Land uses, incivilities, and unhealthy retail outlets around parks: Differences by neighborhood income and race/ethnicity

Purpose: Using an environmental justice framework, we examined disparities between parks in areas of varying income and racial/ethnic composition with respect to bordering land uses, prevalence of incivilities, and unhealthy retail establishments in surrounding neighborhoods. Methods: Half-mile buffers were created around all Kansas City, Missouri parks (n=165). Using corresponding census tract-level data, parks were categorized into even tertiles (low/medium/high) for both income and percent minority population. Park-bordering land uses and incivilities (e.g. litter, vandalism) were collected via the Community Park Audit Tool and incivilities density values were created. Fast food (FF) restaurants and ‘other unhealthy establishments' (liquor stores, bars, cocktail lounges, night clubs, tobacco stores) were counted and divided by the area of each park buffer creating a density measure (establishments/mile2). Logistic regression was used to examine the likelihood of a park being surrounded by each type of land use (yes/no) and by a greater density of neighborhood incivilities, FF restaurants, and other unhealthy establishments according to income and percent minority tertiles. Results: Low and medium income park neighborhoods were more likely to have both moderate (ORlow=3.33,95% CI=1.04-10.68; ORmedium=2.91,95% CI=1.16-7.28) and high amounts of incivilities (ORlow=9.52,95% CI=2.76-32.92; ORmedium=2.87,95% CI=1.01-8.17) than those in high income areas. High-minority park neighborhoods were almost eight times more likely to have a high amount of incivilities compared to those in low-minority areas (OR=7.97,95% CI=2.23-28.50). Low (OR=3.71,95%CI=1.20-11.46) and medium (OR=4.01,95%CI=1.45-11.11) income park neighborhoods were more likely to have a moderate level of FF restaurants. The same was true for high-minority park neighborhoods (OR=4.90,95%CI=1.48-16.18) compared to low-minority areas. Low-income park neighborhoods were more likely to have a moderate density of other unhealthy establishments compared to high-income park neighborhoods (OR=5.25,95%CI=1.68-16.94). Conclusion: Future research and environmental justice efforts should explore policies that reduce unhealthy characteristics of areas near parks and encourage increased usage of these important community resources.