Identification of Problems and Potentials in the 15-Minute Park Assessment Form

Abstract

The 15-Minute Park project aims to increase and distribute green spaces to ensure public accessibility within a 15-minute commute through the adaptive use of vacant urban land. To support implementation, the Department of Environment has established a quality assessment framework for 15-minute parks comprising four key dimensions: physical and environmental, design, public participation, and services, with a total of 14 criteria. However, as parks vary significantly in physical characteristics and urban contexts, the application of a single assessment form may not adequately reflect the actual quality of these spaces. This study aims to identify the challenges and potentials of the existing assessment criteria through analysis of the spatial and physical characteristics of all 395 designated 15-minute parks, using Bangkok Open Data, integrated with in-depth interviews with key informants from six district offices and four experts.

The findings reveal that 31% of the parks face severe locational constraints, while 51% are micro-scale spaces under 800 square meters. Although the current assessment form effectively serves as a communication and learning tool, as well as a conceptual framework for basic design among practitioners, significant misalignments remain between the assessment criteria and actual site conditions owning to the lack of consideration for site location, physical scale, and the physical constraints of each urban remnant. Therefore, contextual flexibility in the evaluation criteria is required reduce implementation barriers for practitioners and drive the 15-minute park initiative toward a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable green infrastructure network in the future.