Idea: Fair Park Trail

Fair Park DTX is currently studying a perimeter trail system. Using this opportunity to create a fully programmed trail with active design principles outside of the paywall is a way to show investment and commitment to South Dallas neighborhoods and the city as a whole.

Improving Quality Of Life

Green space connections, parks and trail networks are critical infrastructure for supporting personal health, public health and planet health. Opportunities to develop and maintain personal fitness and support mental respite are hallmarks of a healthy society and part of a necessary planning strategy at the heart of meeting daily physical activity needs. Perimeter trails can meet environmental and recreational needs of nearby communities and provide opportunities to improve quality of life on a daily basis.

Placemaking for Outdoor Exercise

Perimeter trails are an effective design solution for providing pedestrian options for transportation and recreation in a community. Noted for their visibility and connectivity to surrounding spaces, perimeter trails are a simple way to bring the peace of the park to the stress of the streets. In addition to improving environmental quality in an area, placemaking for outdoor exercise is a proven way to influence the health probability and economic elevation of a neighborhood. Well designed and maintained park spaces can also better public health and safety by reducing crime and improving societal well-being by serving as an antidote to isolation.

It could look like this

Because placemaking in greenways greatly influences physical activity, when we talk about hiking and biking, let’s talk about running too. Aerobic exercise is a vital part of a balanced active lifestyle and when this important physical activity is left out of the conversation we fail to make a place for it. Acknowledging the different speeds with which walkers, runners and cyclists travel is a fundamental reason to give each their own lane in order to create a safer and more inclusive exercise experience.

For example: walkers typically travel 3 mph, runners at 6 mph and cyclists at 12 mph. Shared paths are like a street without lane lines allowing vehicles traveling 30 mph, 60 mph and 120 mph to share the same road. Designated lanes for runners influence the likelihood someone would go for a run by providing access to a safe space to exercise, promoting life saving physical activity while reducing the potential conflict of shared paths.

Making Comments

My comment added to the social pinpoint for Fair Park First. “Putting the “Park” back in Fair Park” … parks are placemaking for physical activity–for people of all ages and abilities. While many designs include opportunities for kid friendly fitness, there is a shortage of inclusion for grown up fitness too.

Initiatives that succeed in increasing aerobic fitness at the population level could have a huge impact on public healthcare costs. Reimagining the public realm to shape healthy living patterns by creating inclusive activity anchors as a design approach can be a starting place for small scale interventions in public health that have the capacity to make a large impact.