The New Future of Parks, Trails, and Recreation

With summer in full swing in Southeast Michigan, many are enjoying their favorite outdoor activities with a renewed sense of normalcy. However, the impacts of the past year’s upheaval are resounding in the ways people are getting outside, along with the ways communities are managing their parks and trails, and planning for their futures. At SEMCOG and MAC’s Community Conversation on the New Future of Parks, Trails, and Recreation, we learned that recreation agencies in Southeast Michigan responded to the pandemic and supported their community’s recovery by:

• Often serving community members with greater health risks and economic needs;
• Reaching a broader audience and accommodating record increases in park use and trail use;
• Leveraging park and recreation spaces and staff to provide emergency health and social services in their communities;
• Developing innovative approaches to community engagement and education, with adapted services and wider-reaching programs;
• Providing essential health and wellness opportunities, with space for physical activity, access to nature, and community-based support systems;
• Maintaining environmental systems and enhancing their accessibility and amenities, while facing record-setting high water levels, more frequent and intense rainstorms and flooding, and an increasing number of days over 90 degrees.

Several themes and priorities emerged from the Community Conversation, which demonstrate the many ways that parks, trails, and recreation provide essential services and infrastructure that advance equity, resiliency and well-being. To ensure that all people in Southeast Michigan share in these benefits, communities and organizations should:

• Invest in parks as a social determinant of health;
  • Increase green space where it has the greatest opportunity to improve public health outcomes
  • Support partnerships between healthcare and recreation providers
• Engage diverse users with inclusive programs, amenities, and a welcoming atmosphere;
  • Create recreation opportunities that reflect community needs
  • Provide accessible communications and multi-lingual signage
• Expand the quality and quantity of recreation opportunities in the places people live;
  • Increase park and recreation spaces to accommodate increased users and changing travel patterns
  • Enhance accommodations for healthy activities, like walking, running, hiking, or biking
• Provide equitable access to regionally significant parks for public transit, walking, and biking networks;
  • Expand transit service to large regional parks
  • Connect regional trails and increase access to trailheads
• Support climate resilience with sustainable development and environmental conservation;
  • Conserve and protect recreation land to meet goals for accessibility and climate resilience
  • Prioritize green and resilient infrastructure solutions in parks and public open spaces, including stormwater management systems, adaptive shorelines, and habitat restoration

We still want to hear from you! Understanding local priorities and perspectives can help SEMCOG develop resources to support your work and advocate on your behalf from a regional platform. Has your community made progress or faced challenges around any of these goals? Are you focused on other issues around these topics? Please visit the New Future of Parks, Trails, and Recreation page on SEMCOG’s website to learn more, and respond to this survey to continue the conversation. Resources and findings from this survey and other conversations in the New Future of Southeast Michigan series will be shared at SEMCOG’s October General Assembly.