Rethinking Parks Planning - Catching Up from Behind

Course Details

It is well documented that parks and recreation promote public health and wellness and increase environmental stewardship in communities across the country. Because of this, citizens view parks as important to their quality of life; however, politicians and city administrators often regard them as a lower priority.

This presentation highlights a case study that approached parks planning from a new, strong-towns and complete-parks perspective focused on growing, improving, and maintaining a parks system as an essential part of a city's civic infrastructure. Presenters describe the attributes and building blocks of a complete park and how these quality places and spaces contribute to overall community health and wealth creation. They describe new parks planning that maximizes accessibility and use in a fiscally sustainable way. Learn about various types of engagement that focused on capacity building.

Learning Outcomes

• Assess how underlying historical factors can lead to opportunities for parks, trails, open spaces, and other health- and recreation-related resources.
• Identify opportunities to rethink public engagement by focusing on building capacity rather than gathering input.
• Describe the attributes and building blocks of complete parks focused on maximizing access to parks, trails, open spaces, and other recreation opportunities that improve health outcomes.