12 THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PARKS AND THEIR ECONOMIC IMPACTS Health Impacts of General Park Usage and Green Space Beyond the connection of parks and physical activity, usage of park services is associated with reductions in various negative health outcomes and illnesses. Spending even 120 minutes in green spaces has been associated with higher levels of reported good health and well-being (White et al. 2019). Evidence has associated time spent in parks and green spaces with reductions in complications caused by chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease (Bowler et al. 2010; NRPA 2015). Evidence from a large-scale Dutch survey suggests that proximity to green space has a positive effect on self-perceived general physical health, with a larger effect for the elderly, youth, and families with low incomes (Maas et al. 2006). A significant body of evidence supports the connection between park and green space and children’s physical health. A study using survey data of Latinx children in Houston, Texas, found that those living in areas with a higher density of tree cover had lower levels of obesity and a higher healthrelated quality of life (Kim Lee, and Sohn 2016). Similar studies using survey data of children found that park space had a more significant impact on health for urban and suburban children than for rural children (Tillmann, Clark, and Gilliland 2018).
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