Parks Report Card

Parks For All advocates for a periodic city-wide parks report card process.

In 2018, at the request of Parks For All, 15 graduate students at LSU's Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture embarked on an exemplary project to assess public parks and playgrounds in New Orleans, under the direction of Prof. Lake Douglas, FASLA. The students created an extensive "report card" score sheet to measure multiple park/playground components:

The class divided into 5 teams of 3 students, using the boundaries of the City's five Council districts as their guides to which parks each group would choose to report on. Armed with their "report card," cameras, sketchbooks, and pencils, students completed fieldwork scoring these facilities.

This is a sample section of the scoring criteria:

Here is a sample of a completed score card:

Each student then selected one park for speculative renovation design, addressing issues identified in their reports. Students' findings, identifying underserved neighborhoods and opportunities for new investment in public parks, were presented to elected officials and City agencies responsible for park/open space management.

This exercise allowed students to determine what issues are relevant in assessing public facilities, fieldwork to meet with community constituencies and gather information, exposure to policies regarding how public resources are allocated, and opportunities to suggest design improvements, all components of a city-wide Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

We urge the city to adopt a report card process similar to the one the LSU students created.