Lauren Do

There is a meeting tonight about the Park formerly known as Jackson Park regarding the possibility of adding a playground. I don’t know a lot about PFKAJP other than the fact that it is long and narrow, appears to be not used all that much and I’ve read complaints about weed smoking on the park.

There is an excellent piece in City Lab about parks and design and how parks can serve as crime deterrents, if designed properly.   Highlights:

We learned that more green space was associated with lower risk of crime across neighborhoods in all 300 cities we studied.

Burglaries, larceny, auto theft, and other property crimes occur less often in greener neighborhoods in every city in our sample. Violent crimes like murder, assault, and armed robbery were also less common in greener neighborhoods in nearly all the cities we studied.

Zooming out from our four-city sample, we found evidence that some parks actually do a good job of deterring crime. Design and maintenance are critical if parks are to reduce, rather than attract, crime.

…

Parks that are designed for safety, heavily programmed on an ongoing basis, and well maintained tend to attract residents whose presence serves as a crime deterrent.

That means not just amenities like ball fields and cultural facilities but also the active involvement of the local community and sources of sustainable, ongoing funding. When parks are allowed to deteriorate, the decaying infrastructure and bad reputation of parks can turn them into magnets for crime.

Critically, both program and landscape design must also reflect the broader community in which a park sits, creating public spaces where everyone from office workers to local teens can appreciate and enjoy the entire range of social, economic, and health benefits that parks offer.

More legitimate park users means increased monitoring and sense of ownership over a public space. This process known as “territorial reinforcement” is a key tenet of crime prevention through environmental design.

Urban parks and green space enhance the well-being of city residents, promoting physical activity, mental health, and a sense of community.

The TL;dr is: don’t design just for design’s sake but understand the community that you’ll be serving and find out what they want in order for them to actively use the park and feel a connection to the park.  The problem with the park right now if it were a wee bit closer to the main hub of the Park Street commercial district is would probably be well used.

from
https://laurendo.wordpress.com/2019/07/30/park-with-purpose/