How can new community parks enhance human health in marginalized communities?
Higher Education Press
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Number of days participated in physical activities before and after park construction.
view moreCredit: Musab Wedyan, Angle Cruz, Fatemeh Saeidi-Rizi, Jun-Hyun Kim
Community parks are part of urban ecosystem services which help improve urban sustainability and human well-being. The relationship between people’s perceptions of their overall physical health and the availability of green areas has been the subject of recent research. However, numerous issues related to green spaces accessibility have affected the marginalized communities. The residents in low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods often have more quality and safety concerns, which limit their willingness to access park facilities. Therefore, the contribution of this study lies in exploring how a newly developed community park can influence the physical and mental health, safety, and overall quality of life of individuals residing in marginalized communities, which was published on the journal of Landscape Architecture Frontiers and entitled “The Prospective Role of New Community Parks in Enhancing Human Health in Marginalized Communities: A Case of Kellogg Park in Ventura, California, USA”
Kellogg Park is located in the heart of the west side of Ventura (officially named San Buenaventura), on the coast of Southern California, USA. According to statistics from the platform of City-Data, the mean household income for the lowest quintile in Ventura County is significantly lower than the county’s median household income, indicating a substantial income disparity within the region. Meanwhile, Kellogg Park is newly built and has not been extensively researched. Thus, it was selected as the study object to demonstrate how a newly developed urban park can influence the health of community members in marginalized areas.
The researchers collected the data by conducting an in-person survey, which covered questions related to environmental and safety perceptions, overall satisfaction, changes in physical activity changes and mental health with respondents’ pre- and post-occupancy experiences. For analyzing data, bivariate analyses using a t-test and a correlation analysis were conducted to examine if there was a relationship between the overall satisfaction and visiting experience.
The primary finding showed that improved health was closely related to the availability of urban green spaces. s. It also indicated a marked increase in physical activities, like biking and walking, after the construction of this park, aligning with previous studies evaluating park elements’ influence on visit frequency. Besides the physical health, many respondents reported feeling better mentally, echoing the Attention Restoration Theory and suggesting that new parks were vital for mental rejuvenation, especially in underserved areas.
These results underscore the need for policy-makers and urban planners to prioritize the development of new green spaces in marginalized areas. The significance of this research lies in its ability to highlight the transformative potential of new parks, offering a roadmap for inclusive, equitable, and health-promoting urban development in the future.
However, there were limitations of this study. The main one was that the study was conducted only on one site in California. Including multiple sites would have provided stronger research results. Also, data collection was limited to a period in summer, offering only a snapshot of the communities’ park usage. Future research could benefit from incorporating a broader range of mental health measures to provide a more comprehensive assessment.
Journal
Landscape Architecture Frontiers
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
The Prospective Role of New Community Parks in Enhancing Human Health in Marginalized Communities: A Case of Kellogg Park in Ventura, California, USA
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