How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed how people use and value parkland?
Project Description:
The Landscape Architectural Services team leads parkland, trails, and open space development for the City of Hamilton. Experience has shown that although people intuitively understand the value of parkland, empirical evidence of its benefits is missing. This gap in evidence has sometimes meant proposed projects fail to get economic or political support. As the downtown population intensifies and budget challenges arise, we need more research data to show how the city benefits from the creation of parklands. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its probable change in people’s use of parkland, is an opportune time to conduct this research.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way that people use parks, trails, and open spaces in our City and we want to better understand the changes that have taken place. We seek to answer the following questions:
How has usage of parkland and open space changed before, during and after the COVID-19 emergency? How have perceptions changed?
Are there regional or spatial differences? Do people with less access to private open spaces (i.e backyards) value the public ones more after COVID-19?
Are there correlations with mental health, physical health, weight gain, and other factors related to the lockdown versus access to local open spaces and parks?
This project will help staff better understand the use, perception, and value of parks, as well as inform the placement of open spaces across the city in the context of a pandemic .
City Staff: Cynthia Graham, Manager, Landscape Architectural Services, Public Works
Faculty, Course & Students:
Karen Dieleman, Redeemer University, CTS 410 Core capstone Experience (5-6 students)
Allison Williams, McMaster University, GEO4HC3 Geographies of Public Health (25 students)
Goal: To better understand the use of green public space, as impacted by COVID-19.
Deliverables: Primary Research (i.e. conducting surveys and/or collecting data)
View Redeemer Project Agreement
View McMaster Project Agreement
McMaster University Project:
Impacts of COVID-19 on human mobility and behaviors of recreationists
Student: Veronica Zhu
Redeemer University Project:
A study on the impact of Gage Park usage on well-being
Students: Sarah Snider, Benjamin Ashun, Spencer Kerssies, and Jacob Houzer
