Alternative Approach to Meet the Recreational Needs of Underserved Communities

Abstract

The traditional approach to meet recreational needs focuses on the development of new parks, requires substantial financial and land resources, presumes that the parks department is the only supplier of recreational opportunities, and is no longer typically feasible due to the lack of public funding and land in urban areas. This article presents an alternative approach of meeting recreational needs through multiple-use facilities and partnerships with a variety of organizations. This approach shifts park agencies from being producers and guardians of parks to facilitators of recreational services. Instead of devoting significant resources on land acquisition and facility construction, public agencies should actively identify and pursue alternative ways, locations, and partners to offer recreational services. Alternative ways may include the joint use of school facilities; the introduction of recreational uses on land owned by utilities; mobile gyms; transportation of residents to outside recreational facilities; and temporary use of parking and vacant lots, reuse of existing buildings, and temporary closure of streets for recreational purposes. This article demonstrates how this approach may work in Florence-Firestone, an underserved area in south Los Angeles.