Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Create a space for community members to congregate safely by adding a park. By providing a safe place for kids to play and parents to bring their little ones, cities can enjoy more beautiful areas for residents to play and relax in. Community parks provide a variety of benefits to the surrounding area. From a safe place for physical activity to elevated property values in the immediate vicinity, there are many ways for both residents and local government officials to benefit from parks.
For your community to reap the benefits of parks and recreation areas fully, these places must have attractive designs, accessible amenities and play areas for everyone. Learn about the importance of parks and playgrounds and how they can be beneficial additions to your community.
What Is a Community Park? Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022
Community parks serve large geographic areas, like a city rather than a neighborhood. They serve a broader purpose and accommodate a wide range of recreation needs based on the surrounding community. Community parks are meant to have many activities and amenities to keep visitors of all ages active and engaged for an entire day.
These parks may have nature trails, swimming pools, splash pads, basketball courts, tennis centers, volleyball courts, thematic playgrounds and more features. Community parks also commonly feature picnic areas and pavilions and other additional facilities like bathrooms, parking, indoor recreation space, event space and on-site park attendants.
Benefits of Community Parks
The benefits of parks make them irresistible to surrounding residents. In urban areas, community parks may be one of the only options for residents to enjoy nature and be active. In addition to the variety of amenities, community playgrounds and parks are beneficial in many other ways: Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022 Benefits of Parks in Your Community 2022
- Contribute to community identity
- Provide active and passive recreational opportunities
- Appeal to all ages
- Contribute to the health and wellness of a community
- Create valuable green space
Parks are beneficial to humans for many reasons, and they are also beneficial to native plants and animals. Especially in urban areas like cities, parks are an effective area to encourage native flora and fauna to grow. This will make the area more inviting and safe for wildlife to enjoy, as well.
Why Are Parks Important?
Parks and playgrounds can become the hearts of communities, meaning community planners should make these recreation areas high priorities. Parks are more than green spaces that beautify a community. Residents, kids and local governments all benefit from the creation of a local park or play space.
1. Promoting Community Wellness
Many Americans live sedentary lifestyles, especially today. Parks help provide places for community members to get outside and be active, encouraging a healthier lifestyle.
Studies have linked parks to increases in aerobic exercise. Local green spaces spurred a 25.6% increase in people getting active at least three times a week. Incorporating outreach with a new recreation area led to 48.4% in exercise with a subsequent rise in aerobic capacity of 5.1%.
The wellness benefits extend past encouraging better physical health — parks and recreation areas can also help improve mental health. Increasing green space nearby by only 10% led to a decrease in health complaints. Simply viewing nature-inspired scenery led to reports of less fear and anger and more considerable attention and peacefulness.
Communities need to promote their residents’ well-being. Creating recreation areas is one way to cater to the needs of both mind and body. Community members may use the park to walk their dog, play basketball, ride their bike or enjoy a picnic with friends. Regardless of how they choose to use the space, they’ll be able to benefit in their own way from the opportunity for physical, mental and social health that a park provides to the community.
2. Clearing the Air
In cities, air pollution from cars and industrial plants can reach dangerous levels for the residents. Planting trees in recreation areas can combat this problem.
Each acre of tree cover can remove 80 pounds of pollution from the air. Across the United States, this adds up to an estimated 75,000 tons of pollution removed from the air, which provides the national economy a $500 million benefit.
To get the most significant benefit from these green spaces, cities should reduce the use of maintenance equipment that contributes further to air pollution.
In addition to removing pollution, trees and green spaces also use carbon dioxide (CO2) to create food, taking it out of the atmosphere and helping to reduce climate change. Each acre of trees removes 1.2 tons of carbon dioxide each year. An acre of trees stores 40 tons of CO2, while the same area of soil holds 32 tons of this gas.
Greenery’s contribution to lowering air pollution and fighting climate change is only one of the reasons behind the importance of parks and playgrounds in cities, though this effect benefits people around the world.
3. Providing Connection Space
With the internet’s prevalence, it’s become more common to go from work to home without changing up the routine. Parks give individuals a space for meeting their neighbors in person. Community parks can be spaces for kids and adults to gather and meet new people who enjoy similar activities. Picnic areas provide space for large gatherings like parties or reunions.
Thrilling playground equipment can further entice visitors and encourage parents to bring their kids multiple times. As parents visit a park more, it’s more likely they’ll meet more of their community members.
Those interactions then form the basis of community. Separate families and individuals can bond together with the intention to help their surrounding community and fellow community members. In a 2016 study, communities that dedicated more space to communal park areas had residents who reported higher community well-being levels.