This week on Podparks, Alice sits down with Jayne Miller, Chair of World Urban Parks.
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Jayne is committed to advancing equitable access to urban parks and green spaces, especially in underserved and emerging parts of the world.
Through her work as a parks and recreation manager in different cities in the United States, she has led the development of equity investment strategies and policies for park systems across the US. Jayne shares her wide trajectory, and how that commitment has now transformed into her own consultancy work and leading World Urban Parks.
Throughout the conversation, Jayne reflects on the historic inequities around the world that have resulted in unequal access to parks and recreational communities, and in turn a strained relationship with vulnerable communities who have been under-served and under-represented.
They discuss the first step to bridge that access gap and create equitable investment strategies in park systems to create better living conditions for the communities that surround them.
Alice and Jayne dive deep into what the aftermath of COVID has meant for parks, and how the pandemic further highlighted the disparities in access to healthy public spaces. This, Jayne details, is why the work of World Urban Parks is intentionally shifting to activate park advocacy and professionalization in underserved and emerging communities around the world.
Some of the programs that WUP is driving for this purpose are the Salzburg Global Seminar, a Parks Corps Task Force, and global congresses around the world. Tune in to the interview to find out how you can get involved with World Urban Parks in your community.
This podcast is only one of the many resources available inside the WUP member platform. Discover more resources and connect with park professionals around the world at www.worldurbanparks.org
Additional or complementary information about the topics discussed:
- Document: The Community First Toolkit - High Line Network:
- Document: Placemaking - What if we build our cities around places?
- Document: Improving access to greenspace
- Document: Integrating Climate Adaptation: A Toolkit for Urban Planners and Adaptation Practitioners
- Session: Building Communities Where all Life can Thrive