Paper Title
Public Spaces, Patterns, and Policy Innovations to Provide Areas for Exercise in Thai Society

Abstract
The current research endeavor aims to first, analyze exercise behavioral patterns in public spaces in Thailand. The second objective is to analyze the management methods to provide public spaces in Thai society for exercise. This leads us to the third objective which is to analyze and offer policy innovations in order to improve public exercise spaces in Thai society. The current research is a mixed methods quantitative research study. The data was collected from survey questionnaires inspecting exercise behavioral patterns and ways to enhance exercise spaces in public. The sample consisted of 415 people who went to parks in 7 provinces in 4 regions. The qualitative research study divided data into 2 groups which first included in-depth interviews of 15 executives, governmental officials who were responsible for public spaces in Bangkok and other provinces, committee representatives, and public sector networks which adopted public spaces for exercise. The second group was comprised of discussion among 10 governmental officials who were responsible for public spaces in Bangkok and other provinces, which included committee representatives, and public sector networks. After cross tabulation, the result of the exercise behavioral patterns in Thailand’s public spaces revealed that 44.1% of those who adopted public spaces for exercise came to exercise alone, whereas 54.8% rode motorbikes to commute to exercise and exercised 3-4 times a week. Moreover, the analysis of factors which influence the use of public spaces for exercise discovered that convenience of transportation, a variety of sports equipment, and safety of public spaces, and more were significant contributing factors. The analysis of ways for better public space management revealed that the crucial elements included improved service, the participation of public and business networks, and the implementation plans of organizations such as provincial administrative organizations. Policy innovations to support exercise in public spaces were considered a vital mechanism to improve public spaces for exercise. Some important policy innovations consisted of innovations for better sports community and health, innovations for a green society which could also expand the green spaces which could, in turn, promote more exercise activities, and innovations for the constructive economy, which could promote public spaces as exercise spaces. This, in fact, was part of constructive economic activities. Keywords - Public Spaces, Policy Innovations, Exercise