In the present time, even the best-designed parks go to waste if no one uses them. Understanding how different cultural and ethnic groups value and use urban parks is crucial in developing appropriate design and management strategies for urban green spaces (Özgüner, 2011, p. 600). Parks are the places which can be used as a bridge between different communities by creating an atmosphere of unity and diversity, hence promoting communal harmony (Business Standard, 2017). Urban parks must respond to the needs of visitors from diverse cultural groups and be designed and managed by people from different social and cultural backgrounds. To address this issue of disconnect between people and public spaces, a people-centered approach has to be used to plan, design, and manage public parks. Placemaking capitalizes on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential to create parks that promote people's health, happiness, and well-being (What Is Placemaking?, 2007).

Hence the primary research question is how might we create a process that promotes cross-cultural community participation in the design and management of public parks? Since the members of the community need to be part of the planning and design of public parks, Martin and Boaz (2000) defined a spectrum of activities ranging from communication through consultation to co-production – the latter referring to the active and direct involvement of individuals or communities in policy debates, strategy formulation, and the design and delivery of local services. From the viewpoint of this present study, the concept of public participation through various participatory activities represents community involvement towards the higher end of this spectrum. The chosen methodology for this research is that of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, pp. 1–3). This is an inductive method of generating new theory through simultaneous collection, coding, and data analysis. The outcome of the research would be to form a design toolkit to inform others on the methods to make their park and its design and management process more inclusive.