Parks and Recreation in Binghamton

Parks are an essential part of life and leisure for urban populations. We must study how to further improve new parks and better utilize old ones; we must study how communities use parks with observational data. This project takes a look at different parks and natural areas in Binghamton, NY and surrounding Broome County and how the local communities interact with them. Research on this subject is very limited to a few select cities in America, little research exists on parks of the Broome County area. Data will be collected through subject observation and survey questions concentrating on how often attendees go to parks and how they spend their time there. These visits will be spread out through multiple sessions over 4 weeks to gain a broader understanding of how park usage in Binghamton changes as the weather and seasons change from winter to spring. I expect to find a difference in the habits of families and young adults, with the former more likely to visit traditional parks with a playground and the latter more likely to enjoy natural areas that have more freedom of movement. In addition, as the weather changes to more consistently warm temperatures, I expect to observe a substantial increase in the quantity of attendees at traditional parks, but a more modest increase in natural areas due to most hikers and outdoors enthusiasts going to parks for the nature experience, and not just to get out of the house for a day. I hope for this research to aid in the construction of new parks and maintenance of old ones by more efficiently designing to suit the needs of the people of Binghamton.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2021/1081/thumbnail.jp