Here's How Many People In Highland Park Can Easily Walk To A Park

HIGHLAND PARK-HIGHWOOD, IL — It’s no secret that public parks are essential to a community’s health, particularly for kids. They provide a safe place for people to gather, explore and play. They give dogs a place to frolic. They often increase the value of surrounding homes. And they can serve as a home for major festivals and events.

But new data crunched by The Trust for Public Land released last week suggests many Americans — one in three — don’t have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of their home.

In Highland Park, 27,690 residents, or 92 percent, live near a park. Conversely, 2,343 residents live in so-called “park deserts.” Meanwhile in Highwood, 97 percent of people are within a 10-minute walk from a local park.

Here’s a park breakdown of Highland Park and Highwood:

Total parks

• Highland Park: 53
• Highwood: 5

Total acreage

• Highland Park: 572 – which is equal to 433 football fields.
• Highwood: 8

How many kids live within a 10-minute walk of a park:

• Highland Park: 93 percent
• Highwood: 97 percent

As for neighboring towns, Glencoe manages a 98 percent access rate, while a healthy 88 percent of Deerfield residents are within that definition of walking distance. Three out of four Northbrook residents can walk to a park – leaving out 8,485 people. In Lake Forest, 56 percent of kids can walk to a park as easily and 8,350 residents are outside of range.

Nationwide, just 54 percent of people in urban areas live near a park, the organization found.

“Today, more than 100 million people in communities across America don’t have a park within a 10-minute walk of home — and that’s 100 million too many,” Diane Regas, president and CEO of the organization, said in a release. “ParkServe will help us address this challenge, so every person in America can experience the countless benefits of having a park close to home.”

The group recently released a mapping tool showing what areas of Highland Park and Highwood are best served by parks. The dark green areas on the map indicate existing park space and the red areas show neighborhoods that need a park. The blue circled numbers indicate the best locations for new park development, ranked by how significant an impact it would have on the neighborhood.

The group says this is the first time in America’s history that every park in each urban municipality has been mapped. Residents can now determine who has and who lacks walkable access to a park, an important tool for city planners.

The tool also allows people to see the percentage of residents who live near a park by income, ethnicity, age and other demographic factors.

“The ParkServe data platform takes the guesswork out of planning where to put a park,” said Breece Robertson, the director of the group’s geographic information system. “It tells mayors and recreation departments, ‘To serve the most people in need, build a park right here.’”

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed.