Why Nyc Should Invest In its Parks
By: Jordan Bunkley-Drain
Writing For Engineering
City College Of New York
Julianne Davidow, Professor
March 30th, 2024
Parks have been around in cities for a very long time. In the City of New York, The Parks have become a staple of the city , for both tourists and residents alike. Research suggests that there are several benefits to having parks in the city. For example, parks support physical health , mental health, health of the environment , and even can aid in protecting residents from the growing threat of climate change related disasters (Foderaro et al, 2023) . Parks can also have several economic benefits for the city as well (Fleming et al, 2023) . Parks are overall a great asset to the city and helps the city become an overall better place , which is why I propose that the city should increase their investment into the parks. The funding will increase the availability of parks (and increase the quality of parks) for everybody , including lower income areas of the city. The parks being funded can also increase the security and the amount of jobs that the parks provide for people. The parks will help keep the city clean , and promote the health of residents and the ecosystem. A park will also generate money for the city, as well as help limit avoidable costs such as flood damage , ect. The increased funding of parks will be great for the sake of the residents, tourists, and the city as a whole.
Parks have been an important cornerstone of life in NYC for a very long time. The first official park in NYC was Bowling Green Park, and it was established in 1733 by the common council on march 12, 1733 (NYC Parks,n.d) . The most iconic park, which is Central Park, first began development in 1858 (Kang, 2017). An example of a more recent park is the Shirley Chisholm State Park, which was completed on July 2nd , 2019 (National Parks Service,n.d). As you can see park development has a long history in the city , and still continues till this day. Parks also have a lot of benefits for people’s physical health. Parks serve as the ideal place for plenty of physical activities, this alongside other events that can happen at a park all promotes the physical well being of people. Parks can even have some surprising benefits such as increased birth outcomes (a decrease in miscarriages, ect) . They are also really great for mental health. Being in natural environments , as well as forming connections and or being around others can reduce things like anxiety and depression. Parks offer protection against climate events such as heat waves, severe flooding , and forms of pollution including air and noise, (Foderaro et al. ,2023). Speaking of pollution, parks are also good in the fact that they also provide an escape from other more air polluted areas of the city (Swanwick et al. 2003) .Parks can also have economic benefits, ranging from recreational value, avoided stormwater treatment costs, and increased tourism spending (Fleming et al,2023) alongside the benefit of creating more jobs for people.
The benefits listed above is why I propose that there should be an increased amount of funding and investment in NYC Parks. There sadly has been plenty of budget cuts for the parks department, and even a decline in staffing over the last 5 years, all of which can negatively affect the safety of our parks, as well as how well they are maintained (Ganser et.al , 2024). As we discussed before, parks can have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of citizens and the city’s environment , as well as have a huge economic benefit for the city. All of which provides a great return on investment. If the city invests in parks, then it will generate money for the city to spend on other projects, as well as keep people healthy , which is of course good because the people are what makes the city work and gives it life. The people who work jobs , purchase things, and engage in positive activities develop programs that are largely beneficial for the city. This is why an increase in park funding will do wonders for the city, and a great first step would be to reverse some of the park department budget cuts.
Although there are plenty of positives that I have mentionedfor public parks, I also recognise that there are also a decent amount of downsides that people may mention about public parks. For example, parks have the potential to suffer from overcrowding , which has the chance of decreasing some of the benefits like decreasing the space to exercise for instance. Parks can also be an ideal place for a lot of bad actors and criminal activity, including dealings with illegal substances, ect. And they can use the amount of people to hide and blend into the environment before commiting crimes (Cristian, 2022). Parks are also not distributed evenly, and people in lower economic areas have the least access to good parks , and receive more of the negative consequences of parks (Dwmurawski, 2020). Although I agree these are great genuine concerns for parks, I would also like to add that Increasing the investment into parks can help fix a lot of the negative issues regarding parks. For example, Increased funding for parks can help increase the amount of security in parks, which would lead to less criminal activity happening in parks. The increased amount of parks and park funding can also create new jobs, which would be very beneficial especially in lower economic neighborhoods. The increased amount of park funding can also lead to the improvement of other parks, that way people are less likely to crowd certain parks, if they have other parks as viable alternatives . Overall, although there may be some downsides of parks, increased park funding will overall have a positive impact on the city, and also will help fight against the negative aspects of parks.
Parks are very important for the well being of people in the city, and should be well funded . The parks will do a great job in promoting the physical and mental health of citizens and the well being of the environment. It will also provide plenty of economic benefits for the city, as well as jobs for people in need of them. And also make parks a safer , cleaner, and more fun experience for everybody who visits. Overall increased funding in parks will have a profound impact on the city , and will overall make the city a much better place to live, and to visit.
References :
-Advantages and disadvantages of public parks,On dripmotion.com, written by (Cristian, June 12, 2022) ,
https://dripmotion.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-public-parks/
– The Values and Shortcomings of Green space in urban environments , on usfblogs.usfca.edu written by (Dwmurawski, May 19, 2020) ,
– Nyc Parks are in Crisis ; Mayor Adams can make it right , on amny.com, written by (Ganser et.al, March 19, 2024),
https://www.amny.com/opinion/nycs-parks-are-in-crisis/
– Nature,role, and value of green space in urban environments, in Vol. 29, No. 2, Perspectives on Urban Greenspace in Europe (2003) , pp. 94-106 (13 pages) , article can be found on the academic database Jstor, article is written by (Swanwick et al. 2003),
– Power of parks to promote health , a special report. Written by (Foderaro et al. May 24,2023) ,
https://www.tpl.org/parks-promote-health-report
-Economic value of parks: Nyc , on esri.com, written by (Fleming et al, January 19,2023),
-The Earliest Nyc parks, on nycgovparks.org , NYC Parks, n.d,
-Shirley Chisholm State Park opens in Nyc, on nps.gov, written by (National Parks Service,n.d),
https://www.nps.gov/articles/shirley-chisholm-state-park.htm
-160 years of central park, a brief history, on central park nyc.org, written by (Kang, June 1st,2017) ,
Image References :
- Image 1 , from planetware.com ,
https://www.planetware.com/new-york/best-parks-in-new-york-city-us-ny-91.htm
- Image 2 , from hotels.com ,
https://www.hotels.com/go/usa/best-parks-new-york
- Image 3 , from secretnyc.co
https://secretnyc.co/waterfront-parks-nyc/
