Everything You Need To Know About Making Parks More Equitably Accessible
Author: Austin Stanfel
As a supporter of shared areas for entertainment, engagement, and trust, park access should be a motivating factor for more sustainable and inclusive neighborhoods all over the country. However, parks can only attain their best extent if every home has access to such a green area.
We keep in mind that access should be unrestricted using transportation or an excessive distance. The significance of our goal has increased, and in this article, we have listed how we can assist communities in making parks more accessible. Continue reading the article to learn more.
How To Make Parks Equitably More Accessible:
1. Improving Park Ambiance:
There are signals like posted signs, the layout of park facilities, park regulations, etc., that indicate who public spaces are for and who feels at home. The design and governance of public spaces are not neutral in this regard.
It is necessary to use intentional urban planning to make public places welcoming for everyone, for instance, by collaborating with property owners to reclaim control of public space. Parks should be more accessible to everyone.
2. About A 10-Minute Walk:
The 10 Minute Walk project seeks to increase accessibility to high-quality, secure parks and green spaces in all American cities, no matter how big or small. By 2050, all people should live within a 10-minute walk of a park or other open space, according to the 10-Minute Walk initiative, which is being led by The Trust for Public Land (TPL).
The initiative collaborates with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), the Urban Land Institute, and The Trust for Public Land. City officials working to realize this goal and develop their communities are motivated by this cooperation to make promises.
3. Reframing Parks:
Finding property for other parks is a typical obstacle to equal access, especially in areas with few parks already in existence. Cities can provide locations that suit community needs by redesigning public spaces to help solve this significant concern.
When it’s feasible, creative thinking can increase the variety of park kinds and the options available for obtaining more parks. Cities should equitably rethink parks, working with local groups to carry out residents’ ideas for how to use their public places.
4. Funding for Park Equity:
Although financing for parks is frequently few and competitive, parks can be a catalyst for enhancing communities’ health, well-being, and way of life. Park departments for capital projects and ongoing operations and maintenance must secure funding.
The latter can be complicated to support, and local governments frequently bear the only or primary duty of doing so. To produce the most remarkable results for communities, funding choices should follow equitable policies that guarantee investments assist those with limited access to high-quality parks.
Conclusion:
Making parks equitable, creating a sense of identity at the park, and connecting the neighborhood to the green space can be accomplished through community engagement, data analysis, merged funding sources, and launching projects.