A recent article published by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) highlights the work of OPENspace Research Fellow, Scott Ogletree, and colleagues at North Carolina State University in evaluating changes to local parks in Baltimore, MD, USA. The piece in NRPA’s Parks & Recreation Magazine covers evaluation of park improvements compared to a control park. Work included observations, interviews, and the use of mobile phone location data. Scott’s experience in location data helped him obtain and analyse multiple years of mobile phone data to determine how visits changed after the renovation of park features, such as updating play areas and adding a new splash pad. Overall, the evaluation found positive results of the park improvements. The mobile phone data corroborated evidence from interviews about how park use increased.  

Hipp, J.A., Deutsch, K., Dunstan, C., Jones, J. and Ogletree, S. (2022) Evaluating the 2019 Parks Build Community Project. Parks & Recreation Magazine. December, 2022. https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022/index.php#/p/40