Valmont City Park
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The City of Boulder Parks & Recreation Department is revisiting the Valmont City Park concept plan that was developed in 2008. As a part of this process Growing Up Boulder (GUB) solicited ideas from groups of children, youth and families. GUB facilitated community outreach activities with school-age children from YMCA’s University Hill and Crestview Elementary programs, with middle- and high-school youth from the Youth Services Initiative (YSI), and with families of the YSI youth. This report is a summary of the child, youth and family input gathered by Growing Up Boulder.
Data was gathered using different methods with each group. YMCA children were engaged with a Co-design activity during a field-trip to the site, where they created drawings of playgrounds in an imaginary newly developed park. YSI activities took place using photovoice during a field-trip to the site, and using a visual preference survey at the YSI meeting space at Salberg Park facilities. Parents of participating youth were interviewed at an informal social gathering for Dia de los Niños at the Manhattan housing site. Although responses varied between and within each group, two major themes that were present and highly prevalent for all three groups were nature and play, while two other themes, transport and food were mostly a concern of the older groups of youth and parents. |
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YMCA
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Twenty children ages 6-10,from two local elementary schools (Crestview and University Hill) participated in a field-trip to Valmont City Park during their after-school program with YMCA. After an initial walk around the site children were asked to envision themselves in a park where all the designing had been done already, and draw what they would be doing in this park on a blank sheet. The task was described the following way: “Imagine yourself at this park, where all the designing is done and it has been built to your satisfaction. Think of what you will be doing. Now, draw yourself and your friends first in the picture. Then draw the surroundings.”
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Youth Services Initiative
Photovoice:
Methods: Eight youth ages 11-16 (3 girls, 5 boys) from Boulder’s Youth Services Initiative (YSI) participated in a one-hour long field-trip to Valmont Park. The goal of this activity was to allow youth to explore the park with the following three questions in mind: “What would you preserve? What would you create? What would you change?”Youth were given cameras and a cardboard frame (green on one side and red on the other), and were instructed to take pictures of things they like (would preserve) framed green, and things they dislike (would change), framed red. During the walk around the park CYE and YSI staff pointed out different objects that may be important aspects of the park-planning process (e.g. types and sizes of paths). The following week, GUB presented a compilation of the photos YSI youth had taken on the field trip. GUB asked youth to provide feedback regarding the photographs they had taken. Half-way through the park exploration youth took a 10 minute break, and were asked to draw what they imagine or wish for in this park (what they would create) on yellow-framed blank sheets (see left).
Findings: There were three major themes that emerged from the youth’s photographs: nature, garbage, and transportation. These are presented in order of prevalence in Table 3. Of these, the major theme that all youth agreed on, and pictured in red frames, was the presence of garbage. In accordance with this theme, garbage cans were positively perceived. Many youth also disliked the number of parked cars present in the parking lot. The reasons given were: “You should walk to the park,” “There needs to be better bus service,” “There is not enough parking space,” and “I don’t like that you have to drive there.”
There was disagreement regarding aspects of the natural landscape, with some youth perceiving the natural prairie vegetation, the trees, the mountainous landscape and the prairie dogs negatively, while a larger number (about 2/3) perceiving these positively. Flowering shrubs, large trees and the well-maintained green disc-golf field was favored by most youth, and weeds and yellow grasses (even when part of the native ecosystem) were disliked in general. Bicycle racks and cycle lanes received a more positive assessment, although there was some disagreement here as well. Gravel and paved pathways received mixed reviews, while stone/brick pathways were assessed positively in all cases. Dogs were seen mostly positively, as were the presence of doggy bags. The disc-golf fence received mixed reviews as well: some youth liked how it was designed to keep the prairie dogs out, others did not find it aesthetically pleasing. Representative photographs were selected and compiled into two posters, depicting youth’s positive (green-framed) and negative (red-framed) assessments of Valmont Park.
Youth drew pictures and/or wrote a list of things they would like to see in the park on yellow-framed sheets. The most common requests are listed below in order of prevalence:
Other suggestions included gravel walking paths along the existing bike-lanes, Starbucks, a zoo, bike and sport-equipment rentals (e.g. disc-golf Frisbee), a “really cool handicap accessible jungle gym,” and a shooting range.
Methods: Eight youth ages 11-16 (3 girls, 5 boys) from Boulder’s Youth Services Initiative (YSI) participated in a one-hour long field-trip to Valmont Park. The goal of this activity was to allow youth to explore the park with the following three questions in mind: “What would you preserve? What would you create? What would you change?”Youth were given cameras and a cardboard frame (green on one side and red on the other), and were instructed to take pictures of things they like (would preserve) framed green, and things they dislike (would change), framed red. During the walk around the park CYE and YSI staff pointed out different objects that may be important aspects of the park-planning process (e.g. types and sizes of paths). The following week, GUB presented a compilation of the photos YSI youth had taken on the field trip. GUB asked youth to provide feedback regarding the photographs they had taken. Half-way through the park exploration youth took a 10 minute break, and were asked to draw what they imagine or wish for in this park (what they would create) on yellow-framed blank sheets (see left).
Findings: There were three major themes that emerged from the youth’s photographs: nature, garbage, and transportation. These are presented in order of prevalence in Table 3. Of these, the major theme that all youth agreed on, and pictured in red frames, was the presence of garbage. In accordance with this theme, garbage cans were positively perceived. Many youth also disliked the number of parked cars present in the parking lot. The reasons given were: “You should walk to the park,” “There needs to be better bus service,” “There is not enough parking space,” and “I don’t like that you have to drive there.”
There was disagreement regarding aspects of the natural landscape, with some youth perceiving the natural prairie vegetation, the trees, the mountainous landscape and the prairie dogs negatively, while a larger number (about 2/3) perceiving these positively. Flowering shrubs, large trees and the well-maintained green disc-golf field was favored by most youth, and weeds and yellow grasses (even when part of the native ecosystem) were disliked in general. Bicycle racks and cycle lanes received a more positive assessment, although there was some disagreement here as well. Gravel and paved pathways received mixed reviews, while stone/brick pathways were assessed positively in all cases. Dogs were seen mostly positively, as were the presence of doggy bags. The disc-golf fence received mixed reviews as well: some youth liked how it was designed to keep the prairie dogs out, others did not find it aesthetically pleasing. Representative photographs were selected and compiled into two posters, depicting youth’s positive (green-framed) and negative (red-framed) assessments of Valmont Park.
Youth drew pictures and/or wrote a list of things they would like to see in the park on yellow-framed sheets. The most common requests are listed below in order of prevalence:
- Taco truck with free wi-fi
- Green fields/open spaces with more flowers, and no pesticides
- Pool and or water park/lazy river
- Real bathrooms, not portable ones
- Campfire
- Outdoor movie theater/stage
Other suggestions included gravel walking paths along the existing bike-lanes, Starbucks, a zoo, bike and sport-equipment rentals (e.g. disc-golf Frisbee), a “really cool handicap accessible jungle gym,” and a shooting range.
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Visual Preference Survey:
Methods: Fifteen youth ages 11-16 (8 girls, 7 boys) participated in this activity. A power-point visual survey consisting of 22 slides was created, depicting choices of park-related infrastructure within the categories of a) transport (to and within the park), b) social spaces (seating and picnic options), c) playgrounds (e.g. adventure-play, water-play, surface, and accessibility), and d) food/recreation. The goal of the activity was to expose youth to a wide variety of park ideas and to help narrow down their preferences. Slides presented 2, 3, or 4 choices in a visual format, and in most cases also included a short verbal description that clarified which aspects of the image were under inquiry. Youth were asked to position themselves in the room according to their most preferred image. Findings: When discussing transportation to and within the park, a unique park-train, and the bicycle, quadricycle, or rickshaw ride and rental options were most favored by the youth. A general theme that emerged is that youth prefer colorful, and artistic options over grey stone or cement, be it pathways, seating, or climbing and balancing play structures (see Figure 5). The majority of youth preferred to have grills or outdoor ovens at picnic areas, and most liked more artistic designs, with a larger number choosing picnic tables than benches. Adventure playground structures were generally favored over traditional more common playgrounds. The main features that youth preferred were: wooden castle and animals to sit/climb on; ropes, high-ropes, zip-line; colorful nets for climbing and swinging, rubber surface, many splash or water structures, and ‘chutes-and-ladders’ style slides (see Figure 6). Additional suggestions for playground structures included a trampoline, a treehouse, a rock cave and tunnels, paintball, mini-golf, and horse-back-riding. All youth liked the idea of a petting zoo, and the option of not only petting and feeding, but also riding some animals. Concerns were raised, however, over the price of this and other services, such as a high-ropes-course, or bicycle and rickshaw rentals. The group was mostly split between an indoor and outdoor ice-skating rink. With regards to food, stationary food stands or buildings were preferred, and it was recommended that food-delivery by bicycle should be made available within the park, especially if food-related and play-related structures are significantly far from each-other. Nice, clean, non-mobile bathrooms and working water fountains were also high priority for many youth. |
Families of YSI
Parents of the participating YSI youth were interviewed at an informal social event – a Dia de los Niños potluck gathering held on a weekday evening at their local housing complex. YSI youth, their families, YSI youth workers, and GUB staff and volunteers attended the one-and-half hour event. Five parents were asked the following three questions: “If there were a park where you could take your family and spend the afternoon, what would it be like?” “Who would be there with you?” and“By what mode of transport would you like to get to the park, assuming that it is not within walking distance? Would you use a bike, bus or drive?” All interviews were conducted in Spanish.
