Advancing Parks and Recreation Through Storytelling

Parks are sometimes dismissed as “nice-to-haves” or as being just about “fun and games.” But parks are essential infrastructure that provide a wide range of benefits to communities. Specifically, parks offer a variety of environmental, social, and economic benefits both within and beyond park boundaries, as summarized below:

Environmental

• Improve air quality
• Capture and clean stormwater
• Mitigate heat and stabilize temperature

Social

• Improve public health
• Improve community safety
• Enhance community cohesion
• Improve walkability
• Reduce stress and improve academic performance

Economic

• Increase property values
• Create temporary and permanent jobs

In this article, park planner Clement Lau encourages fellow park and recreation professionals to tell their personal and professional stories to:

• Make the case for parks and recreation
• Counter false narratives
• Encourage and inspire each other
• Reflect and learn

While Lau's preferred method of sharing his stories is through articles and blog posts, he notes that narratives in support of parks and recreation may also be told via posts on social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, media interviews, press releases, and official publications like annual reports, fact sheets, and other materials that can be shared with the public and decision-makers.