More than just a pretty space: What research tells us about parks
For many people, public parks are just a beautiful green space they drive by on their way to work. However, research has shown that parks play a crucial role in people’s physical activity, and the community’s health.
By studying parks, researchers aim to understand how these public spaces enhance community health, encourage active lifestyles, and assess their effects on overall well-being. One of those researchers is Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation.
“Park research is important because it helps inform public policies, urban planning, and community initiatives that support healthier populations,” she said.
Current park studies sprang from physical activity research
While her current work assesses what makes parks popular, Dr. Cohen began her park-related research in the early 2000s contributing to a study aimed at increasing physical activity among middle-school girls (2000: studies at end of story). Deborah Rohm Young, PhD, MBA, the scientific director of the department’s Division of Behavioral Research, also worked on that study. At the time, they worked at different universities, and neither was affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
“The land that is set aside for parks is expensive, and could have many other uses,” Dr. Young said. “While physical activity research is important for demonstrating the importance of exercise to physical and mental health, park research is important to justify the use of public land for these purposes.”
Dr. Young, whose research efforts focus on physical activity, noted that her work over the past 30 years has demonstrated how difficult it can be to change people’s physical activity levels over long periods of time when focusing solely on individuals. However, if managed and designed correctly, she believes that parks can change a community’s health.
Physical activity and ties to park space
Among the significant contributions Dr. Cohen made to park research was as the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) (2007). She was at RAND Corporation at the time.
“This objective method of measuring park use made it possible to see who was using parks, their levels of physical activity, and how this correlated with park features and programs,” Dr. Cohen said. “Given that physical activity is critical for health, learning how it is influenced by the environment and programming could lead to significant changes in park designs and management that would benefit the population.”
A few years later, she published a study showing the system was reliable (2010). Since then, this measuring method has been used across the globe to assess park use.
A third R&E researcher connects on park science
At the time, Department of Research & Evaluation scientist and biostatistician Bing Han, PhD, also was at RAND. (He joined Kaiser Permanente in 2021.) Dr. Han served as project statistician on Dr. Cohen’s team conducting a cluster randomized controlled trial to improve park use in Los Angeles through community partnerships (2013).
“Neighborhood parks in urban areas have great value and even greater potential to improve population health,” Dr. Han said. “Measurements of parks provide rigorous and basic evidence for public health research, policy, and planning.”
One of the studies Dr. Cohen and Dr. Han wrote together showed that parks play significant roles in supporting vigorous physical activity in local communities (2013).
Establishing park benchmarks through research
Three years later, they published a study which established national benchmarks for park use (2016). The findings from the study were intended to guide future park investments and management practices to improve the health of communities. Offering more programming, using marketing tools like banners and posters, and installing features like walking loops, could help underutilized parks increase visitors.
“The study of 176 neighborhood parks in 25 cities found that every acre per park increased its use about 9%, every additional 4 park features increased park use by 14%, and every program and supervised activity increased park use by 48%,” Dr. Cohen said.
Re-examining a cohort to assess built environment
One of the first studies Dr. Cohen and Dr. Young co-authored took a second look at the group of middle-school girls (2018) they had first assessed 6 years earlier. That research looked at which changes in the built environment were associated with changes in physical activity among young women maturing from adolescence to adulthood.
For the study, the researchers re-assessed the cohort of young women who participated in the Maryland site of the Trial of Activity of Adolescent Girls at ages 22 to 23. It found that living closer to mass transit, and sports and recreational facilities was associated with more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
Pandemic spurs research into parks and mental health
By 2020, Dr. Cohen was at the Department of Research & Evaluation, and she and Dr. Young used the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to learn more about how physical activity, time outdoors, and parks affect mental health (2022).
The study found that:
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, low physical activity was associated with higher anxiety and depression scores over 3 months.
- Results were consistent across all demographic subgroups, including white, Hispanic, Black, and Asian people.
- Less time spent outdoors was associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety scores compared with no change in time outdoors.
“What these study findings told us is that even during an active pandemic or other public health crisis, people should be encouraged to be physically active to help maintain their physical and mental health,” Dr. Young said. “Parks and other nature areas should remain open during public health emergencies to encourage outdoor physical activity.”
Focusing on playgrounds in parks
In 2021, Dr. Cohen’s research expanded to look specifically at playgrounds, which are the most common amenity in public parks, second to lawns. She, Dr. Young, and Dr. Han, all now at Kaiser Permanente, worked together on a study that identified playground features most associated with longer durations of playground visits (2023).
The study found that
- Playground design is a factor that influences the time spent outdoors.
- Restrooms, mature trees, swings, climbers, spinners and a playground’s size were the most important elements that support outdoor time.
- The use of electronic devices, like cell phones, was associated with lower amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
“Playground design is a factor that influences physical activity not only in terms of how long people stay at parks, but also how long they are outdoors,” Dr. Cohen said. “If we want to help people be more active and spend more time outside, we should think about adding playground features that attract more visitors of all ages and encourage more moderate-to-vigorous activity whenever we build or update playgrounds.”
Programming draws people to parks
Dr. Cohen’s most recent work looked at the cost of parks. The study was presented at the American Heart Association’s conference in February 2025 and then published later in the year (2025).
The study assessed the association of financial investments in parks and recreation and health. In the largest 100 U.S. cities, the average spending for parks and recreation in 2022 was $126 per person. with only a small percentage of the budgets—$30 per person—devoted to programming. And yet, the study found that park programming has a stronger relationship than park maintenance with health outcomes.
Dr. Cohen suggested that this is “probably because it is the programming, such as sports, exercise classes, 5K walks and runs, that attract park visitors and support greater physical activity.”
“What this shows us is that the value of parks extends beyond green space—their greatest potential is unlocked through intentional programming and creative engagement,” she said.
The future of park research
Although funding park studies can be difficult, Dr. Cohen said she hopes to move forward with the research. She, Dr. Young, and Dr. Han noted that park research is a key factor in justifying the cost of parks and park amenities for better mental and physical health.
“The importance of ample green space, including parks, cannot be overlooked when considering the health of communities and their residents,” Dr. Young said.
Dr. Cohen concluded: “From early efforts to boost physical activity among youth to today’s evidence-based studies transforming public parks, our research underscores the vital role these spaces play in community health. We are deeply grateful to all who contributed to this work and to everyone who finds joy and wellness in their local parks.”
Bookmarked studies:
(2000) Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG)
(2007) The Role of Parks in Physical Activity and Health
(2013) Physical activity in parks: A randomized controlled trial using community engagement
(2013) Quantifying the contribution of neighborhood parks to physical activity
(2016) The First National Study of Neighborhood Parks: Implications for Physical Activity
(2023) Playground Design: Contribution to Duration of Stay and Implications for Physical Activity
(2025) Per Capita Spending on Parks and Associations with Cardiovascular Disease and Other Health Outcomes