Key Insight

Health Imperative: Parks as Essential Public Health Investment

One of the most consistent trends across the CCPR data is the growing use and recognition of city parks as essential public spaces, a shift dramatically accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. What were once considered amenities are now firmly recognized as critical spaces that support the mental and physical health and well-being of city residents.

Arts in the Parks, Toronto. Credit: Toronto Arts Foundation.

Parks are spaces that the public use throughout all seasons, contributing to physical and mental health and social well-being.

Key Insight

The Funding Gap: Resources and Capacity Constraints

Despite documented increases in park use and public valuing of parks, municipalities report ongoing financial and staffing constraints that limit their capacity to maintain and enhance park systems.

Riverdale Park, Toronto. Credit: Jake Tobin Garrett.

A major finding across all years is the struggle to adequately fund park operations and maintenance. This leads to a backlog of repairs and a detrimental cycle of deferred maintenance and an inability to meet public expectations and demand. 

There is however, a willingness from the public to invest in parks and the need to explore new models of funding to support park spaces. 

Key Insight

Environmental Function: Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity

Urban parks serve important environmental functions, particularly in climate adaptation and supporting urban biodiversity, roles that have gained increased attention as climate impacts intensify.

Montreal Park People Forum, Frédéric Back Park, Montreal.

Since 2020 Park People has explored the different ways Canadian cities are addressing climate change and biodiversity loss.

Read more:

• Learning to Bend with the Wind – Lessons learned from Hurricane Fiona in Charlottetown
• Protecting Biodiversity from National to Local – How Nature Canada is building a web of partners at all scales to help Canada achieve its biodiversity conservation goals
• Planning Through the Lens of Nature – How Brampton is fusing nature and recreation through its Eco Park Strategy
• Reconfiguring our Relationship to Water – Naturalizing the mouth of Toronto’s Don River
• Cultivating Nature Connection Together – How leaders from across the country are using different methods to promote a sense of connection to nature by meeting people where they’re at
• The Nourishment of Nature – How we can foster a greater sense of connection to nature through awareness, reciprocity, and gratitude—and why that matters.
• Hot Cities, Cool Parks
• Valuing Parks as Natural Infrastructure – Why cities are moving more towards putting a price on what parks provide
• Sharing the Benefits of Green Space – How using an environmental justice lens can help tackle climate change resilience and inequity in parks
• Changing Climate Changing Parks – How climate change is impacting how we plan, design, and maintain parks
• Eight Climate Resilient Canadian Park Projects – How cities are planning parks to help adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change
• The Feel Good Factor – How urban biodiversity improves our well-being and why that matters even more during COVID-19
• Deepening the Conservation Conversation – How we can both deepen the conversation about biodiversity and broaden it to include more people
• Connecting the Dots – Why habitat corridors are important for urban biodiversity and what cities are doing to make sure parks large and small are connected

Key Insight

Equity and Access: Addressing Systemic Barriers

Beginning prominently in 2021, participating municipalities increasingly reported efforts to address equity, inclusion, and reconciliation in park planning and management, reflecting broader societal reckonings with systemic barriers to park access and enjoyment.

Kihciy askiy Ground Blessing ceremony, Edmonton. Credit: Teresa Marshall.

Key Insight

Evolving Practice: Community Engagement and Complex Operations

Park management now encompasses complex social dimensions beyond traditional maintenance, including community engagement strategies and navigation of challenging urban issues that intersect with public space.

“Nature and Engagement in Economically Stressed Communities” workshop with Akiima Price, Park People Conference.

In 2022 municipalities reported an increasing interest in wide variety of activities and spaces, including but not limited to:

• 93% – Off leash dog areas
• 86% – Food growing, cooking and selling opportunities (e.g. community gardens, edible orchards, farmers markets and bake ovens)
• 86% – Multiuse trails (e.g. walking and cycling)
• 82% – Indigenous engagement and programming
• 79% – Universally accessible design
• 71% – Naturalized areas in parks

While residents deeply value parks, a significant portion, 52% in 2024, feel disempowered and lack a voice in park decisions. At the same time the role of park staff is evolving. Parks departments are increasingly tasked with addressing more complex issues beyond traditional park management including social equity as demonstrated by the rise in homelessness, reconciliation and climate change.