2021 Park Systems: How Littleton Rates For Access

LITTLETON, CO — During the coronavirus pandemic, parks were a valued amenity for many living in Littleton and other U.S. cities. Communities relied on parks for safer exercise and play, and some became makeshift community centers for emergency services such as food distribution, COVID-19 virus testing and vaccination sites.

Littleton residents have more equal access to shared green spaces than many other residents across the U.S., according to this year’s ParkScore Index, recently released by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

The purpose of the index is to provide communities with information to help close the park equity gap, according to the nonprofit.

In Littleton, this year’s report confirmed what many parkgoers may already know: the city is home to one of the best park systems in the nation.

Around 94 percent of Littleton residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park, compared to a national average of 55 percent, the report shows. And unlike many other U.S. cities, socioeconomic status doesn't determine Littleton residents' equal access to parks.

Around 16 percent of Littleton's city land is used for parks and recreation, and there are 54 parks in the city, according to the index.

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While this year’s ParkScore Index revealed the highest U.S. access score in the index’s 10-year history, new collected data shows major disparities in that access, according to the report — disparities that fall largely across racial and economic lines.

In all, about 100 million Americans — including 28 million kids — don’t have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of home.

On a per-person basis, residents of neighborhoods where most people identify as Black, Hispanic and Latinx, Indigenous and Native American, or Asian American and Pacific Islander have access to about 44 percent less park space than residents of neighborhoods that are predominantly white.

In fact, 70 of the 100 most populated cities have more park acreage per person in predominantly white neighborhoods as compared to neighborhoods where a majority of residents identify as people of color.

Low-income neighborhoods also have less quality park space. On a per-person basis, residents of low-income neighborhoods have access to 42 percent less park space than residents of high-income neighborhoods, this year’s index found.

Denver also fared well in the park equity category — 85 percent of Denverites live within a 10-minute walk of a park, the analysis shows.

Washington, D.C., reached the No. 1 spot this year mostly due to park equity, according to the report. In Washington, D.C., someone who identifies as a person of color is equally likely to live within a 10-minute walk of a park as a white resident.

No. 12 Boston and No. 6 San Francisco remain the only ParkScore cities where 100 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park or other public open space.

The park equity disparities are detailed more in Parks and an Equitable Recovery, a supplemental report from the Trust For Public Land.