The amount of actual open space within the city zone is gradually being reduced, and accordingly it is becoming harder to obtain space for public facilities. Further, the city environment is worsening as parks and other public spaces are being converted and taken over by other function such as business, industry and housing.
The present thesis presents a possible solution to some of these problems. by studying the potential use of an aleady existing semi-public space; the open space of the school. The term “open space” is here used both in the sense that it is physically open, and in that it is open for the public to use. The school space seems to have a high potential with regard to the improvement of the community facilities, both from the point of view of its wide distribution and thus easy accessibility, its position in the community, and not least the fact that it already exists.
The thesis is structured in the following way:
a) Analysis of the concept of an “educational park” and its potenial function with regard to community facility improvenment.
b) Study of the meaning of openness of the school space and the way this is considered by the people of the community.
c) Surveys and analyses concerning actual use of the school open space, and the problems relating to the common usage of this space.
In this study, three surveys carried out to investigate the validity of the tendency of turning the school open space into an “educational park”the first of three surveys Residents of the communities adjacent to eight different primary schools within the “Keihanshin” distrnct, each with different characteristics, were selected as objects for the investigation.
The results of the survey are as follows:
1. The esthetic image evaluation of the physical environment differed depending on the type of site boundary.
2. The correlation analysis between the subject's attribute characteristics and their image evaluation, showed very low correlation between “age” and“range of residence”, whereas “sex” and “user experience” correlated closely in positive direction with image evaluation.
3. It appeared that, among the characteristics of school facilities, openness had predominance over other qualitative and quantitative factors, as far as the residents' perception of these as“familiar space” was concerned.
4. The role of the school facility as public open space differed somewhat depending on the type of neighborhood community.
5. There was a distinct difference between the users and nonusers of the space in the evaluation of the environment. While the physically open space was appreciated by its users for its very openness. seen as “fresh”, “rich” and “refined”, it was described as “gloomy”, “lifeless”, “closed” and “alienating” by those who did not use its facilities.

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