6 THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PARKS AND THEIR ECONOMIC IMPACTS Shandas, and Pendleton 2020). Similar associations appear in research about racial equity and park quality. An analysis using park audits found that as a neighborhood’s share of people of color increased, the number of disamenities (e.g., dangerous spots, excessive litter, waste and noise, poor maintenance, vandalism) in parks increased and amenities (e.g., benches, trails, drinking fountains, and lights) decreased (Hughey et al. 2016). The conversation about racial equity in park access is critical because research has suggested a link between measures of park access (proximity to parks and park quality) and higher rates of park use and physical activity. Park proximity can be measured by distance to the closest park or by amount of park space in the surrounding area. Park quality is a more subjective measure, but the Urban Land Institute offers five criteria for considering park quality; their framework measures whether a park is wellmaintained, accessible, well-programmed, relevant to community, and flexible (MacCleery, McConville, and Hammerschmidt 2021). Considering park congestion level (i.e., number of people per park acre if each person were to utilize the nearest park) is also important in framing who has quality access. Research shows that Latinx Americans, and to some extent Black Americans (including lower-income householders) were most likely to live closest to congested parks (Wolch et al. 2014). This correlation is driven in part by which neighborhoods people of color tend to live in. Some debate exists within the literature about the impact of self-selection on where a person chooses or is able to live, but proximity to park space remains a key driver of park access. The literature is inconclusive about whether distance to nearest park space or density of surrounding park space has a more significant effect on physical activity; both have been associated with higher park use and physical activity (Kaczynski and Mowen 2011; Mackenbach et al. 2018). This correlation holds true even among those who put low importance on park space (Kaczynski and Mowen 2011). A survey of Kansas City, Missouri, households found a significant relationship between self-reported use of park space for physical activity and the amount of park space within one mile (diversity of park amenities was also associated with higher rates of use; see Kaczynski et al. 2014). Interestingly, distance to closest park space was not significantly associated with use. Empirical evidence suggests that perceptions of park quality are positively associated with park use and subsequently with higher rates of physical activity among those with positive park perception (Bai et al. 2013). This association is also present among youth; a study in Baltimore among predominately Black high-school students showed a positive effect for self-reported perceptions of park quality and availability on park usage, with a more tenuous link between perceived availability and physical activity (Ries et al. 2009). Several quasi-experimental studies have suggested that making improvements to
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