Urban park use during the pandemic

Do shifting recreation patterns disproportionately burden socially vulnerable communities?

The COVID-19 causes significant impacts on human behaviors. People have to alter recreation patterns from indoor facilities to outdoor parks/green spaces to maintain health during the quarantine. However, the extent to which shifting recreation patterns differ across diverse communities is unknown, raising concerns about environmental justice.

In study we used a mixed-method approach to examine how urban park use change across diverse populations during the COVID-19 and explored potentially magnified impacts on socially vulnerable communities. First, we surveyed 610 urban residents across NC, USA. The survey asked their park use pre and post-COVID-19 and recorded demographic information (e.g., socioeconomic status [SES], education, race/ethnicity, and age). We used multinomial logic models to exam pre and post-use. Second, we used cell phone tracking data to document pre and post-COVID-19 park use. We used generalized linear regression to analyze relationships between pre-use, post-use and change, and SES, race/ethnicity, and park attributes of census tracts, respectively. Both results indicating the park use decreases during the pandemic, and the decline appears to be more pronounced in vulnerable communities. Survey data suggested that low-SES communities were more likely to decrease use; cell phone data showed that race/ethnicity vulnerable communities tended to decrease use.

Our results raise broader concerns about urban park use (and subsequent health impacts) during the COVID-19 and additional questions about how those negative impacts might be (inequitably) distributed across diverse communities. (#COVID19#Pandemic#Parkuse)

Do green schoolyards enhance students’ positive feeling of schoolyards?

Use of nature-based school grounds can enhance students’ perceptions of schoolyard benefits

Implementing nature-rich elements in schoolyards may enhance school experiences by connecting children with nature. Previous research provides evidence of green schoolyards can be beneficial to children and community, but little research explores students’ perceptions about the benefits of schoolyards and how natural elements and the use may shape student experience.

This research addressed this by examining the relationship between nature-based attributes and nature-based use with students’ perceptions of schoolyards’ benefits to self (e.g. playing, learning) and the community (e.g. improving air and water quality) across 9 schools in Raleigh, North Carolina (n = 199). In general, students viewed schoolyards in a positive way, and they perceived more benefits to self than community. From regression analyses, we found that the isolated effect of the presence of nature-based attributes was limited. Instead, the use of nature-based attributes had a stronger effect on students’ positive feelings towards schoolyards.

The findings suggest that schoolyard greening efforts should be paired with policies and curricular practices to encourage interaction with nature-based elements to ensure benefits are fully realized by students. (#greenschoolyard #children #benefit)

Greenness equity across public school district

Schoolyards as sources of green equity: understanding spatial and demographic distribution of urban green infrastructure

The distribution of green infrastructure (GI) across urban landscapes can result in inequitable delivery of ecosystem services to residents. As public school districts own land across municipalities and serve diverse populations, they have the opportunity to address these injustices. This study assessed the potential for public schoolyards in four North Carolina metropolitan areas of diverse socio-economic and demographic compositions to provide equal access to GI. We found that the extent of tree canopy cover and greenness in schoolyards was unrelated to the socioeconomic status and the race/ethnicity of students across the four school districts. In contrast, lower socioeconomic status and increased diversity in race/ethnicity were associated with both lower tree canopy cover and lower overall greenness in the neighborhoods. Schoolyards are therefore a potentially powerful source of green equity, making school districts important partners to expand urban GI.(#greeninfrastructure #schoolyard #children)