Impact of park renovation on children’s physical activity in New York City

Background

Parks are an important built environment element for children’s physical activity (PA), but evidence on whether park renovations lead to measurable changes in children’s PA remains mixed. Using a quasi-experimental design with demographically matched controls, we examined whether park redesign and renovation through New York City’s Community Parks Initiative (CPI) was associated with changes in PA and sedentary behavior among children living in low-income neighborhoods.

Methods

Data were drawn from the Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces (PARCS) Study from 2017 to 2021. Children aged 3-8 living within 0.3 miles of 21 parks (10 intervention, 11 control) were recruited and wore an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days pre- and post-renovation. Participants were included if had at least 3 valid days (≥8 hrs) of wear. Primary outcomes were average counts and vector magnitude per minute (CPM, VMPM); secondary outcomes were daily minutes of sedentary behavior, light, moderate, and vigorous PA, and step counts, classified using Evenson cut points. Linear mixed models were used to compare changes between intervention and control over time.

Results

A total of 76 children had valid data at both time points, with a mean baseline age of 5.92 years (SD = 1.72). After adjusting for age, follow-up time, and month of data collection, there were no statistically significant changes in CPM (DID=-54.02, SE = 60.92, p = 0.38), VMPM (DID=-64.68, SE = 102.86, p = 0.53), or any secondary outcome in between intervention and control groups. There was an overall decrease in VMPM and light PA over time (p < 0.05), consistent with age-related decline in PA among children.

Conclusions

Park renovation through CPI was not associated with increases in children’s PA. Improving park infrastructure may be necessary, but not sufficient, to shift children’s activity levels. Additional interventions, such as park-based programming, may be needed to produce measurable changes in child PA.

Key messages

• Park redesign and renovation alone may not be enough to increase children’s physical activity without accompanying programs or activities.

• Physical activity generally declined over the study period, consistent with expected age-related maturational changes in activity among children.