“Benefits of Park and Recreation” – A consortium of facts gathered by People for Parks in its continuing effort to present the benefits of park and recreation on communities it serves.  Addressing the livability aspects that are the basis for our competitiveness and economic growth in East Multnomah County.

“The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space” – How Land Conservation Helps Communities Grow Smart and Protect the Bottom Line

Benefits of Walking

Benefits of Trails

Benefits of Physical Activity – Link to NRPA web page

1998 Recreation Roundtable Survey

“Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space”: How Land Conservation Helps Communities Grow Smart and Protect the Bottom Line –

“Do Trails Affect Public Safety and Property Values?”  Trail Effects on Neighborhoods: Home Value, Safety, Quality of Life

“A New Era in Play”  - by Reed Karaim, USA Weekend, “How Kids Play Today – What’s Good, What’s Not”, December 16, 2007

• San Francisco Shape Up Coalition
• http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1process_content.cfm?section=99&page=16
• Center for Disease Control - Active Community Environments (ACEs) is a CDC-sponsored initiative to promote walking, bicycling, and the development of accessible recreation facilities.
• Australian Healthy Parks, Healthy People Initiative
• The Influence of Community Factors on Health
• Kids Walk to School
• U.S. Obesity Trends 1985 to 2006
• Diabetes Trends Among Adults in the U.S
• Physical Activity helps prevent problems of aging
• U.S. students at age 11 are in the top third of countries for frequent television watching, with 34 percent of girls and 36 percent of boys reporting that they watch four or more hours of television per day.
  Read more about the Health of U.S. Youth
• Of the total Asian adults in San Francisco, 28.1% are overweight, and 43.2% are physically inactive.
  Read more here.
• NPC cited as a San Francisco resource for disease prevention and public health interventions that work.
• Teens Living in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Lack Access to Parks and Get Less Physical Activity
• The Influence of Community Factors on Health: An Annotated Bibliography, Fall 2004 Developed by PolicyLink, and funded by The California Endowment, this annotated bibliography contains more than 150 entries of research on how community factors affect health. This publication and many other excellent resources on this page: http://www.policylink.org/publicationsByFocus.html
• SF Department of Public Health Program on Health Equity and Sustainability Main page: www.sfdph.org/phes/
• Public Parks and Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/118/5/e1381.pdf
• Inactive America: What Can Parks Do? National Recreation & Park Association
• The Trust for Public Land: Healthy Parks, Healthy Communities initiative.

• http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/795/files/benefits%20final%20online%20v6-1-05.pdf
• Standards for open space:
  • A national standard of 10 acres per 1,000 residents is set by the National
    Recreation and Park Association:
    http://www.nrpa.org/content/default.aspx?documentId=3405
  • There is some international work in this area as well:
    http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/07/18104215/42175

• Dr. John Crompton -
  http://rptsweb.tamu.edu/faculty/Crompton/Crompton/Articles/4.1.pdf
  http://rptsweb.tamu.edu/faculty/Crompton/Crompton/Articles/4.7.pdf
• Bibliography of Economic Impacts of Parks, Recreation and Tourism
• Economic Impacts of Protecting Rivers, Trails and Greenway Corridors
• Suggested Readings on Economics of Outdoor Recreation - Part of Sources of Socioeconomic Data for National Heritage Areas
• Investing in local parks offers excellent economic, social returns
• http://www.embraceopenspace.org/EOSReport/EconomicValueofOpenSpace.pdf
• TPL - Urban Parks ROI http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=21437&folder_id=829
• NPC Green Envy Report
• Creating A Healthy Environment: The Impact of the Built Environment on Public Health
• Energy (under construction)
• Transportation How Land Use and Transportation Systems Impact Public Health:A Literature Review of the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Built Form Lawrence D. Frank. PhD and Mr. Peter Engelke
• Birds, not birdies? Is there a trend emerging that indicates that people want homes near natural areas versus golf courses? Read the article at http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/realestate/06outdoors.html
• Parks cool big cities:
  http://www.livescience.com/environment/070522_urban_green.html
  http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070518/sc_livescience/smallparksco...

• Enrique Penalosa Why Parks are Important to Cities - Active Community Environments
• Neal Pierce, Obesity and Sprawl, the Connection Tightens April 21, 2001
• Planning Healthier Suburbs, Where Cars Sit Idle and People Get Moving New York Times; New York, N.Y.; Oct 17, 2000; Jane E. Brody
• Sprawl Harms Our Health - The Sierra Club
• Perils of suburban living gain attention - The Bergen Record
• Does the built environment influence physical activity? - Examine the evidence.