Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Park Use in U.S. Cities

Abstract

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic focused attention on city parks as important public resources. However, it is unknown how city park use in 2020 compared to prior years and whether COVID-19 may have exacerbated racial/ethnic inequities in access. Moreover, traditional methods of measuring park use present major drawbacks.MethodsWe analyzed monthly mobility data derived from a large panel of smartphone devices, cross-referenced with a database of parks locations sourced from local agencies. We assessed park use trends in 44 of the 50 most populous U.S. cities from January 2018 to November 2020 using interrupted time series regressions. We also compared parks to other city amenities (e.g., gyms and libraries).ResultsBased on a sample of 5,559 city parks, park visits declined by 14.6% (95% CI [9.2, 19.7], p < 0.001) from March through November 2020, compared to prior levels and trends. When we segmented the COVID-19 period by time of widespread closures (March-April) and partial-to-full reopenings (May-November), we estimated a larger reduction during closures (35.7% reduction, 95% CI [33.5, 37.8], p < 0.001) compared to the reduction during reopenings (8.0% reduction, 95% CI [1.9, 13.7], p = 0.001). Reductions for other amenities were more prolonged. In park service areas where a greater proportion of residents were White, reopening was associated with more visits, suggesting that racial privilege influenced access.ConclusionsSmartphone mobility data can address a data availability gap for monitoring park use. Park use only declined modestly in 2020. Opportunities exist to make access more racially equitable.Significance statementParks are public resources that promote health. Little is known about how parks have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic, when parks have become particularly important public spaces. This study introduces an approach to monitor park use over time, using location data from smartphones. This approach enabled the authors to evaluate trends in park use during the pandemic, including major gaps in visits to parks according to whether they mostly served White residents or residents of color. This big data approach offers advantages over traditional methods for monitoring park use and can help city officials to identify and address inequities in park access.

Urban Park Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Socially Vulnerable Communities Disproportionately Impacted?

“…Our results showing a drop in urban park visitation during the pandemic mirror some studies documenting declines in urban park use over the same time period (Jay et al, 2021), but they appear to contradict other reports indicating a rise in park visits during COVID-19 (Day, 2020;Pregitzer et al, 2020;Venter et al, 2020). Such discrepancies might be explained in several ways.…”

“…Results also reflect disparities in park use and access to greenspace that have been observed in other countries during the pandemic (Burnett et al, 2021;Dushkova et al, 2021). In US-based studies, researchers found park visits during the pandemic decreased the most in areas where park availability was low (Curtis et al, 2021) and more residents were BIPOC (Jay et al, 2021). In places where park distribution and access is inequitable (i.e., socially vulnerable neighborhoods), alternative pathways to nature and outdoor recreation may be critical.…”

“…Our filtering process only focused on POIs with "park" in the title, which might have inadvertently excluded certain types of public recreation resources, such as greenways. Thus, some forms of park use might have been overlooked due to SafeGraphs's imperfect classification system (Jay et al, 2021). Because we used the number of visits, there could be repeated data representing multiple visits a day from the same user at a park POI.…”

“…However, in specific US states, some survey respondents have reported a rise in nature-based activity participation (Grima et al, 2020;Morse et al, 2020). A study using cell phone location data across the US found significant decreases in urban park visitation from the start of the pandemic through November 2020 (Jay et al, 2021), but another global study using a similar approach from February-May 2020 found general increases in urban park use across most countries (Geng et al, 2021). In both cases, patterns varied substantially based on local context due to different levels of disease prevalence and governmentimposed closures and restrictions.…”

Open for All: How Are Federal and Municipal Land Management Agencies Adapting to the COVID-19 Pandemic Alongside Increased Societal Recognition of Racial Injustice

“…Under anything but the most extreme situations, outdoor walks and exercise at safe distances were not only allowed, but encouraged for sustaining physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being (Samuelsson et al, 2020;Slater et al, 2020). While research on overarching patterns of open space use during the pandemic is still emerging-the use of some natural areas, parks, forests, trails, and bike paths increased (Grima et al, 2020;Venter et al, 2020;Outdoor Industry Association and Naxion Research Consulting, 2021;Plitt et al, 2021 this issue), but this increase was moderated by park closings and occurred more often in white majority neighborhoods in cities (Jay et al, 2021). Certain spaces became overcrowded, and some were closed to public use during the peak of the pandemic.…”