News Release
NC State Researchers to Study Relationship Between Park Design and Use
Media Contact(s)
Tracey Peake, News Services, (919) 515-6142
June 6, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
With childhood obesity increasing in the United States, creating fun and inexpensive ways for children to be more active is vital. A group of researchers from North Carolina State University are looking at one way to address this problem by studying the relationship between communities and local park usage.
Robin Moore, professor of landscape architecture in NC State’s College of Design, and Dr. Jason Bocarro, assistant professor of parks, recreation and tourism management in NC State’s College of Natural Resources, are part of a larger team from both colleges involved in studying urban parks and how they are being used – or not used – by local residents, particularly in disadvantaged communities which are traditionally at higher risk for obesity.
The NC State team has received a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study park use in Durham, which was selected because it’s an urban environment with a very high concentration of parks in the central area of the city.
The researchers hope that their analysis will aid park professionals and city planners in helping local residents get the most out of existing parks, as well as aid them in planning future parks.
“The aim is to figure out both what families find attractive about parks and what prevents them from using the parks – location and traffic issues, safety concerns, etc. – and to use that information in ways that will increase the park’s effectiveness,” Bocarro says.
The researchers will study park design, the physical characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood, such as population type and density and traffic patterns, and the type of use the parks receive. Their analysis should be completed by 2009.
“The lion’s share of data gathering will be done this summer,” Moore adds. “We’ll be conducting focus groups within the community as well as studying who comes to the parks, and what activities they engage in while they’re here. The following year will be devoted to data analysis, and then we hope to present a set of recommendations to community planners.”
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