City Spending Is Positively Related To Citizen Park Access

PURPOSE: Park amenities represent a public investment to promote healthy lifestyle choices. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are relationships between walkability to public parks, city investment in park spaces, and park amenities. METHODS: All park data are from the 2023 Trust for Public Land (TPL) City Park Facts for the 100 most populous cities in the United States. Spending is the per capita combined public and private sector investments in the park system, adjusted using the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities. Walkability reflects the percentage of residents that live within a ten-minute walk of at least one park (10 MW). The availability of six different amenities is reported by TPL as a score out of 100 that reflects the relative availability of basketball hoops, dog parks, playgrounds, recreation and senior centers, restrooms, and splashpads. City population, percent of residents that are white and percent of residents that are Hispanic are taken from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Correlations and linear regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between park spending, 10 MW, the provision of the six amenities, and population characteristics. RESULTS: Total spending was significantly positively correlated with 10 MW (r = 0.36), basketball hoops (r = 0.25), recreation centers (r = 0.24), and restrooms (r = 0.40) and negatively correlated with the percentage of the residents identifying as Hispanic (r = -0.38). Living within a 10-minute walk was significantly correlated with basketball hoops, dog parks, playgrounds, recreation centers, and splashpads (p < 0.05) but not with restrooms (p = 0.37). The regression model including spending, all six amenities, percent white, Percent Hispanic, and the total population size explained 31.7% of the variance in 10 MW. The only significant predictors of 10 MW were spending (b = 0.08, p < 0.01) and dog parks (b = 0.14, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Total park spending is significantly associated with overall walkability, even when controlling for available amenities and population characteristics. Cities that have more dog parks are likely to have higher overall accessibility of park spaces. Additional research is needed to investigate the longitudinal influence of park investment on park access and quality.