Urbanites get a walk in the park
More big-city dwellers are living close to one
SAN FRANCISCO – Even amid a rare May drizzle, Golden Gate Park dazzled with its grandeur as visitors walked their dogs, pushed babies on strollers or merely enjoyed the lush, green surroundings from a bench.
Aidan Gould, a product manager for the San Francisco Unified School District, called the availability of such a recreation area “indispensable.”
His friend and former roommate Colin Davis, visiting from London on Sunday, said, “You feel like you’re actually out of the city while still being in the city.”
The folks at the Trust for Public Land want to make sure more city dwellers have that same experience.
The nonprofit organization’s
eighth annual ParkScore index, released Wednesday, reveals 72% of the people in the United States’ 100 largest cities live within a 10-minute walk – or half a mile – from an urban park. This year, Washington, D.C., climbed to the top of the composite rankings, thanks to renewed investment in playgrounds and park amenities.
But while the latest index shows an uptick from last year’s 70% figure, that’s still far from the trust’s goal of universal access a short walk away, regardless of income levels. San Francisco, which came in seventh in the rankings, and Boston (13th) are the only cities on the list that can make that claim.
And in many cases, wealth still plays a factor in the quality of the facilities.
“Ultimately, what we’re working to do is make sure your ZIP code doesn’t determine whether or not you have access to meaningful outdoor experiences, which we all know are so good for a variety of (benefits), not to mention cooling cities up to a half-mile around the park by 14 to 17 degrees,” said Simone McGurl, the trust’s chief of staff.
At a time when the country is grappling with an obesity epidemic and much of the planet is feeling the effects of climate change, park advocates are pushing to make easy access to outdoors activities a bigger priority.
They’re encouraged to see major commitments from cities such as Philadelphia, which rose from 30th to 19th in the rankings largely because of a $500 million initiative to improve its neighborhood parks, libraries and recreation centers. Considering Philadelphia’s poverty rate hovers above 25%, such an investment figures to help close a gap in the access to quality facilities for residents of lower means.
“The big thing we found is that, while folks regardless of income have roughly the same access to parks, what’s actually in the parks can be very different,” said Charlie McCabe, the trust’s director of the Center for City Park Excellence.
He added that a growing number of cities, including San Francisco and perennially high-ranking Minneapolis, have put together park-equity plans to address the disparity.
Even though there are 23,727 parks in the country’s 100 largest cities, more than 11 million of their residents don’t live within half a mile of those public facilities, according to the trust.
And McCabe acknowledged that when taking into account the 14,000 urbanized areas the trust has examined, the percentage of residents within a 10-minute walk to a park dropped from 72% to 54%.
“We need to do a lot of work to try and get people within walking distance of parks,” he said. “And the reason we focus on that is that if you have fewer barriers to visit … and you have things to do in that park that are meaningful and allow you to get some form of moderate to vigorous exercise, that’s a really good thing.”
At the current rate of park creation, the trust estimates it would take 50 years for the 100 largest cities to unveil enough new facilities to close the gap from 72% to 100% access. The biggest obstacle to that goal is money, which probably would have to come not merely from cities but from public-private partnerships, with help from nonprofits. In addition to park access, the ParkScore rankings were based on acreage, investment and amenities such as basketball hoops, water play structures and restrooms.
Boise, Idaho, is tops for the best park system for dogs; Madison, Wisconsin, is No. 1 for playgrounds.
Those enjoying Golden Gate Park last weekend didn’t need to be convinced of the value of an outdoor oasis. San Francisco resident Kristin Bredemeier, who likes getting lost in the enormity of a park that’s 3 miles long and half a mile wide, was joined in her dog-sitting duties by her friend Harunah Ntege.
Urban parks “bring people together,” Ntege said. “Just walking around, you run into all kinds of people, and everybody is friendly and willing to chat. Dogs hanging around with dogs. There’s a social aspect to it.”
Like Ntege, Diana Fuery and Stew Kroll were in town from the East Bay, where they’re avid cyclists and hikers. She’s particularly fond of the area around Oakland’s Lake Merritt, where she used to take her son when he was a kid.
“People on the weekends have these open barbecues,” she said. “You can hang out, you can make friends. What I love about running there is that every nationality is there, and you hear 20 different languages. It’s fabulous.”