Photo Credit: Woodard & Curran, Inc.
Do you think of parks and recreation facilities as critical infrastructure? There is no denying the nation’s sports and recreation facilities are valuable, and they already provide us with a lot. For primary users and players, they provide a great opportunity for recreation and fitness as well as lessons of teamwork, both in winning and defeat. For bystanders or spectators, they provide entertainment, social interaction, community connections, fresh air, and more. Numerous local studies have documented the value and benefits associated with strong sports and park and recreation facilities from health and wellness to economic development. In addition to all that, they can still do more!
Oftentimes, new facilities or rehabilitations are designed to address one specific need, or several needs related to one particular problem—such as a lack of adequate space to play—without considering how that project might be able to benefit or offset other needs and problems in typically unrelated departments (think parks and public works). But recreational assets present an immense opportunity to support other critical infrastructure, simply by virtue of their physical attributes, such as location, size, and ownership, which is often public. This is a call to planners, administrators, chief executives, engineers—basically anyone involved in the technical management and operations of large publicly owned and even privately owned facilities—to open your minds and consider how you can significantly improve a facility and possibly community-wide operations by integrating other needs within sports and recreation facilities.
Moving From Competition To Coordination
Investment in water, wastewater, stormwater, security, transportation, and other essential infrastructure is required to maintain an environmentally and economically healthy community. Unfortunately, due to a budget, political factors, perception, or public opinion, some things are prioritized at the expense of others. There are ways, however, to obtain new (or improved) sports facilities and new critical infrastructure simultaneously.