunainiyah has a unique heritage parallel to the
desert ecology that is valued by many users. People visit this space repeatedly because it has been provided
with a formal park that has many facilities such as picnic pods, benches, a sports field, walkway,
playground, parking area and toilets that support users’ diverse activities. The pedestrianised traffic-free
urban spaces in the Pearling Trail and Bab Al-Bahrain sites support complexity of different outdoor leisure
and cultural practices. Walking or jogging near the sea in Arad at different times was also possible
only because the area is provided with a proper walking track and security guards.
In landscape architecture, it is important to understand the concept behind conviviality and that “Conviviality
accepts that we cannot change others; we can only change ourselves or offer others gifts to open up
the possibilities for cooperation” (Adloff, 2016). Landscape architecture can offer alternative activities
that can support different cultural practices of being outdoors. The designer aims to create places that
meet social and cultural objectives as well as environmental and aesthetic intentions. It has always been
the role of landscape architects to maintain the responsiveness of their design; with social and cultural dynamics,
it is still their responsibility to meet different cultural expectations about the paradigms of leisure.
Social responsiveness in landscape architecture means that designers should be aware of the divergent
ways people use and experience landscapes and then respond to these in design (Thwaites, 2001).
In order to fulfil the responsibility of the practice in supporting conviviality across differences, it has
become vital to provide wide and effective communication tools to deal with different cultural expectations.
Cultural competency is recommended in urban planning by Agyeman and Erickson (2012) to
support wider consultation and recognition of differences; “planners need cultural competency skills
to recognise, understand, and engage this difference, diversity, and cultural heterogeneity in creative
and productive ways” (Agyeman and Erickson, 2012, p.358). Through cultural literacy and intercultural
communication tools, it would be possible to understand the changes in cities and meanings behind dif-
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