Built Environment: 62.3%
Percent of the population living within a quarter mile of a park or community space. Reflecting most recent data available (2022).

Currently, 62.3% of San Diego County residents live within a ¼ mile of a Park or Community Space. Neighborhoods with easily accessible community spaces encourage residents of all ages to walk to shared spaces and connect with others, creating a greater sense of community and safety. The report below shows the following charts: Data by Year, HHSA Service Region and Sub-regional Areas. Simply click the report's forward or back arrow to view each chart. (Reports are best viewed and printed in Google Chrome.)

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Why We Measure Built Environment

Access to community spaces is an important measurement for helping our region to achieve the Live Well San Diego vision. To ensure our communities are moving in the right direction, the Live Well San Diego Built Environment Indicator tracks accessibility to community spaces.

The Live Well San Diego Indicators Steering Committee defines Community Space as any open space or built structure that encourages the public to engage in healthy physical activity and gets people out of their cars and out-and-about. Live Well San Diego’s Built Environment Indicator sets the ideal distance as a ¼ mile (a five to ten minute walk) from one’s home with a reasonably walkable route to the community space is (i.e. not up a steep hill, in a safe area, etc.).

Research, Best Practices and Logic Model - Built Environment: Parks
View research, best practices, and example of the collective impact logic model related to Built Environment

Five Benefits of Walkable Communities

Think about how long it takes you to walk to the nearest park or community space in your neighborhood. Can you walk there through a safe area with sidewalks or is it up a steep hill along a busy street? Factors like these can affect how accessible parks or other community spaces are to you and your neighbors and studies show that it can actually influence the overall quality of life in your community.

Five benefits of walkable communities include the following.

1. Health
   Walkable communities promote physical activity and good health. Walking 30 minutes per day can reduce the risk of obesity, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, and improve your mood and mental performance.
2. Economic
   Walkable neighborhoods financially benefit the people who live and work there. People that live in a walkable community can walk to buy groceries, do their laundry, and other errands close to their home which supports local businesses and saves money that might otherwise go towards gas.
3. Community Strength
   Walking in your neighborhood builds a sense of community and allows you to interact with neighbors, forming connections and social support.
4. Crime Prevention and Safety
   Walking puts more ‘eyes on the street’ and helps prevent crime because there are more people around looking out for one another.
5. Environment
   As people walk more, there are fewer cars on the roads which leads to less traffic congestion, less air and noise pollution, and reduced water pollution.

Circulate San Diego has developed a Walkability Guide to help community members find out if their community is walkable and offers tips for working with cities to improve your community.

Additional Information

In August 2018, the Live Well San Diego Data Summit was dedicated to discussing walkability and community spaces. Invited speakers included Rob Efird and Ross Martin of the County of San Diego Land Use and Environment Group. Watch Summit speakers on the Live Well San Diego Facebook page.

Expanded Indicators Related to Built Environment

Other related indicators such as Recreational Facilities, Public Transportation to Work, Average Travel Time to Work, Travel Time to Work Over 60 Minutes and Access to Community Spaces are reported below. The report below shows the following charts: Data by Year, HHSA Service Region, City and Sub-regional Areas. Simply click the report's forward or back arrow to view each chart.

To print, click on Full Screen Mode (double-headed arrow, bottom right). Right-click on the desired report page and select print. (You may need to adjust setting to print "Background graphics".) For additional assistance, please contact us.

Footnotes

• Data Download
• Data Dictionary

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