Resident Representation in Parks: Identifying Gaps and Promoting Equitable Engagement

Parks, greenspaces, and other outdoor recreation resources provide a range of physical, social, and emotional benefits to users, thus providing a highly valued community service. While park managers’ commitment to inclusive excellence is genuine, the fact remains that visitors are not always collectively representative of the local communities served, meaning that the benefits available through engagement in parks are seldom equitably distributed. The purpose of this study is to analyze resident representation in four parks with diverse recreational opportunities and to set forth management strategies that address areas of underrepresentation. Four parks located in Montgomery County, Maryland (US) were selected for this study. Twelve days of onsite data collection allowed for the documentation of park visitor activities and select demographics. Results indicated statistically significant overrepresentation and underrepresentation based on age at three parks and race/ethnicity at all four parks. Some parks had usership that was predomi-nantly oriented toward one racial/ethnic or age group meaning that other groups were moderately to severely underrepresented. Management implications specific to leveraging data, diversifying park amenities, and offering how-to programming are explored.