January 2024 - Parks & Recreation - 44

TRENDS
company, says, " We are a privacy-first
company. The data we obtain is totally
anonymous and aggregated. Our
partners that provide data to us only
provide us device latitude and longitude,
nothing else. We get a location,
not who owns a device. Further, our
150 data scientists verify all data that
we collect, and only then do we provide
it to our customers after a threeday
delay. It is our hard-and-fast rule
that protects personal privacy. "
Placer.ai's huge data set covers
the entire United States and is accurate
from a starting date of January
1, 2017. This six-year look-back
window gives agencies, local governments,
nonprofits and business
customers an unparalleled ability
to analyze geolocated devices in a
variety of ways, such as how many
people visited parks on a given
day, for example, or the traffic flow
along roadways into parks, or how
much time people spent in parks.
" Public funds invested in parks
are often unheralded, " says Ross.
" With our data, we can show that
investments in parks directly correlate
to benefits to the local economy. "
He cites the example of a
unique creative event, called Flower
Piano, that takes place at Golden
Gate Park of San Francisco's Department
of Recreation and Parks,
in which a dozen pianos are spread
throughout
the
55-acre
botanical
garden for people to play scheduled
and open performances. Local
businesses vociferously complained
about parking
spots being
taken
away near their restaurants during
the five weekends of the event. Using
Placer.ai data, they were able to
show a direct increase of 35 percent
in visits to local restaurants because
of the Flower Piano event, proving
to surprised restaurant owners the
direct economic impact of the park
on nearby businesses.
44 Parks & Recreation |
The Impacts of Climate Change
It is becoming increasingly apparent
that we are approaching, if not already
living in, a post-climate change
world. Parks and recreation must
collectively adapt to this existential
challenge. Despite concerted efforts
to keep global temperatures from
rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius
(2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) to stave off
irreversible, and even devastating,
impacts from climate change, average
temperatures will continue to
rise for decades, even if we progressively
reduce the conditions causing
the temperature rise. This has many
implications for public and worker
safety from extreme heat, and longterm
health conditions that will last a
lifetime from heat stress.
Fortunately, how Americans view
the threats from climate change
is changing. A new survey by the
Pew Research Center shows that
most Americans believe that climate
change is harming people and
that conditions will likely get worse
during their lifetimes. In addition,
nearly
three-quarters
of
Americans
believe that climate change
will cause significant environmental
harm, including the extinction
of some wildlife species. Six in 10
people think heat waves will cause
people to die, and nearly 6 in 10
believe that rising seas will cause
migration away from coastal areas.
However, only about 40 percent of
Americans think that it will make
much difference in their communities
- a major disconnect with the
topline beliefs about how much climate
change will impact our nation.
Surprisingly, however,
there
is
also good news in the report: The
rate of climate change is slowing
despite 2023 being the hottest year
ever recorded. Carbon emissions
in the United States are down 12
percent between 2005 and 2019.
J ANUAR Y 2 0 2 4 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
The massive increase in ebike use
globally is reducing oil consumption
by 1 million barrels per day! Costs for
renewable energy have plummeted.
Solar energy costs have declined
70 percent and wind energy costs
have decreased 90 percent. Eighty
percent of new energy sources are
from renewables. Bad news may
abound from weather catastrophes
and extreme heat, but for the first
time, there are some promising
climate-change signs as well.
One
communities
critical
to
strategy
adapt
to
for
and
mitigate the effects of climate change
is to enhance the means of selfprotection,
and one of the best ways
to accomplish that is to become more
resilient to both catastrophic spike
events and long-term climate trends.
Parks and recreation plays a vital
role in helping communities achieve
that goal through flood protection,
retention of stormwater, green
infrastructure parks, and protection
against both long-term climate trends
and single events.
This connection of parks to climate
resiliency will
increasingly
become one of the most lasting
proofs of just how essential parks
are to all communities. Parks, from
the smallest to the largest, will play
an increasingly important role in
2024 and beyond in mitigating
urban heat-island effects, preventing
destructive effects of stormwater
and flooding, measurably
improving air quality in cities and
densely populated urban areas, and
improving community health, livability
and sustainability.
Park and recreation agencies are
already adapting to extreme heat. In
Austin, Texas, for example, running
clubs have shifted their training runs
to take place in the dark, well before
dawn. Phoenix Parks and Recreation
is now leading night hikes to
January 2024 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2024 - Parks & Recreation
