Rating Our Parks
Since our founding, we’ve been working to connect people to their parks. Why is this so important? Because we firmly believe – and research confirms – that the quality of parks directly impacts the overall quality of the city. When people have easy access to parks, they exercise more. Nice parks improve property values. Parks instill a sense of pride in residents and can positively impact economically disadvantaged areas by reducing crime rates and juvenile delinquency. Parks are important.
And so how can we improve parks here and beyond?
The Trust for Public Land has created ParkScore, a comprehensive rating system designed to measure how well the 40 largest U.S. cities are meeting their residents’ need for parks. ParkScore was designed to help local communities improve their park systems and identify where new parks are needed most.
ParkScore is based on the three most important characteristics of an effective park system: acreage, services and investment and access.
If you had to select the most important characteristics for a park would it be those three or something different? Which parks in Charleston would rate high on your list and which parks could use some TLC? Share with us! We just might be getting ready to launch a makeover in that very park.