Park Renovations, Neighborhood Change and Identities: A Case Study in New York City

Javier Otero Pena The Graduate Center, CUNY

The Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces (PARCS) Study, led by Prof. Terry Huang in the CUNY School of Public Health, is studying the impacts of park renovations in physical activity of people in the low-income neighborhoods targeted by the NYC Parks Community Parks Initiative. However, the investment in park renovations may also be a contributor or a catalyzer for large-scale neighborhood changes, as public investment fosters a rise in land value and rents that threaten to force vulnerable residents out of their neighborhoods. How do these park renovations affect the context and the social fabric of the neighborhoods? Are these park renovations adding to what scholars have called “green gentrification”? Whether this is the case or not, this study seeks a better understanding of the processes through which inhabitants of low-income neighborhoods develop and negotiate their identity in the context of a changing environment. In this presentation, I will discuss the findings of an ongoing study analyzing participant survey data, sociodemographic data in geographic information systems, rapid ethnographic interviews and social media analysis.