Student Corner: Spillover Benefits of Park Proximity

<p>Investing in green space and park creation has enormous benefits, from bolstering community wellness, to reversing historic disinvestment, and in raising surrounding property values. While care should be taken to avoid the park-driven gentrification that has accompanied many of the recent high-profile parks such as the Atlanta Beltline, investing in community assets that help raise the value of people’s homes and improve quality of life is an essential element of any community development strategy. Small, neighborhood-scale parks present an opportunity to make low-cost investments with significant impacts: research shows small parks have significant impacts on nearby property values and can avoid some of the dis-amenity effects of large traffic-generating parks.</p> <p>In community development efforts, a common goal is to promote development that will spur sustainable rises in property values. In communities in need of redevelopment activity, there are frequently issues of undeveloped or vacant lots. These spaces frequently lower the value of surrounding properties, depressing the value of people’s homes and cutting into the tax revenues of local governments. While the drive to seek the ‘highest and best’ use frequently points towards infill residential and commercial development, there are a number of reasons to consider an alternative ‘redevelopment’ strategy: converting undeveloped/vacant space into maintained, passive park space.</p> <p>It is well understood at this point that parks provide a wide range of benefits to local and regional communities, without even considering the direct economic benefits. Access to park space has significant benefits for mental and physical health, childhood development, and community social capital. The creation of new [...]</p>