Parks and Recreation System Planning

A New Approach for Creating Sustainable, Resilient Communities

David Barth

• Publisher: Island Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781610919333
• eBook ISBN: 9781610919340
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Parks and recreation systems have evolved in remarkable ways over the past two decades. No longer just playgrounds and ballfields, parks and open spaces have become recognized as essential green infrastructure with the potential to contribute to community resiliency and sustainability. To capitalize on this potential, the parks and recreation system planning process must evolve as well. In Parks and Recreation System Planning, David Barth provides a new, step-by-step approach to creating parks systems that generate greater economic, social, and environmental benefits.

Barth first advocates that parks and recreation systems should no longer be regarded as isolated facilities, but as elements of an integrated public realm. Each space should be designed to generate multiple community benefits. Next, he presents a new approach for parks and recreation planning that is integrated into community-wide issues. Chapters outline each step—evaluating existing systems, implementing a carefully crafted plan, and more—necessary for creating a successful, adaptable system. Throughout the book, he describes initiatives that are creating more resilient, sustainable, and engaging parks and recreation facilities, drawing from his experience consulting in more than 100 communities across the U.S.

Parks and Recreation System Planning meets the critical need to provide an up-to-date, comprehensive approach for planning parks and recreation systems across the country. This is essential reading for every parks and recreation professional, design professional, and public official who wants their community to thrive.

PART III

EXECUTING THE NEW APPROACH

07 EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS

Before beginning this third and final part of the book, let’s recap the big ideas presented thus far. First, part I established the philosophical foundation underlying the idea of generating multiple community benefits through the parks and recreation system planning process. This included the concept of parks and the public realm as an integrated system; the concept of alternative dimensions of parks and recreation systems that could be addressed through the planning process; and the concept of High-Performance Public Spaces.

Part II advocated for a more thoughtful and robust process for parks and recreation system planning, including the integration of methodologies from applied social research and strategic planning. It also proposed that planners spend more time initiating and planning the parks and recreation system master plan (PRSMP) process, including preparation of a readiness audit, project charter, project plan, and preliminary implementation framework.

Part III incorporates the ideas from parts I and II into a step-by-step guide to each major phase of the PRSMP process—analyzing the existing parks and recreation system, conducting a needs assessment, establishing level-of-service (LOS) standards, creating a long-range vision, and developing a realistic, actionable funding and implementation plan. This chapter focuses on the first phase, the existing conditions analysis.

Overview

The purpose of this phase of work is to evaluate existing conditions in order to identify implications for the parks and recreation system, the public realm, and community resiliency and sustainability. For example, the site evaluations may determine that the community has deferred maintenance on its parks and recreation facilities and should focus on correcting deficiencies before acquiring and developing new parkland. Research and discussions with the public works or engineering department may reveal new information, such as the need for additional stormwater treatment or floodwater storage in certain areas of the community or the opportunity to meet recreation needs and stormwater needs on the same site. Investigation into crime rates and safety issues could identify hot spots that might benefit from additional security, nighttime recreation programs, or design modifications in accordance with guidelines for crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). Parking and transportation issues could be investigated to determine the potential role of parks in providing trail connections, bike-share stations, overflow parking, transit stops, or other multimodal transportation solutions. And discussions regarding housing and economic development could detect opportunities for parks and green spaces to stabilize neighborhoods, improve property values, and catalyze redevelopment. Planners must embark upon the analysis of existing conditions with an open mind in order to recognize real opportunities to increase community sustainability and resiliency; traditional plans, which focus solely on the conditions of the existing parks system, have often had a blind spot regarding such opportunities.

One of my colleagues coined this phase of work as the discovery phase, in which the planning team becomes immersed in discovering everything possible about the existing parks and recreation system as well as all the other dimensions of the project identified in the scope of work. The importance (and fun) of this discovery phase is nicely illustrated in an old episode of the ABC News show Nightline titled “The Deep Dive” (aired July 13, 1999; available on YouTube). The show explores how an innovative design process works by asking the global design company IDEO to redesign a shopping cart in a five-day period. Several takeaways from the show are directly applicable to the existing conditions analysis phase of a PRSMP.

First, IDEO assembled a multidisciplinary, collaborative team to address the shopping cart challenge, including an individual with a master’s degree in business administration, a linguist, an engineer, a biologist, a marketer, and a psychologist; the company’s philosophy was that a multidisciplinary team would provide a much more comprehensive and multidimensional evaluation than would a one-dimensional team. The team then conducted site visits, interviews, and research to better understand the existing uses of shopping carts and associated issues. They visited grocery stores to observe customers’ shopping habits and use of carts, interviewed customers and store employees, and conducted research on shopping cart accidents, theft, and related issues. Team members then reconvened to share their findings and collaboratively identified alternative dimensions of shopping cart design, including child safety, shopping, checkout, location of store items, cart theft, privacy (from other shoppers), manufacturing costs, cart nesting, wind resistance (in parking lots), and life-cycle costs. The findings from this deep dive evaluation of existing conditions formed the foundation for the remainder of the shopping cart design process, which led to the revolutionary reinvention of the shopping cart in response to users’ needs.

The exact scope of the existing conditions analysis phase of a PRSMP will vary depending on the dimensions included in the scope of work. It is important to remember that this phase is not just a perfunctory check-the-box exercise but is an effort to truly understand conditions, issues, and opportunities to meet residents’ parks and recreation needs while also generating economic, social, and environmental benefits for the community, such as increased property values, improved health, and higher resistance to the impacts of climate change. The authors of Management of Park and Recreation Agencies refer to this as an “environmental scan” that includes demographic data, social problems, physical resources status and changes, economic data, technology, environmental quality, and political atmosphere.¹ Four of the most common dimensions to be evaluated, discussed in the sections that follow, are the existing and projected demographics; the existing parks and recreation system, including facilities, programs, staffing, and operations; other elements of the public realm, such as transportation, stormwater, utilities, and schools; and community-wide social, environmental, and economic issues.

Existing and Projected Demographics

The purpose of conducting a deep dive into demographics is to better understand the characteristics of the population to be potentially served by the parks and recreation system. This includes not only the current customers of the system but also those who may be under-represented. Relevant demographic information may include ethnic heritage, age, gender, residence, occupation, income level, religious affiliation, education level, disabilities and health status, and family configuration. These demographics may have implications for residents’ needs or preferences for parks and recreation opportunities.

It is important to distinguish between demographic data, projections, and analysis. Demographic data reflects existing conditions at the time the data was collected but does not—by itself—reflect trends, issues, or needs that may be relevant to the PRSMP. Most demographic data in the United States is collected by the US Census Bureau (USCB) through censuses, surveys, and estimates. For example, the Decennial Census is conducted every ten years; the Economic Census measures the nation’s economy every five years; and the Census of Governments provides data about the nearly 90,000 state and local governments in the United States every five years.

Demographic projections try to predict future conditions, which are very important for a long-range PRSMP. The USCB, for example, publishes annual population estimates and demographic components of change, such as births, deaths, and migration, as well as estimates of population size and characteristics based on future demographic trends, including births, life expectancy, and migration patterns.

Several agencies and organizations also provide population projections, as well as an analysis or interpretation of the census data, including Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute), local metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state demographers’ offices, universities, social service organizations, and others. Also, many communities have planning departments, regional planning councils, and councils of governments that can provide local demographic data. For example, the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources System Plan for the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, included demographic projections and analysis from the USCB, the city’s comprehensive plan, Esri, and the Capital Area MPO.

The demographics analysis may have significant implications for the parks and recreation system. For example, in one community we found that 14 percent of residents’ incomes were below the 2015 Federal Poverty Level (FPL) of $11,770 for a family of four, and a majority of households (58 percent) earned less than the basic cost of living, known as the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold of $24,250. In other words, these were working households struggling to meet basic survival needs including housing, child care, food, transportation, and health care. The implications for the parks and recreation system included the following:

• A majority of residents did not have disposable income to spend on parks and recreation fees, so affordability would be important.
• A majority of residents did not have reliable private transportation, so walkable access to local parks and recreation facilities would be important.
• A majority of residents could not afford to take vacations, join fitness clubs, or attend private recreation facilities, so pu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: A Framework for Community Sustainability and Resiliency
• I Generating Multiple Benefits
• II Planning a Comprehensive Approach
• III Executing the New Approach
• Conclusion: The Power of Parks and Recreation System Planning
• Appendixes
• Notes
• Index