ACCESS TO green space

People have a right to access high-quality natural spaces and participate in cost-free outdoor recreational opportunities. Below you can find data sources to help determine your access.

Green space are undeveloped public areas that are and intended for recreational, aesthetic, and environmental purposes. According to Green America, underinvested communities have far less access to green spaces. Green spaces have a range of benefits for communities, including:

  • Mental & Physical Health: spending time in nature has been shown to reduce stress and promote overall mental and physical health.

  • Air & Water Quality: vegetation absorbs pollutants and releases oxygen, improving air quality helps manage water runoff and prevent soil erosion

  • Recreation, Leisure, & Culture: cost-free areas for outdoor activities, serving as havens outside of the home, encouraging social interaction and relaxation

See Green America- Access.

Park access

The Trust for Public Land—Park Serve mapping tool allows a user to investigate park accessibility in an area. It shows locations of public parks in surrounding areas, and notes areas that fall within a 10-minute walk to each. Areas that do not have a park within a 10-minute walk radius have extremely-limited access.

TPL Park Serve Instructions: Open Tool > Type your city name under Search for Your City > Press enter > You should now see a map. The dark green areas on the map are public parks/green space, while light green represents the area that is within a 10-minute walk to a park. The panel on the right tells you what percentage of residents in your city live within a 10-minute walk of a public park/green space. Purple areas are in need of greater access to parks (dark purple indicating the least access).

Additional Resources

Trust for Public Land ParkScore: This is an annual report that ranks the park systems of the 100 largest cities in the US. They give scores for 5 categories, including access, investment, amenities, acreage, and equity.

Public Policy Institute AARP Livability Index: This estimates the quality of life in U.S. communities across multiple dimensions, including neighborhood characteristics, environment, health, opportunity, and civic engagement.