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Parks in more deprived areas not being used due to greater levels of incivilities
The study was published in Social Science and Medicine: Population Health by Matthew Hobbs, a PhD student at Leeds Beckett University.
It is hoped that the findings of this study, which is one of the first large-scale investigations of park access and quality relative to area-level deprivation and obesity in the UK, can help inform efforts for future modifications of the environment. The study also looked at whether there is a link to park access and obesity, but found little support for the notion that the access or quality of parks are associated with obesity.
Speaking about the findings, Matthew Hobbs, who led the study, said: “Parks are of particular interest to public health because they are free to use, universally accessible and amenable to public health interventions. The maintenance budgets for parks have fallen in several countries, and parks are under threat from increased urbanisation. Within the UK the quality of parks is expected to decline, therefore it is important to ascertain just how important parks and green spaces are to the people who live near them.”
Each park was assessed on overall incivilities which included nine elements that would reduce the pleasure associated with using that resource; including auditory annoyances, broken glass, dog refuse, unattended dogs, evidence of alcohol and substance abuse, graffiti, litter, not enough grass/overgrown, sex paraphernalia and vandalism.
Matthew added: “Perhaps surprisingly, our research found that compared to the least deprived areas, the moderately and most deprived areas had greater park access and park quality in terms of features and amenities. However, we also found that parks in moderately and most deprived areas also had the most safety concerns, for example, litter. This finding may be important as incivilities have been shown to be a key factor in park usage, so it is therefore plausible to suggest that despite being better served by amenities and features, parks in more deprived areas are not used as much due to the higher incivilities within the park.”