The perks of parks
Central Park is famous for being famous. It’s so famous, in fact, that the coffeehouse where the six friends in the NBC hit show, “Friends,” hung out is named Central Perk.
Just as famous are these landmark letters, carved on the face of a hill: HOLLYWOOD. But the park that houses them? Not so much. Griffith Park, a sprawling and rugged urban park in Los Angeles, is the Golden State’s equivalent of the Central Park, but is lesser known (to those outside of California.)
This, of course, may have nothing to do with the fact that in a recent report published by the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit which ranks America’s 100 most populous cities based on their ParkScore, Los Angeles placed at 88.
The second biggest city in the country is, therefore, embarking on a monumental project that will take a deep dive into the network of parks in and around it. The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks stewards over 16,000 acres of parkland, which includes 559 parks, 13 lakes, 92 miles of hiking trails, among other outdoor recreational spaces.
Shaping future parklands
True to its name, the Park Needs Assessment project will conduct a comprehensive “assessment” of the present state of the parks and make recommendations that will “shape the future of [those] parks for the next 25 years and beyond,” said Jimmy Kim, director of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, speaking at a February 21 Ethnic Media Services briefing. Kim has been with the department for 28 years.
This undertaking, which is happening after a gap of 16 years, will be spearheaded by OLIN, a studio which focuses on developing exquisite urban landscapes.
Jon Christensen, who teaches environmental studies at the University of California and was another panelist at this event, explained that the project has four elements.
It takes a rigorous, data-driven approach. The mix of data that will be inputted include metrics like, intensity of “heat island effect,” the area of land covered by branches and crowns of trees, the number of households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, degree of pollution, etc.
Engaging the community
The project will ensure that it hears the voices of all Angelenos. It will make a robust effort to engage the entire community by seeking their feedback through numerous channels, which include taking surveys, town hall-like meetings, and some 80 pop-up events.
Its goal is to uplift neighborhoods, which, at the moment, don’t have green spaces within walking distance of their homes.
Two top reasons for the city’s drop in its ParkScore was the growing inequity and the loss of municipal funding, Christensen said. Residents in neighborhoods of color have 66 percent fewer park spaces as those in white neighborhoods. Low-income neighborhoods have 73 percent less park space as those in high-income neighborhoods.
The Park Needs Assessment initiative will also provide a roadmap for future capital investments and how and where they need to be allocated.
Setting an example
Jessica Henson, a partner at OLIN, who is leading the project, explained that experts working on it range from engineers to architects to ecologists. “We look forward to making it one of the best in the field and set an example for other cities to follow,” she said.
“We understand that not every neighborhood is the same and that not every neighborhood will have the same need. So, we will be working very closely with the council districts,” she said.
The work will proceed in four phases. “What we’re doing now is what we call grounding. It means that we are collecting a lot of data by reaching out to the various communities. This will help the Department of Recreation and Parks to understand the public’s knowledge about its parks and get feedback on their performance. Through May to August, we will be moving into evaluating the knowledge that we gain now and put it all together. In the fall, we will have a draft of our proposals, which will be available online for everyone to see it. The document will be ready at the end of this year,” Henson shared.
Public involvement
She encouraged the public to be involved at every step of the process. The surveys are available online and in 10 languages.
Parks may not seem like heavy-duty infrastructure, like roads, bridges and tunnels are, but they are no less vital, noted Kim. “The need to focus on parks is more urgent than ever before in the wake of increasing climate change.”
Francisco Romero, who supports the People, Parks, and Power (P3) initiative at the Prevention Institute, elaborated on the value of parks. “We believe that parks promote the seven dimensions of well-being: physical, social, cultural, emotional, economic, environmental, intellectual.” Other than that, the greenery within them offers shade, cools down the temperature, filters the air and acts as a buffer against noise.
In the ultimate, parks are oases of green amid the unrelenting grayness of concrete.
