David Barth - Parks and Recreation System Planning: A New Approach for Creating Sustainable, Resilient Communities

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2020 David L. Barth

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Keywords: Bicycle and pedestrian access, Collaborative planning, Commission for Accreditation of Parks and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA), Comprehensive plans, Economic development, Green infrastructure, Health and wellness, High-Performance Public Space, Land development regulations, Level-of-service guidelines, Livable community, Long-range vision, National Recreation and Park Association, Park classification, Plexus, Preliminary implementation framework, Public realm, Resilience, Signature parks, Social equity, Strategic planning, Sustainability, Trails and greenways, Urbanization

I would like to thank the many people who made this book possible. First, former University of Florida Landscape Architecture Chair Herrick Smith inspired me to seek the patterns, puzzle-making, and systems that define urban design. Bill Kercher at Glatting Jackson set me on the path to parks and recreation system planning and encouraged me to seek opportunities to generate multiple benefits from single actions. And my colleague Carlos Perez has been a creative and inspirational collaborator.

University of Florida Landscape Architecture Department Chair Tina Gurucharri encouraged me to return to school and pursue a doctoral degree, and my dissertation committeeDr. Marilyn (Mickie) Switzer, Margaret (Peggy) Carr, Dr. Ruth Steiner, and Dr. David Hedgeguided and fostered my research.

My sister F. Diane Barth, an accomplished author, provided almost daily assistance and inspiration. My brother Dr. Richard Barthand friends Dr. Jay Exum, Terry Clark, Lynn Hays, and Dr. Cathy DiBenedettoprovided continuous support and encouragement.

The very patient planner and graphic designer Sarah Ciccone did a terrific job of formatting all of the exhibits and images for the book. And Island Press editors Elizabeth Farry and Courtney Lix were spot-on with their edits and comments, making the book immeasurably more thoughtful and succinct.

Finally, thanks to my parents, Joy and George Barth, for their unconditional love; to my incredible children, Abigail and Elliot, for being such great boosters; and to my anchor and wife, Denise, for her unwavering patience, love, and support.

Parks and recreation system planning has long been overlooked as an effective tool for community sustainability, resiliency, and livability. It has been over thirty years since the World Commission on Environment and Development published Our Common Future (also known as the Brundtland Report), proposing a multilateral, interdependent path for creating economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable communities. More recently, the concept of resilient communitiesthose capable of rebounding from both acute shocks and chronic stressesseems to have superseded sustainability, perhaps because it is more accessible and quantifiable. And the concept of a livable communityone that is safe and secure, has a variety of affordable housing options, is connected by multiple modes of transportation networks, has clean air and water, protects its natural areas and wildlife habitat, and provides high-quality community facilities and serviceshas become part of the standard community planning lexicon.

Regardless of the preferred term, local communities in the United States and throughout the world have sought new approaches, tools, and techniques to become more balanced, healthy, and prosperous over the past several decades. They have created sustainability plans, climate action plans, stormwater plans, affordable housing plans, transportation plans, vulnerability analyses, sea-level mitigation plans, and other plans and initiatives. Yet one resource that is often overlooked as a tool for sustainability, resiliency, and livabilityand is already owned and controlled by local communitiesis their parks and recreation system.

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These benefits dont automatically accrue to a community, however; they require careful and thoughtful planning, design, maintenance, and operation of the parks and recreation system. Generating significant benefits also requires leadership, collaboration, and transcendence of organizational silos. None of this is easy, and there isnt much guidance available about how to change approaches steeped in the simpler aims of the 1950s. This book aims to change that.

Generating greater sustainability and resiliency benefits at a system-wide level requires embracing two big ideas. The first is that parks and recreation systems can generate multiple sustainability and resiliency benefits if they are thoughtfully planned, designed, and managed as part of a broader public realm that includes transportation, stormwater, and utility systems. The second idea is that we need a more comprehensive and collaborative parks and recreation system planning process to realize these benefits.