Abstract
Degraded parks in disadvantaged areas are underutilized for recreation, which may impact long-term health. Using a natural experiment, we examined the effects of local government refurbishments to parks (n = 3 intervention; n = 3 comparison) in low socioeconomic areas (LSEA) of Melbourne on park use, health behavior, social engagement and psychological well-being. Amenities promoting physical activity and sun protection included walking paths, playground equipment and built shade. Outcomes were measured via systematic observations, and self-report surveys of park visitors over three years. The refurbishments significantly increased park use, while shade use increased only in parks with shade sails. A trend for increased social engagement was also detected. Findings infer improvement of quality, number and type of amenities in degraded parks can substantially increase park use in LSEA. Findings support provision of shade over well-designed playgrounds in future park refurbishments to enhance engagement and sun protection behavior. Further research should identify park amenities to increase physical activity.
Highlights
Physical inactivity exerts significant impacts on disease outcomes for communities [1,2]
A slightly higher proportion of females and children at intervention parks relative to comparison parks (44.7% cf. 37.1%; and 35.9% cf. 30.3%, respectively) and a slightly higher proportion of visitors were observed at intervention parks during times of strong wind relative to comparison parks
There was a greater proportion of park visitors engaged in moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity at the intervention parks compared with the comparison parks during T1 (86.6% cf. 74.5%)
Summary
Physical inactivity exerts significant impacts on disease outcomes for communities [1,2]. The attractiveness and amenity of parks are generally not equitable, with parks located in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas typically having fewer and/or poorer-quality amenities than advantaged areas [10,11,12,13] This lack of amenity likely contributes to lower engagement in outdoor recreation and physical activity and to having fewer opportunities for park-related social interaction among residents in these disadvantaged communities. Such disparities in amenities might partly explain the amelioration of higher mortality rates from circulatory diseases in low socioeconomic areas with greater access to green space [14]. Socioecological models highlight the role of multiple levels of influence of the social and physical
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