Before I discuss creating a park for people with special needs I think it would be useful about looking at how most people use parks
And before I talk about that let's talk about how much time people spend Outdoors
first off it turns out that people spend most of their time indoors.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 93% of their life indoors. 87% of their life is inside buildings, then another 6% of their life is in automobiles. That’s only 7% of your entire life outdoors. That’s only one half of one day per week outdoors. Ouch. link
people in general are only spending about 7% of their time Outdoors , now of that time how much are they actually spending in parks ?
seniors are defined as a special-needs group , let's look at how much time they spending parks
Philadelphia has the largest in-city park system in the world, which can serve as a tremendous resource for social interaction, relaxation and recreation. Yet 72% of older Philadelphians report they had not gone to a public recreation facility in the past year. link
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Philadelphia's findings are not an aberration. A Rand Corporation study found that seniors seldom use Los Angeles parks.link
Why are seniors not using parks? One possibility comes from the authors of the book People Places they said "The natural environment of a park is not enough to attract some elderly users, but a park with many activities can simulate social exchange and provide a sense of belonging" link
seniors aren't spending much time in parks , and teenagers aren't spending much time in tomorrow's and here is part of the reason why
Contemporary American playgrounds don’t hold or inspire older kids...More and more, preteens avoid the playground altogether, choosing instead to spend time indoors, most likely sitting in front of some kind of screen...What teen will go to the playground to play a game when he has better graphics at home on his computer or anywhere on his cell phone? The Science of Play
seniors aren't spending much time in parks , and teenagers aren't spending much time in tomorrow's and here is part of the reason why
how do we make our Parks and our Outdoors more interesting for everybody to spend time more time in them
I can't talk for anybody else but I can talk for myself and what's got me to spend more time outside in Parks is by giving myself interesting activities to do outdoors and in the parks in my area. This is what I do
my smartphone has become a virtual Park house for me , and my wheelchair has become a portable physical Parkhouse
herb Brooks has two goals para Parks has two goals to one is to inspire the addition of aa virtual Parkhouse in existing parks this is actually a pretty simple goal
to do this at a minimum all you need to do is add a song to an existing Park
creating outdoor apps for people with special needs is a second goal
teaching people about enjoyable non-smartphone outdoor activities in a park is our third goal
some of these goals can be achieved in most parks with minimal funding just by putting up signage that well let the boys know about virtual activities that they can do in the park with their smartphone
