Jennifer Wolch

Parks and Park Funding in Los Angeles: An Equity Mapping Analysis

An equity-mapping analysis of access to park space enjoyed by children and youth in Los Angeles (LA), and by residents according to their race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status finds that low-income and concentrated poverty areas as well as neighborhoods dominated by Latinos, African Americans, and Asian-Pacific Islanders, have dramatically lower levels of access to park resources than White-dominated areas of the city. Further, a mapping of park-bond funding allocations by location reveals that funding patterns often exacerbate rather than ameliorate existing inequalities in park and open-space resource distributions. Given the lack of large parcels for park acquisition, these results indicate that creative strategies for providing open space—such as utilizing vacant lots, alleys, underutilized school sites, public or utility-owned property, unnecessarily wide streets, and abandoned riverbeds—will be required in the citys older neighborhoods to redress existing inequities in access to parks.

A systematic review of built environment factors related to physical activity and obesity risk: implications for smart growth urban planning

Smart growth is an approach to urban planning that provides a framework for making community development decisions. Despite its growing use, it is not known whether smart growth can impact physical activity. This review utilizes existing built environment research on factors that have been used in smart growth planning to determine whether they are associated with physical activity or body mass. Searching the MEDLINE, Psycinfo and Web‐of‐Knowledge databases, 204 articles were identified for descriptive review, and 44 for a more in‐depth review of studies that evaluated four or more smart growth planning principles. Five smart growth factors (diverse housing types, mixed land use, housing density, compact development patterns and levels of open space) were associated with increased levels of physical activity, primarily walking. Associations with other forms of physical activity were less common. Results varied by gender and method of environmental assessment. Body mass was largely unaffected. This review suggests that several features of the built environment associated with smart growth planning may promote important forms of physical activity. Future smart growth community planning could focus more directly on health, and future research should explore whether combinations or a critical mass of smart growth features is associated with better population health outcomes.

Physical environmental correlates of childhood obesity: a systematic review

Increasing rates of childhood obesity in the USA and other Western countries are a cause for serious public health concern. Neighborhood and community environments are thought to play a contributing role in the development of obesity among youth, but it is not well understood which types of physical environmental characteristics have the most potential to influence obesity outcomes. This paper reports the results of a systematic review of quantitative research examining built and biophysical environmental variables associated with obesity in children and adolescents through physical activity. Literature searches in PubMed, PsychInfo and Geobase were conducted. Fifteen quantitative studies met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. The majority of studies were cross‐sectional and published after 2005. Overall, few consistent findings emerged. For children, associations between physical environmental variables and obesity differed by gender, age, socioeconomic status, population density and whether reports were made by the parent or child. Access to equipment and facilities, neighborhood pattern (e.g. rural, exurban, suburban) and urban sprawl were associated with obesity outcomes in adolescents. For most environmental variables considered, strong empirical evidence is not yet available. Conceptual gaps, methodological limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Nature, race, and parks: past research and future directions for geographic research.

Geographic research on parks has been wide-ranging but has seldom examined how and why people use parks, leaving these questions to leisure science, which privileges socio-demographic variables over urban socio-spatial explanations (eg, historical, political-economic, and location factors). This article examines recent geographic perspectives on park use, drawing upon environmental justice, cultural landscape, and political ecology paradigms to redirect our attention from park users to a more critical appreciation of the historical, socio-ecological, and political-economic processes that operate through, and in turn shape, park spaces and park-going behaviors. We challenge partial, user-orientated approaches and suggest new directions for geographic research on parks.

Childhood obesity and proximity to urban parks and recreational resources: A longitudinal cohort study

The objective of the research was to assess how proximity to parks and recreational resources affects the development of childhood obesity through a longitudinal study. Data were collected on 3173 children aged 9-10 from 12 communities in Southern California in 1993 and 1996. Children were followed for eight years to collect longitudinal information, including objectively measured body mass index (BMI). Multilevel growth curve models were used to assess associations between attained BMI growth at age 18 and numerous environmental variables, including park space and recreational program access. For park acres within a 500 m distance of childrens homes, there were significant inverse associations with attained BMI at age 18. Effect sizes were larger for boys than for girls. Recreation programs within a 10 km buffer of childrens homes were significantly and inversely associated with achieved levels in BMI at age 18, with effect sizes for boys also larger than those for girls. We conclude that children with better access to parks and recreational resources are less likely to experience significant increases in attained BMI.

The active city? Disparities in provision of urban public recreation resources

Recreation is critical to active living yet few studies have focused on disparities in the provision of recreational programs. We investigate the spatial distribution of public recreational programs in southern California. Findings indicate that more than half of all recreation programs take place away from a formal park site. Multivariate modeling results suggest that cities characterized by low household incomes, low fiscal capacity, minority populations, and multi-family housing are disadvantaged with respect to recreation provisions. Such disparities may increase health risks among populations in such communities. Urban planners and public health advocates should enhance recreation programs in lower-income non-white communities.

The Intrametropolitan Geography of Poverty and the Nonprofit Sector in Southern California

This article investigates the geographic distribution of nonprofit social service providers across southern California cities in an attempt to see whether they reach people in poverty. Using 1996 Internal Revenue Service data from the National Center on Charitable Statistics, combined with 1990 census data, the authors find that the number of antipoverty nonprofits and their level of expenditure are higher in poorer cities. Nevertheless, given poverty concentration patterns, these activities are insufficient to guarantee equal services to poor persons in the poorest areas compared with those in wealthier cities. Regression analyses indicate that higher levels of nonprofit antipoverty activity are likely to be found in older and centrally located cities with higher socioeconomic status and significant government contribution to the provision of social services. These findings suggest that nonprofits and governments ought to be seen as complements rather than substitutes in efforts to alleviate intrametropolitan poverty disparities.

Green Urban Worlds

Abstract Contemporary cities are unsustainable, compromising the health and well-being of coming generations. How can geographers help imagine and build cities that hold more promise for the future? I suggest that the answer lies in addressing three fundamental challenges facing society today: restoring the citys ecological integrity, redesigning systems of production and consumption, and recasting urban citizenship to promote social and ecological justice. Using the example of the Los Angeles River, I explore how multidisciplinary urban geographic research can help us think about these challenges, and contribute to the development of greener, more sustainable cities.

The Distribution of Urban Voluntary Resources: An Exploratory Analysis

The role of voluntary sector service provision in local communities has been largely overlooked, but is increasingly critical to the quality of urban life. This paper provides an exploratory analysis of questions about the distribution of voluntary activity within metropolitan regions and the determinants of voluntary service provision levels. A variety of hypotheses concerning the distribution of voluntary resources in the social welfare and community services (SWCS) sector are tested utilizing data on nonprofit organizations and local jurisdictions within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Results indicate that cities within this region with relatively abundant SWCS resources tend to be older inner-ring working-class suburbs, in contrast to the significantly reduced scale of SWCS activities found in outlying affluent communities, industrial enclaves, and cities with large minority and service-dependent populations.

Automobile Traffic around the Home and Attained Body Mass Index: A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Children aged 10–18 Years

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between measured traffic density near the homes of children and attained body mass index (BMI) over an eight-year follow up. METHODS Children aged 9-10 years were enrolled across multiple communities in Southern California in 1993 and 1996 (n=3318). Children were followed until age 18 or high school graduation to collect longitudinal information, including annual height and weight measurements. Multilevel growth curve models were used to assess the association between BMI levels at age 18 and traffic around the home. RESULTS For traffic within 150 m around the childs home, there were significant positive associations with attained BMI for both sexes at age 18. With the 300 m traffic buffer, associations for both male and female growth in BMI were positive, but significantly elevated only in females. These associations persisted even after controlling for numerous potential confounding variables. CONCLUSIONS This analysis yields the first evidence of significant effects from traffic density on BMI levels at age 18 in a large cohort of children. Traffic is a pervasive exposure in most cities, and our results identify traffic as a major risk factor for the development of obesity in children.