I Ran My City’s 91 Parks. Here’s What I Learned.
Originally posted to Instagram as part of my park challenge.
After running to and through the 91 parks in Grand Rapids, here's what I learned: better visit them yourself than listen to this dude!
For real though, this is the last #ParkChallenge post (do I hear some Amens?!).
This project was a way to begin to know the city and land better, learn more about parks, take care of my mental health, and just enjoy nature. I hope it informed you in some way or, better, encouraged you to get to better know public lands near you.
You read past that first line, so uh-oh, here are a few of my parting impressions:
1) It feels good to know your nearby parks. Parks connect us to place and can be a pathway that moves us to notice ⇨ know ⇨ love ⇨ protect nature. (See this article on the value of noticing.)
2) Parks do great things for us. So much so, that they often indicate the state of equity and well-being in a community. (See this article for 10 reasons parks are amazing.)
3) It does a lot to be able to reach parks on foot. That’s not possible in some cities or parts of a city, and that’s an issue. Parks ought to be accessible for everyone.
4) Parks I’ve passed through—once, quickly—are daily lifelines for others.
5) GR has a strong park system, with wonderful parks across categories. @grparksandrec seems open to residents’ suggestions for improvements.
6) Parks aren’t by themselves a climate solution (no single thing is). To suggest otherwise is to tinker where we need transformation. But parks can contain solutions and showcase a more hopeful climate future—one that prioritizes people’s health and well-being. They show what a more ecological society could look like: public greenspace accessible to residents of all backgrounds, with climate-resilient features planned into them for residents’ safety. Their trees clean the air and cool the neighborhood, their native plantings help pollinators do their thing, their catchments mitigate floods by absorbing stormwater. (GR’s Joe Taylor is a good example of the last; read more here.)
7) Finally, parks are places where people can be whole and sane and interact with one another and the world. I think noticing nature is a first step, a ‘keystone habit,’ toward making a more habitable home for ourselves and one another. Parks help us build a stronger culture of connecting to nature. That sounds a bit romantic until we understand what connection to nature does for us...and what our lack of it is doing to us.
So here’s to noticing, knowing, loving, and protecting the places that help keep us alive.
Now some quick thanks to:
@grparksandrec for maintaining and improving all these parks. What a valuable service you provide. (Also thanks for the online directory and sending me a .pdf checklist!)
Residents who lived in GR in 2013 and voted in a local election for a millage—this has enabled recent improvements.
@FriendsofGRParks and everyone who has volunteered with them,
The friends who joined me on a park run!
Thanks to all y’all for following along. See you out there.
Here are some accounts you might like to follow on the topics explored in these park posts:
Grand Rapids:@grparksandrec, @friendsofgrparks, @plastercreekstewards
U.S.: @trustforpublicland, @americanforests, @mypubliclands
Intl: @worldeconomicforum, @cities4forests