Age-Friendly Park Programs: Lessons for Boston
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Age-Friendly Park Programs: Lessons for Boston A thesis submitted by Marymargaret Krey In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy Tufts University August 2016 Advisor: Mary Davis Reader: Barbara Parmenter Abstract The world’s population is aging and cities across the globe are trying to prepare to meet the needs of this growing population. Parks are an important part of an age- friendly city since parks provide numerous psychological and physical benefits to users. Yet older adults do not frequent parks as much as younger generations and often do not view parks as an important public health resource. Therefore, programs that encourage older adults to use parks are vital to change this mindset. My research reviews what is currently being done to make parks age-friendly, describes five effective types of recreational park programs for older adults and analyses how these programs can be expanded and replicated in cities like Boston. Using descriptive mapping, I apply this information to identify potential parks in Boston where age-friendly programs are likely to be successful. ii Acknowledgements I would sincerely like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Mary Davis and reader Dr. Barbara Parementer for all of their advice, patience and flexibility. I am very appreciative for their willingness to work with me to ensure that I was able to finish everything on time despite my procrastination. I would like to also wholeheartedly thank all of the people who graciously agreed to be interviewed and provided me with wonderful information and advice. This includes: Zarnaaz Bashir, Cayce Cheairs, Nicole Ferraro, Marie Fukuda, Charmine Lindblad, Alex McKinney, Jennifer Navala, Coleen Pittard, Pam Plimpton, Diane Silva, Brynn Viale, Erika Whitworth, Ashley Wisner, Ryan Woods and Dr. Robert Zarr. Additionally, I would like to thank Andrea Burns from Age-Friendly Boston and Kara Cohen, my internship supervisor at AARP Massachusetts, for introducing me to the age-friendly initiative and what it entails. Lastly, I would like to thank my family, friends and co-workers who supported me and kept me grounded throughout this whole process. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. III LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... V CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 3 THE AGE -FRIENDLY CITY MOVEMENT ............................................................................... 3 THE BENEFITS OF PARKS IN AN AGE -FRIENDLY CITY ........................................................ 5 THE IMPORTANCE OF PROGRAMMING IN PARKS ................................................................ 6 KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS ...................................................................................... 7 BARRIERS TO PROVIDING PROGRAMMING IN PARKS .......................................................... 9 BOSTON ’S POPULATION AND PARK USAGE ...................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ............................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ............................................................................................... 20 OBJECTIVE 1: AGE -FRIENDLY CITIES AND PARKS RESULTS ............................................ 21 OBJECTIVE 2: RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS RESULTS ........................................................ 24 PARK PRESCRIPTIONS ....................................................................................................... 25 WALKING PROGRAMS : WALK WITH EASE ....................................................................... 34 DEDICATED RESOURCES FROM PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENTS ...................... 41 SPECIFIC ADULT ORIENTED OR MULTIGENERATIONAL FITNESS EQUIPMENT /A REAS ..... 48 INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAMS .................................................................................... 53 SUMMARY OF PROGRAMS AND INTERVIEW RESULTS ....................................................... 62 OBJECTIVE 3: CURRENT PARK PROGRAMMING IN THE CITY OF BOSTON ........................ 65 MAPPING BOSTON PARKS AND IDENTIFYING PRIME LOCATIONS FOR PROGRAMS .......... 69 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION ....... 81 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOSTON ................................................................................... 84 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 87 iv APPENDIX…………..……………………………………………………………….....89 APPENDIX A:TABLE OF US CITTIES THAT HAVE COMMITTED TO BEING AGE -FRIENDLY PRIOR TO DECEMEBER 2013……………… ……………………………... …… …… ...….89 APPENDIX B: CONTACTS FOR INTERVIEWS ...................................................................... 92 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ............................................................................... 94 APPENDIX D: FIGURE 7: HOUSEHOLDS WITH ONE OR MORE RESIDENT OVER AGE 75 ...... 96 APPENDIX E: TABLE OF OPEN SPACE THAT IS A QUARTER MILE FROM A LIBRARY AND HIGH DENSITY CENSUS TRACT ........................................................................................... 97 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 100 List of Tables Table 1: Count of open space facilities by category within a quarter mile of nursing homes, libraries and high density census tracts...…………………....…77 Appendix A: Table of US cities committed to becoming age-friendly prior to December 2013………………………………………………………………….89 Appendix E: Table of open space within a quarter mile of a library and a high density census tract………………………………………………………………….…..97 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Open Space in Boston………………………………….……71 Figure 2: Boston open space in relationship to roadways………………….......72 Figure 3: Parks in relationship to Nursing Homes, Libraries and Pools……….74 Figure 4: Households with one or more resident over age 65………………….75 Figure 5: Open space near high density census tracts..………………………...79 Figure 6: Open space within a quarter mile of a high density census tract and a library…………………………………………………………………….80 Appendix D: Households with one or more resident over age 75…………...…96 v Chapter 1: Introduction An aging population is a reality for many cities around the world. Cities are realizing the importance of creating an environment that is accessible and friendly to older adults to ensure this population can lead healthy and active lives. The World Health Organization created the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Network in 2006 to help governments prepare for an increase in older adult residents. The City of Boston committed to becoming an age-friendly city in 2014 by joining this network and is currently in the process of gathering data about the needs of older Boston residents. Parks and open space in cities are an important health resource and can alleviate some of the psychological and physical issues associated with aging. Yet parks are often underutilized by older adults. Therefore, it is crucial for cities to make parks accessible, safe, functional and, more importantly, to develop programs to encourage older adults to visit parks on a regular basis. The City of Boston is fortunate to have over 7,000 acres of open space (City of Boston 2015) but Boston must also concentrate on making this open space more inviting and enticing if Boston is truly going to become an age-friendly city. A primary goal of this thesis is to understand what park programs for older adults have been successful in other cities and use this information to make recommendations to the City of Boston. In order to learn how Boston can encourage park use among older adults it is important to first understand how other cities are creating age-friendly parks and the role of park programs in this process. For the purposes of this research, a recreational park 1 program is any type of class, walk, event, equipment or instruction that is intended to motivate an older adult to go to park or similar open space and engage in some sort of physical activity. After identifying recreational programs that have successfully encouraged park usage across the United States, I interviewed people with experience running these programs to understand the challenges of running these types of programs and how these programs can be successfully replicated. After researching what programs currently take place in Boston parks, I interviewed people directly involved with this park programming to better comprehend how current programs are promoted and supported and to identify opportunities for more older adult programs. Through this research, I hope to highlight the importance of programming in parks, explain how these programs can achieve success and how this can be adapted in Boston and other cities throughout the United States. Through descriptive