April 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 36

activity participation and building
healthy communities, a lack of access to quality park environments is
a serious problem that has the potential to exacerbate rates of obesity
and chronic disease among children,
adults and seniors from the most
vulnerable backgrounds.
In 2013, the University of South
Carolina Arnold School of Public Health embarked on a project
with several community partners to
explore these issues in Greenville
County, South Carolina. The primary purpose of the study is to examine
whether the availability, features and
quality of parks are equitably distributed across Greenville County according to a variety of demographic
indicators, such as household income
and other population characteristics
(e.g., race/ethnicity, education levels, youth population). The first step
in the 18-month project is to map all
255 Census block groups in the county, which encompasses approximately
785 square miles and houses 467,605
residents. Public parks operated by
six distinct agencies in the county
will then be combined and mapped in
Geographic Information Systems and
overlaid with the Census data. Furthermore, observational audits of all
109 parks will be conducted using the
Community Park Audit Tool to assess the available facilities (e.g., playgrounds), amenities (e.g., restrooms),
and quality and safety features (e.g.,
landscaping, litter, lighting). When
all analyses are completed, the study
will provide valuable insights into
one of the important potential causes
of lower physical activity and higher
obesity levels in disadvantaged neighborhoods and identify where efforts
should be targeted to reduce health
disparities in the City of Greenville
and surrounding areas.

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The project is supported by a grant
from the Piedmont Health Foundation, which lists as one of its primary
goals the amelioration of childhood
obesity in Greenville County. According to Executive Director Katy
Smith, " The foundation recognizes
the value of policy, systems and environmental approaches and we view
parks as a key component of healthy
communities. We are excited about
how this project will provide a comprehensive picture of the status of
park resources in the greater Greenville area, and we are confident it will
be a valuable planning tool for the six
parks agencies across our county. "
Indeed, similar past research has
been used for improving parks in
communities nationwide. For example, in 2011, a project funded by the
Health Care Foundation of Greater
Kansas City found that low-income
and high-minority areas of Kansas
City, Missouri, contained a greater number of parks, but on average,
parks in these neighborhoods often
lacked important facilities and amenities (e.g., playgrounds, trails, restrooms) and contained more quality
concerns (e.g., vandalism, litter, graffiti, etc.) and fewer aesthetic features
(e.g., landscaping, historical/educational monuments). This information
aided local officials in determining
what was being done well with respect to park access and availability,
but also where greater investments
in maintenance and facilities should
be prioritized. It also provides hard
data for grant applications and budget requests to support ongoing improvements to the city's green infrastructure.
In future stages of the Greenville
County project, we hope to pair the extensive park access data with information about residents' physical activity

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levels, obesity and chronic disease patterns to better understand the impact
of parks on community health. For
example, in our past research in Kansas City, youth who lived within half a
mile of a park were more than twice as
likely to achieve recommended levels
of physical activity during the course
of the week. In Canada, another study
found that youth who had access to a
playground, specifically, within a nearby park were five times more likely to
be a healthy weight rather than overweight or obese. Studies such as these
emphasize the importance of ensuring
all residents, especially children, have
easy access to parks.
As we move forward with ensuring
environmental justice, researchers
and professionals in public health,
planning, and parks and recreation
must work together to examine policies and practices that contribute to
and might rectify disparities in access
to safe and attractive parks and open
spaces. Combined with data about
the current state of resources, this
will lead to significant advancements
in leveling the playing field so all future generations may enjoy the health
benefits of public parks.
Detailed references for this article can be found at www.parks
andrecreation.org/2014/April/
Evaluating-Park-Access-and-Eq
uity-to-Promote-Physical-Activityand-Public-Health.
Andrew Kaczynski, Ph.D., is an Assistant
Professor and Director of the Built
Environment and Community Health (BEACH)
Laboratory in the Department of Health
Promotion, Education and Behavior within the
Arnold School of Public Health and the CDC
Prevention Research Center at the University
of South Carolina (atkaczyn@mailbox.sc.edu).
Morgan Hughey, MPH, is a Ph.D. student
and project managerin the same department
and a resident of Greenville County
(morganhughey@gmail.com).
April 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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