Panken Sarah L, Holaly-Zembo Lauren
Michigan Fitness Foundation, Lansing (Ms Panken); and Crim Fitness Foundation, Flint (Ms Holaly-Zembo), Michigan.
J Public Health Manag Pract. 2015 May-Jun;21 Suppl 3:S96-100. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000000213.
Once home to a thriving auto industry, Flint, Michigan, is now an economically distressed city of just over 100 000 people. With more than one-third of the population obese and one-third of the population younger than 18 years, it is essential to have safe spaces for children and families to be physically active. To address this, the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Flint Community Partnership (Partnership) worked to revitalize local parks and evaluate these efforts to effectively guide future park resource allocation, investments, and approaches to create a more equitable, vibrant parks system.
After 2 years of initial park investments, 2 intervention parks (Max Brandon Park and Bassett Park) and 2 comparison parks (Brennan Park and Whaley Park) were selected for direct observation to determine whether parks that experienced investment had more use and users participating in higher levels of physical activity than in parks with no investment. In addition, the Partnership implemented community engagement strategies to hear residents' needs and desires for parks, as well as technical assessments such as a park facilities assessment, policy review, and equity analysis.
Intervention parks had a higher number of uses and higher physical activity levels than comparison parks. This complemented community engagement results that highlighted people do not use parks that are perceived as unsafe and in poor condition. Even though demand for parks can be met with the current supply of park space, many parks had outdated and hazardous equipment; this, plus inconsistent maintenance, (perceived) lack of safety, and lack of activities were the main deterrents to using city parks for physical activity.
Parks receiving investment had higher use and physical activity levels; thus, investing in park facilities and programming could increase opportunities for Flint residents to lead more active, healthy lifestyles.
密歇根州弗林特市曾是繁荣的汽车工业基地，如今却是一个经济不景气的城市，人口刚超过10万。该市超过三分之一的人口肥胖，三分之一的人口年龄在18岁以下，因此为儿童和家庭提供安全的体育活动空间至关重要。为解决这一问题，弗林特健康儿童、健康社区伙伴关系组织（伙伴关系组织）致力于振兴当地公园，并评估这些努力，以有效指导未来公园资源的分配、投资和创建更公平、更有活力的公园系统的方法。
在对公园进行了两年的初步投资后，选择了2个干预公园（马克斯·布兰登公园和巴塞特公园）和2个对照公园（布伦南公园和惠利公园）进行直接观察，以确定经历过投资的公园是否比未投资的公园有更多的使用量，以及参与更高水平体育活动的使用者更多。此外，伙伴关系组织实施了社区参与策略，以了解居民对公园的需求和期望，以及进行公园设施评估、政策审查和公平性分析等技术评估。
干预公园的使用量和体育活动水平高于对照公园。这与社区参与结果相补充，该结果突出表明人们不会使用那些被认为不安全且状况不佳的公园。尽管当前的公园空间供应能够满足对公园的需求，但许多公园的设备陈旧且危险；再加上维护不一致、（人们感觉到的）缺乏安全性以及缺乏活动，这些是人们不使用城市公园进行体育活动的主要阻碍因素。
获得投资的公园有更高的使用量和体育活动水平；因此，投资公园设施和项目可以增加弗林特居民过上更积极、健康生活方式的机会。
