Pickleball is one of the hottest trends in recreation right now, and for good reason. It’s a welcoming sport that offers an abundance of fun. It’s known as a ‘game for everyone.’ Pickleball encourages physical activity to improve people’s fitness and wellness. As park designers, we see pickleball on the agenda for most of the park projects we work on.
This summer we celebrated the grand opening of the third and final phase of Erie Community Park. 12 acres of features were added to this park extending its value to the community. The park is consistently filled with people enjoying all it has to offer, and we could be more excited to see that enthusiasm.
This past year, schools all over the country were forced to allow fewer students inside and keep classes physically separate from each other, making their outside spaces a hot commodity. In many cases schools had to scramble to figure out ways to make this happen with little time to plan. We propose that to better equip schools for the future, more time, funding, and attention is needed to design these outdoor learning environments in ways students, teachers and the neighboring community can enjoy throughout the year.
Parks all around the world are known for igniting emotions of hope, peace, and optimism. Two Hunters Park, a commemorative park honoring the lives of Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin of Firestone, CO is no exception.
The GRASP® Component Based method for Level of Service analysis has been the gold standard of community park system evaluation processes. By adding an important element to this proven process, GRASP® Active equates parks and park access to physical activity and public health. This new process combines the latest research in performance metrics and public health indicators with GRASP® which measures quantity, quality, and distribution across a system.
Planners have traditionally relied on normative standards rather than evidence to determine time and distance relationships associated with walkability. We test the basic assumptions about walking speed and distance in the built environment. See our suggested guidelines for planning for walkability in your community..
Community land use plans provide tangible public health benefits, but these benefits can be difficult to measure and prove. A new research-based methodology now allows city planners to provide meaningfully innovative programs with scientific data to prove their contribution to public health improvements.
Park and trail systems planners, public health professionals, city planners leaders, and community leaders are committed to improving public health. Researchers at North Carolina State University and the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention have determined eight metrics city planners need to understand to effectively utilize their park and trail systems to improve public health.
Design Concepts is an M/WBE, SBE Landscape Architecture design firm with the City and County of Denver and a DBE under the US Department of Transportation’s Colorado Unified Certification Program (UCP).
