Association of park renovation with park use in New York City

Abstract Background Equity-driven citywide park redesign and renovation, such as the Community Parks Initiative (CPI), has the potential to increase park use and opportunities for physical activity in underserved communities. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in patterns of park use following park redesign and renovation in low-income New York City (NYC) neighborhoods. Methods The Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces study was a prospective quality improvement pre-post intervention study design with 33 intervention and 21 matched control neighborhood parks. Data were collected at baseline (prerenovation) and 2 follow-up points (3 months and 1-year post renovation) between 2016 to 2022 summers. Main outcomes encompassed park use and physical activity levels assessed using the well-validated System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities. Park use was quantified by total number of park users, categorized by age group (≤20 years vs ≥ 21 years), sex, and physical activity level (sitting or standing vs walking or vigorous activity). Changes in outcomes between groups were compared via the generalized estimation equation. Results A total of 28,322 park users were observed across 1,458 scans. At baseline, 59.7% were 20 years or younger, 46.3% were female, and 43.8% were sitting or standing. Intervention parks showed more net park users compared with control parks from baseline to the final follow-up (difference-in-difference relative rate ratio, 1.69 [95% CI, 1.22-2.35] users/scan). The association was driven by a significant increase in adult users at intervention parks and an overall decrease in all users at control parks. Conclusions In this quality improvement study, park redesign and renovation were positively associated with park use in low-income neighborhoods. However, park renovations may need to be accompanied by other programmatic strategies to increase physical activity.