When it Comes to Parks, it's Not Just How Many, But Where

The median land area dedicated to park space in U.S. cities is 8.1 percent, according to a 2011 report from The Trust for Public Land [PDF]. How that 8.1 percent spreads itself out, though, varies from city to city – some with a handful of very large parks and others with many smaller parks. But according to a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control, only one out of five children in the U.S. lives within a half-mile of a park or playground. For the playground advocacy group KaBOOM!, these numbers are troubling.

"Just like food deserts, there are play deserts," says Darell Hammond, founder and CEO of KaBOOM! "And one of the things we need to be able to understand better is if you have to be driven to a park, that means somebody who has a license and a car has got to get you there, which probably means you're not going to go as frequently."