Conceptualizing lenses, dimensions, constructs, and indicators for urban park quality

Social and environmental quality are essential components of urban parks, yet they are difficult to define and measure systematically and comprehensively across different types of parks. To simplify this issue, scholars have often equated park size with quality. However, we argue that there are many other significant aspects of park quality in addition to park size, which include constructs such as safety, access, amenities, social inclusion, aesthetics, and ecological vitality. Even though these additional constructs might be difficult to define and measure, they are relevant aspects of park quality. Since access, safety, and aesthetics might be less available in parks in lower socioeconomic or racially diverse neighborhoods, these are especially important for a comprehensive definition of urban park quality. To accurately compare urban park quality across parks in different geographical areas, a more systematic and comprehensive definition of park quality is needed. The goal of this study is to combine various strands of the literature for the purpose of advancing a conceptual model that defines social and environmental quality constructs, such as those focused on access, amenities, safety, social inclusion, aesthetics, and ecological vitality.