Promoting justice for underserved groups in periurban parks: the potential of state-community partnerships

ABSTRACT

The documented under-representation of ethnoracial minority population in peri-urban parks can be considered an environmental justice issue. This exploratory qualitative study examined the outreach efforts and challenges faced by a large state parks agency in attracting underserved and under-represented visitors from low-income and ethnoracial minority groups to its parks. It also explored if and under what conditions partnerships between the public agency and community-based and nonprofit organisations or their coalitions may help bring more under-represented groups to parks. Findings were based on a triangulated three-pronged set of qualitative data from a) an online survey of state park personnel that yielded 58 responses; b) semi-structured interviews with 19 park leaders; and b) semi-structured interviews with representatives of 12 nonprofit groups. Findings indicated that despite its good intentions, the State Parks agency fell short of increasing the accessibility and fit of its parks for its low-income and ethnoracial minority constituents. Further findings suggested that partnerships between the state parks agency and open space nonprofit organisations and their coalitions offer a promising strategy for increasing diversity in parks, but only under certain caveats.

KEYWORDS:

• Parks
• community outreach
• partnerships
• environmental justice
• nonprofits

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank California State Park commissioners Elva Yanez and Ernest Chung for their support of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Two notable exceptions of California State Parks located in urban settings are the Los Angeles Historic State Park (at the edges of downtown Los Angeles) and Candlestick Park in the Bayview Heights area of San Francisco.

2. We did not receive any substantial comments back on the transcripts.

3. The Our Parks LA and Parks Now coalitions of nonprofits advocated strongly for the passing of Proposition 68 in 2018 in California, while the Parks LA coalition also advocated for the passing of Measure A in November 2016. Both propositions provided funding for parks in California.

4. We wish to thank an anonymous reviewer for this point.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the California State Parks and Recreation Commission.

Notes on contributors

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is Professor at the UCLA Department of Urban Planning. She is the author or editor of six books and multiple articles. Part of her research examines issues of access, diversity, and inclusiveness in parks.

Vinit Mukhija

Vinit Mukhija is Professor and Chair of Urban Planning at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His research focuses on urban design, housing, and planning institutions, including informal practices.