Dataset Information

Land use diversity and park use in New York City.

ABSTRACT: Neighborhood parks and mixed-use land development are both understood to be important independent contributors to physical activity levels. It has been hypothesized that mixed-use land development could increase park use as a result of mixed-use neighborhoods being consistently activated throughout the day, but the results of previous research on this question have been inconsistent and the mediational role of neighborhood activation has not been tested. This study leverages data from Google Places Popular Times and the National Establishment Time Series to directly test the mediational role of the daily temporal distribution of neighborhood activation, to construct a novel measure of commercial activity diversity, and to help disentangle built-environment density from commercial diversity. Park use data was measured from 10,004 systematic observations of 20 neighborhood parks in New York City in the spring and summer of 2017. The hypothesis that commercial activity diversity is positively associated with park use was not supported in any models. However, a positive relationship between built-environment density and park use was found, which may help to explain prior inconsistent findings.

SUBMITTER: Fry D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9366970 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Land use diversity and park use in New York City.

Fry Dustin D Aaron Hipp J J Alberico Claudia C Huang Jing-Huei JH Lovasi Gina S GS Floyd Myron F MF

Preventive medicine reports 20210204

Neighborhood parks and mixed-use land development are both understood to be important independent contributors to physical activity levels. It has been hypothesized that mixed-use land development could increase park use as a result of mixed-use neighborhoods being consistently activated throughout the day, but the results of previous research on this question have been inconsistent and the mediational role of neighborhood activation has not been tested. This study leverages data from Google Pla ...[more]

PMID: 35966049

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Project description:ImportanceEquity-driven citywide park redesign and renovation, such as the Community Parks Initiative (CPI), has the potential to increase park use and opportunities for physical activity in underserved communities.ObjectiveTo evaluate changes in patterns of park use following park redesign and renovation in low-income New York City (NYC) neighborhoods.Design, setting, and participantsThe Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces study was a prospective quality improvement preintervention-postintervention study design with matched control parks. Thirty-three intervention and 21 control neighborhood parks were selected based on specific criteria related to poverty rates, population growth, and population density in park neighborhoods and not having received more than $250 000 in investment in the past 2 decades. Data were collected at baseline (prerenovation) and 2 follow-up points (3 months and 1 year post renovation) between June 5 and December 4 from 2016 to 2022. Participants were individuals observed as users of study parks.InterventionThe CPI, which involved the redesign and renovation of neighborhood parks by the municipal government of New York City.Main outcomes and measuresMain outcomes encompassed park use and physical activity levels assessed using the well-validated System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities. Park use was quantified by total number of park users, categorized by age group (≤20 years vs ≥21 years), sex, and physical activity level (sitting or standing vs walking or vigorous activity). Changes in outcomes between groups were compared via the generalized estimation equation.ResultsA total of 28 322 park users were observed across 1458 scans. At baseline, 6343 of 10 633 users (59.7%) were 20 years or younger, 4927 of 10 632 (46.3%) were female and 5705 (53.7%) were male, and 4641 of 10 605 (43.8%) were sitting or standing. Intervention parks showed more net park users compared with control parks from baseline to the final follow-up (difference-in-difference relative rate ratio, 1.69 [95% CI, 1.22-2.35] users/scan; P = .002). The association was driven by a significant increase in adult users at intervention parks and overall decrease in all users at control parks. Park users engaging in sitting or standing at intervention parks increased (difference, 4.68 [95% CI, 1.71-7.62] users/scan; P = .002) and park users engaging in walking or vigorous physical activity at control parks decreased (difference, -7.30 [95% CI, -10.80 to -4.26] users/scan; P < .001) over time.Conclusions and relevanceIn this quality improvement study, park redesign and renovation were positively associated with park use in low-income neighborhoods. However, park renovations may need to be accompanied by other programmatic strategies to increase physical activity.

Project description:BackgroundHazardous air pollutant exposures are common in urban areas contributing to increased risk of cancer and other adverse health outcomes. While recent analyses indicate that New York City residents experience significantly higher cancer risks attributable to hazardous air pollutant exposures than the United States as a whole, limited data exist to assess intra-urban variability in air toxics exposures.MethodsTo assess intra-urban spatial variability in exposures to common hazardous air pollutants, street-level air sampling for volatile organic compounds and aldehydes was conducted at 70 sites throughout New York City during the spring of 2011. Land-use regression models were developed using a subset of 59 sites and validated against the remaining 11 sites to describe the relationship between concentrations of benzene, total BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) and formaldehyde to indicators of local sources, adjusting for temporal variation.ResultsTotal BTEX levels exhibited the most spatial variability, followed by benzene and formaldehyde (coefficient of variation of temporally adjusted measurements of 0.57, 0.35, 0.22, respectively). Total roadway length within 100 m, traffic signal density within 400 m of monitoring sites, and an indicator of temporal variation explained 65% of the total variability in benzene while 70% of the total variability in BTEX was accounted for by traffic signal density within 450 m, density of permitted solvent-use industries within 500 m, and an indicator of temporal variation. Measures of temporal variation, traffic signal density within 400 m, road length within 100 m, and interior building area within 100 m (indicator of heating fuel combustion) predicted 83% of the total variability of formaldehyde. The models built with the modeling subset were found to predict concentrations well, predicting 62% to 68% of monitored values at validation sites.ConclusionsTraffic and point source emissions cause substantial variation in street-level exposures to common toxic volatile organic compounds in New York City. Land-use regression models were successfully developed for benzene, formaldehyde, and total BTEX using spatial indicators of on-road vehicle emissions and emissions from stationary sources. These estimates will improve the understanding of health effects of individual pollutants in complex urban pollutant mixtures and inform local air quality improvement efforts that reduce disparities in exposure.

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Land use diversity and park use in New York City.

Publications

Land use diversity and park use in New York City.

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