is my park healthier than yours?
Project developed for Urban Data II: Sensing and Urban Spaces taught by Professor Anthony Vanky.
The question of deciding which park to go play at is typically a distance question. Is it close? or is it far? Or perhaps, asking what structures it may hold. Does it have a swing? an open space for Frisbee? a basketball court? It’s rare that we ask ourselves, “Is the park I’m heading to healthy?”
The premise of this study approaches “play” in a different aspect. While visiting our research site of Starlight Park in the Bronx, I noticed some unique aspects that differentiated this park from other parks in New York City. Some observations:
First, Starlight Park is adjacent to the Bronx River. Tangent to the recently cleaned riverbed, I thought of all the benefits that the city could invest money into, not including its already established water activities, such as canoeing, that were in place.
Second, the park was inclusive to a variety of “play”. Fun! Basketball courts, soccer field, swings, play structures, an abundance of seating for parents and grandparents, and BBQ grills to utilize. If not the ultimate place for “play”, I’m not sure what other parks could compare.
Lastly, we observed the neighboring environment. An overhead highway, six-lane arterial, and many exhausting automobiles passing by were particularly noticeable in our visit. I began to think broadly about these impacts, and wondered.. how (environmentally) safe is it to play here?
As the borough of the Bronx has been studied over the years for maintaining both the highest rate of asthma and the highest percentage of people below the federal poverty line, it is imperative to note that the communities in the Bronx are affected by both poor environmental quality and a lack of fiscal resources to resolve those (Maantay 2007). With this noted, the lack of aggression towards providing environmental justice for communities in the Bronx by the government of NYC should be considered pernicious.
As a first attempt at fighting this injustice, I devote my project to understanding the environmental atmosphere in the Bronx at a micro-scale. While macro air quality studies have been performed by the city of New York throughout the years, few have included air quality monitors at a micro-scale. At Starlight Park, those who choose to play and exercise are possibly impacted by detrimental environmental factors, such as exhaust from nearby factories and passing automobiles, possibly leaving them worse off.
As buildings have LEED Certified, as people have annual health appointments, perhaps the next step to creating a healthy environment is to “check-up” on environment of the parks, playgrounds. Perhaps we will find ourselves thinking twice before placing playgrounds in certain areas.
How can individuals check the air quality in their area? While the simplicity of a project testing air quality is straightforward, the impact and the involvement in which feedback from this project can allow for more pressured actions to be implemented in the form of more community involvement and government providing community education classes in understanding how residents can approach living safely in their own neighborhood.
the project:
concept: deploy HPM air quality particle sensors around parks near high traffic areas, such as Starlight Park, Bronx, and comparing results with that of a park primarily surrounded by greenery, Central Park, Manhattan, as the control group.
location of deployment: referencing the Senseable City Lab project on Urban Sensing by putting sensors on taxis, I was interested in deploying these sensors at a micro level and questioning, how many particles a runner would be heavily breathing in during their run? Attached along the common light post, or possibly on a person walking around.
public notice: This project will be explicit to the community. The flyer I intend to place on trees, light poles, and convenient-to-read areas will explain the essence of the project, and the initiative that I wish comes out of it — that is of awareness. Perhaps, another interaction that I would be interested in are interviewing people on this topic and whether they find importance on whether micro sensing should be taking place.
outcome: With the data gathered, I hope to be able to compare these specific areas to possibly answer my question of whether my park is healthier than yours?
inspiration for the project:
Urban Sensing — How much urban area can we monitor by putting sensors on taxi’s?
NYC.gov — NYC’s Fleet Vehicles to Begin Mobile Testing of Local Air Quality (2020)
