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6. Goal: Healthy People

Provide social and physical environments that contribute to healthy behaviors and outcomes. These factors include access to a choice of transportation mode, exercise opportunities, parks, and nutritious, toxic-free foods.

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Park land per person

Access to parks

Source: Montgomery County Planning Department

People stay healthy more easily if they can enjoy public parks and school fields for exercise, fresh air, and stress reduction. Parks help maintain a community’s social ties – also tied to stress reduction – while building physical skills and good health.

Numerous studies suggest that green space in a community improves quality of life.  According to research done by Charles A. Lewis, a senior fellow at the Morton Arboretum, the presence of green spaces like parks help decreases the amount of vandalism in surrounding areas and improves the self esteem of nearby residents 1.  In addition, research by behavioral scientist Roger Ulrich, a researcher at Texas A&M University, demonstrates that plants help lower blood pressure and muscle tension and contribute to a reduction in stress and anxiety 2. Parks add both economic value and social value, becoming defining features of community.

1. Project Evergreen

2. Jennifer Duffield White in "Grower Talks."

Comment on this indicator

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1. Are park land acreage and access to parks appropriate measures for gauging progress toward healthy people?

2a. What is the story behind the trend lines for park land acreage and access to parks? The "story behind the trend lines" should be a list, in order of priority, of those root causes that have the greatest influence, positive and negative, on the trend lines for the indicators.  Please bullet and prioritize the top 3-5 root causes.

2b. Assuming there is no substantial change in policy and factoring in any significant variables that might impact park land acreage and access to parks, what is a reasonable trend forecast?

3. Who are the key partners with a role to play? "Key partners" are those stakeholders (from all sectors and levels of government) with a role to play in addressing the root causes identified in the story behind the trend lines and, thereby, in "turning the curve" of the trend line for the indicators.  Please identify what you think are the top 3-5 key partners and the respective roles you think that they can play.

4. What will work to make a measurable difference? “What will work” means those strategies – actions and policy options – that would work best to change or accelerate the curve of the trend lines for the indicators.  Presumably, policymakers and other stakeholders will be interested in strategies that address the most important root causes identified in the story behind the trend lines, and therefore, will have the most impact on the trend lines of the indicators.  At the same time, they will consider the feasibility of each strategy.  Please bullet and prioritize the top 3-5 strategies.


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