Urban Parks and Community Development Needs

Stories through Images Captured by Youth

Abstract

Parks can provide important, positive contexts for youth development. Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city that has made substantial investments to improve its parks in spite of various social and economic challenges. In 2010, a group of five youth researchers conducted a study of Lawrence’s parks through a project that provided youth mentorship and leadership opportunities, as well as skill-building through applied research. The pictures taken by the youth as part of their assessment depict parks that are littered, covered with graffiti, and serve as spaces for public drinking and drug use. The youth concluded that what they observed in the parks reflected a lack of community appreciation for and ownership of the parks. The youths’ pictures raise questions about the limitations of investments in the physical environment without concurrent social and economic investment to address crime, violence, drugs, and poverty in a city that has long suffered from neglect and profound disinvestment.