What makes a park great in your eyes? Is it the open green space, the sound of kids playing, or the quiet benches shaded by old trees? Now think about your own community—how many parks do people actually use? Walk through a typical public space and you might find empty fields, lonely benches, and facilities that feel more forgotten than inviting. It’s a frustrating reality. Many parks still sit underused—failing to serve the people they were meant for. Why is that? What’s missing?
Here’s a troubling truth, despite parks delivering an impressive 800% return on investment over 20 years, countless public spaces remain underutilized and fail to serve the people who need them most. The average annual per-capita expenditure for parks among the 100 largest U.S. cities sits at just $73 – pocket change compared to the vital role these spaces play in healthy communities.
Your residents need functional public spaces now more than ever. Dense urban areas pack families into smaller homes and apartments, making well-designed parks essential for community health and well-being. These aren’t just pretty green spaces – they’re the places where Americans can actually meet national physical activity recommendations: 60 minutes daily for youth and 150 minutes weekly for adults.
Smart parks planning makes the difference between success and wasted taxpayer dollars. Take Winchester, where the first parks planning process in nearly two decades focused on creating a healthy, vibrant community that serves current residents while attracting new ones. This approach shows how genuine public input can transform underutilized spaces into community centerpieces. Seattle discovered that 85% of its 217,000 square feet of downtown alley space sat underused, with potential to increase public space by 50% through strategic reimagining.
The question isn’t whether your community needs better parks – it’s whether you’re ready to build spaces that people actually want to use.
Laying the Groundwork: Planning for Real Use
John Herrera, president and CEO of MuniTemps, has served for 35 years as a municipal finance officer and consultant, helping organizations achieve effective parks and recreation planning. This article provides valuable insights for local government employees establishing long-term plans for creating parks that communities actually use.
Smart parks planning starts with one simple truth: you can’t build what people want if you don’t ask them first. San Rafael got this right when city officials conducted an extensive infrastructure assessment and community engagement process that included a statistically valid survey collecting 575 responses from residents, plus an online questionnaire gathering 1,131 additional responses. They didn’t stop there – community workshops drew more than 100 residents, ensuring diverse perspectives shaped their master plan.
The most successful parks emerge from planning processes that genuinely reflect community priorities. Consider this: although seniors represent 20% of the population, they account for only 4% of park visitors. That gap doesn’t happen by accident – it reveals why engagement must be intentional and inclusive.
Let’s face it, effective community participation requires more than just checking boxes. Planners should establish clear expectations about community involvement from the start. This ranges from simply providing information to fully empowering community decision-making.
Building trust forms the foundation of everything that follows. As experts note, “Decades ago, parks held both the legal power to plan and political power to implement their plans. Today, they retain the power to plan, but political power to implement is now held outside the agency”. This shift demands stronger relationships between planners and communities.
Parks designed with genuine community input deliver measurable results. One study revealed that approximately 15,498 Wilmington residents participated actively enough in parks to positively impact their health, saving $4.30 million in healthcare costs. Those aren’t just feel-good numbers – they’re proof that community-centered planning works.
Your parks planning process determines whether you’ll create vibrant community hubs or expensive green spaces that sit empty. The choice is yours, but the foundation starts with listening to the people who’ll actually use these spaces.
Designing Parks That Invite People In
Smart design separates parks that thrive from those that sit empty. Think of successful park design as architecture for human behavior. Data drives every decision that matters. Research shows 95% of park agencies use data to support master planning, 88% to measure facility usage, and another 88% to inform capital investment decisions. This isn’t just number-crunching – it’s understanding who uses your spaces and how they move through them.
Accessibility opens doors for everyone. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires playgrounds built after March 2012 to meet specific standards, including unobstructed routes and appropriate safety surfacing. But smart design goes beyond compliance. It creates environments where all community members feel welcome, not just accommodated.
Safety concerns can kill park usage before it starts. Studies reveal that 77% of people feel unsafe in public spaces after dark, with 80% avoiding parks at night compared to just 2% during daylight hours. Effective design fights this fear through clear sightlines, strategic lighting, and smart placement of activity areas near entrances and main paths.
Distance matters more than you might think. Adults living within a half mile of parks visit them more frequently and exercise more often, yet less than 38% of the U.S. population enjoys this proximity. Strategic entrances, connected pathways, and barrier removal can dramatically increase accessibility even when you can’t move the park closer to people.
Remember those seniors who represent 20% of the population but only 4% of park users? Features like accessible walkways, ample seating, and shade structures can change those numbers. Parks that work for everyone get used by everyone.
From Vision to Reality: Building and Sustaining Great Parks
Building great parks is like constructing a house – without a solid financial foundation, even the most beautiful plans crumble. Your community deserves parks that last, but that requires more than good intentions and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
Money talks, especially when it comes to park sustainability. Research shows that 85% of the 100 most populous cities are adapting parks to address climate change, yet funding remains the persistent challenge that keeps many projects on the drawing board. Public-private partnerships offer a practical solution here – both entities bring unique assets to collaborations. These partnerships typically follow several frameworks: outsourcing services, public-sector leasing, leaseback arrangements, or taking over failing private ventures.
Smart measurement keeps your parks relevant and your budget justified. Studies reveal that park departments using publicity tools experienced a 62% increase in users and a 63% increase in physical activity. Effective measurement helps parks justify public investment by demonstrating community usage patterns. Numbers don’t lie – they tell the story of whether your investment is working.
Programming drives utilization like nothing else. Each additional supervised activity leads to a 48% increase in park use and a 37% increase in physical activity. Unfortunately, programming remains scarce in many neighborhood parks, particularly in high-poverty areas. This isn’t just about activities – it’s about breathing life into spaces that would otherwise sit empty.
Your staffing strategy determines long-term success. Frontline positions focus on direct community impact, middle management oversees implementation of larger efforts, and executive leadership develops strategic vision. The average park and recreation agency director earned $123,000 as of January 2024 – a significant investment that pays dividends when the right person leads your parks system.
Successful parks require more than wishful thinking. They need equitable resource allocation and political leadership. Long-term care necessitates dedicated funding mechanisms, partnerships with nonprofits and private entities, and ongoing community engagement. The parks that thrive in your community twenty years from now depend on the financial and political foundations you build today.
The Path to Parks That Work
Parks that truly serve communities don’t emerge from wishful thinking – they result from intentional planning that puts residents first. Throughout this exploration, we’ve seen how smart planning processes create spaces that deliver real value rather than becoming expensive mistakes.
Your community engagement efforts lay the foundation for everything that follows. Without genuine input from the people who will actually use these spaces, you’re building on sand. The most successful parks emerge from planning processes that genuinely reflect what residents need and want.
Smart design transforms those community insights into physical spaces that welcome everyone. Safety considerations, accessibility features, and multigenerational elements work together to ensure your parks serve the entire community, not just specific groups. Remember that proximity determines usage – strategic placement within neighborhoods dramatically impacts whether people will actually visit your parks.
But design alone won’t sustain great parks. Sustainable funding mechanisms remain essential for turning visions into lasting community assets. Public-private partnerships offer promising solutions to funding challenges, while programming stands out as your most powerful tool for increasing utilization.
Parks planning requires balancing community desires with practical constraints. When you approach your next parks project, remember that success comes from listening first, designing thoughtfully, and planning for long-term sustainability. The most beloved parks don’t just happen – they result from intentional processes that prioritize actual community use above all else.
John Herrera, CPA, encourages all government employees to establish parks planning that delivers spaces communities actually use. This approach creates healthier, more vibrant neighborhoods while maximizing your return on public investment. Your work in parks planning isn’t just about creating pretty spaces – you’re building the foundation for community health, social connection, and quality of life that will serve residents for generations to come.
Contact our team at jobs@munitemps.com or visit www.munitemps.com to learn more about how MuniTemps can support your parks and recreation planning efforts.
Remember that MuniTemps is an expert in “all things municipal”, including creating career opportunities for job seekers with an affinity for public service in local government.
Before you go, be sure to visit the MuniTemps CitySpeak YouTube channel. Take a look at the video blogs from five years ago that highlight the common-sense approach to conservative, long-term financial planning—there may be valuable concepts or tools you can carry into your own career in municipal or public service.
One video worth watching is “What Recession Feels Like at City Hall.” which offers practical, real-world insights into how local governments can navigate economic downturns while continuing to serve their communities.
Thank you for joining us today!