Photographer credit: Alessandro Filazzola
By Alessandro Filazzola, Garland Xie, Katie Birchard, Namrata Shrestha, Danny Brown, and J. Scott MacIvor.
Parks are integral components of cities, supporting the health and well-being of residents. Parks are often considered an important area, especially in the summer, to cool off, relax, and exercise. However, not everyone has equal access to parks, which has health implication with a warming climate. We looked at some of the biggest parks in Toronto, Canada to compare visitation activity, surrounding housing density, and daily weather. We found that parks with more space per person were usually in areas with more single-detached houses, more car ownership, and fewer apartment buildings. Interestingly, the weather did not appear to affect visitation rates, but more people visited parks on weekends and holidays. Our study suggests that people living in denser areas might not have enough accessible green spaces, especially those living in apartment buildings. We suggest community-focused approaches to increase park accessibility and encourage policies that support equitable availability of green spaces. Our results show that well-designed and well-kept parks with lots of facilities can increase the visitation and appeal of urban parks.
Relational Thinking 