Employed

Per Capita Income

Above Poverty

Economic

Preschool Enrollment

Bachelor's Education

High School Enrollment

Education

Voting

Census Response

Social

Automobile Access

Active Commuting

Transportation

Insured Adults

Healthcare Access

Retail Density

Park Access

Tree Canopy

Neighborhood

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Renters

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Homeowners

Housing Habitability

Uncrowded Housing

Homeownership

Housing

Ozone

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Diesel Particulate Matter

Safe Drinking Water

Clean Environment

Extreme Heat

Impervious Surfaces

Outdoor Workers

Public Transit Access

Sea Level Rise

Two Parent Households

Alcohol Availability

Supermarket Access

Decision Support

Everybody should have access to parks and other open spaces near their home. Parks can encourage physical activity, reduce chronic diseases, improve mental health, foster community connections, and support community resilience to climate change and pollution. Many studies have documented that living within walking distance of parks and open spaces encourages physical activity (especially for children)—helping to lower rates of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, obesity, and diabetes.

 This is especially true when combined with physical activity programs

 Parks and greenspace can also lower stress, improve cognitive functioning and mental health, help people like veterans recover from traumatic events, and promote health-protective social connections.

 Reducing paved surfaces, like roads and parking lots, and increasing greenspace and parks can also reduce heat-island effects (where hot air builds in heavily developed areas) and filter out pollutants.

 While park access is important for everyone, access is disproportionately lower for low-income communities and communities of color, who are also more likely to live near parks without sufficient space or facilities.

This indicator measures the percentage of the population living within a half-mile of a park, beach, or open space that is larger than 1 acre. A half mile is an approximately 10-minute walk for many people.

Committee on Physical Activity, Health, Transportation, and Land Use, “Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity?”

Hunter et al., “The Impact of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in Urban Green Space: A Systematic Review and Recommendations for Future Research.”

Subcommittee of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth.”

Sallis and Spoon, “Making the Case for Designing Active Cities.”

Wolch, Byrne, and Newel, “Urban Green Space, Public Health, and Environmental Justice: The Challenge of Making Cities ‘Just Green Enough.’”

Cohen et al., “Impact of Park Renovations on Park Use and Park-Based Physical Activity.”

Boweler, D. et al., “How Effective Is ‘Greening’ Of Urban Areas In Reducing Human Exposure To Ground Level Ozone Concentrations, Uv Exposure And The ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’?,” Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Review 08, no. 004 (2010), www.environmentalevidence.org/SR41.html.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Reducing Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies- Cool Roofs,” 2008.

Younger M, Morrow-Almeida H, Vindigni S, and Dannenberg A. 2008. The built environment, climate change, and health: Opportunities for co-benefits. American Journal of Preventive Medicine: 35:5, 517-526.

Wolf K. 2014. Water and wellness: Green infrastructure for health co-benefits. Storm water Report: Water Environment Federation (WEF). stormwater.wef.org/2014/04/water-wellness/. Accessed 13 April 2016.

Improving access to parks requires a range of strategies to assess park conditions, plan for equitable access, and make parks safe and active. Jurisdictions seeking to improve park access should first 

. Planning efforts should typically start with an assessment of current park conditions, community needs, health conditions and gaps. In addition to the park access indicator in the Healthy Places Index, planners should consider use or burden measures such as park space per person within service areas, as well as historic capital and operations expenditures by park, neighborhood and user—with an eye to improving access and conditions in communities that have been historically left behind. A variety of tools exist to assess park access and conditions, such as the Trust for Public Land’s 

, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 

Parks and Trails Health Impact Assessment Toolkit

, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation’s 

Park Access Tool and Community FactFinder

Because neighborhood residents are experts about their community needs, jurisdictions should ensure that park planning, design and programming incorporates residents’ ideas. California’s Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program offers excellent best practices in community engagement during park planning:


Meet with residents near the project. Hold at least five park design meetings with residents at convenient locations near the project site for residents lacking transportation. Also schedule meetings at various times to accommodate work and family.
Invite residents to provide their ideas. Use at least three methods to invite residents and consider language, cultural and access and functional needs, as well as child care and food. Encourage neighborhood youth, seniors, and parents to be a part of the design process so that the needs of different generations are met.
Engage in dialogue during meetings. Ask residents to identify their needs and design ideas focusing on these key factors:



Selection of the recreation features and their design;
Most practical location of features within the park; and
Safe public use and park beautification such as landscaping or art.


 before initiating larger scale park construction or rehabilitation to ensure that people are not displaced, if improvements spark increased rents

In addition to planning, jurisdictions should 

 to ensure that they maximize health benefits. Parks should be designed with active uses and safety in mind, and coupled with programming to maximize use, ensure safety, and increase physical activity. Jurisdictions should also ensure that existing parks are well maintained, and that communities know about the parks and activities open to them.

Improving park access and park quality can be expensive, but there are several funding tools available to California jurisdictions and park districts. The State Department of Parks and Recreation administers 

grants through its Office of Grants and Local Services

 and has improved or created over 7,400 parks since 1964. ChangeLab Solutions has produced an excellent guide to funding tools—

Local Agency Strategies for Funding the Development and Maintenance of Parks and Recreation Facilities in California

In addition to traditional funding mechanisms like taxes and developer fees, this guide suggests partnering with non-profit hospitals’ community benefit programs to fund park improvements. Jurisdictions can also approach their local public health department for assistance in navigating health funding. Jurisdictions should carefully evaluate the distribution of their existing resources and expenditures, for instance assessing their Capital Improvement Plans and budgets to ensure equity in park funding. As part of these processes, jurisdictions should consider auditing existing park facilities and conditions (with community input and participation), assessing the relative equity of past/planned funding allocations, and investing in areas that are park poor, or with overburdened facilities. Budgeting processes should be transparent and open to the public.

Ensure that parks encourage health through thoughtful design, programs and outreach.

Physical Activity

Equity

Promising

Violence Prevention and Safety

Community Power and Connection

Climate

Park Design

Best Practice

Implement Specific Taxes for Community Benefit

Food Access

Strong Evidence

Park Programming

Sufficient Evidence

Education and Outreach

Existing Green Space Rehabilitation and Upkeep

Activity Programs for Older Adults

Assess current park conditions and shape policies to encourage equitable park access.

Policy Guide

Park Access

Make Parks Green, Safe and Active

Plan for Park Access