People from poorer neighborhoods in Madrid do less physical activity in parks

Urban parks are a meeting point for their residents and potentially useful for improving the health of the population who work in them. physical activity of greater or lesser intensity. An international research team, led by the University of Alcalá (UAH), studied the use that is given to these green spaces within Madrid according to the socioeconomic level (NSE) of the place where they are located.

To do this, scientists have proposed a mixed study method. On the one hand, direct observation of the number of people and their level of physical activity in neighborhood parks with different SES. On the other hand, 29 focus groups and 37 interviews were carried out to analyze the residents’ perception of parks as urban assets for physical activity.

“In quantitative terms, we classify the neighborhoods of Madrid depending on the socioeconomic level; We chose three neighborhoods classified as high, medium and low (Nueva España, El Pilar and San Diego, respectively) that met the characteristics and in them we chose two parks per neighborhood, similar to each other. In the interviews and focus groups, they were reported as places where people went to do physical activity”, he explains to SINC Mario Fontan, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in Epidemiology and Public Health at UAH.

Both parts of the work were developed in parallel between 2016 and 2019and later analyzed the data separately. Finally, they were brought together to detect areas of divergence or convergence between quantitative (observation) and qualitative (speech) data.

“We chose parks that are similar to each other, in terms of size and type of facilities. For example, if they had a playground or not, if they had some aquatic element of fountain-type ornament. The objective was to avoid that differences in the characteristics of the park as such could be associated with the experiences of use. We were interested in trying to capture what is more contextual, which is the socioeconomic level of the neighborhood”, continues Fontán.

Each park was visited in four one-hour shifts spread throughout the day, on two different days, every day and on the weekend. In three different areas of the park, each shift was recorded for each person who passed by their gender, age and level of physical activity.

“We placed ourselves in large areas so that there were lots of people walking, sitting or running. Also in the children’s areas and those that include sports facilities. The shifts were in the morning, noon, after lunch and in the afternoon. They were divided in twenty minutes and with an application they registered all the people who passed by and the data”, explains the researcher.

Insecurity and precariousness negatively influence

For people who participated in the qualitative part, variables such as age, sex, country of origin or employment status were considered, in order to try to collect a greater wealth of discourses.

Residents pointed out that very long working hours or having two or many physical jobs represented a barrier to using parks for physical activities

Read Also:  Thousands demonstrate on the Canary Islands against mass tourism and gentrification

Mario Fontan

“We believe that thinking about contextual elements can show the ways that differences in usage are explained. One of the elements that emerged from this part was insecurity, especially in neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status. People in these areas noticed the park as less accessible. They described situations such as loose dogs or gangs, which were not reported in neighborhoods with higher socioeconomic status”, he argues.

Another determining element was the working conditions. “The residents pointed out that very long working hours or having two or very physical jobs it was a barrier for them to use the parks for physical activities”, adds the researcher.

The study collects a greater number of visitors in high SES parks: of the 10,810 people observed, almost half were in these areas (45.8%). Likewise, the higher the SES in the neighborhood, the greater the proportion of people with a high level of physical activity.

Women use them less for vigorous physical activity

Regarding gender differences, there was a higher proportion of women with a low level of physical activity and more men. who engaged in high physical activity (7.1% women compared to 10.5% men).

Women who practiced light physical activities, especially in the most favored neighborhoods, used to take care of the work with your son or daughter. The differences are more subtle in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status in this regard.

Parks are places of socialization and have an impact on people’s mental health. Designing green spaces in cities cannot just focus on physical activity or improving facilities and safety

In addition, the gender difference in the proportion of people with high physical activity is greater in parks with high SES (15.1% men; 8.9% women) than in those with low SES (3.6% men; 2, 8% women).

“The evidence we’ve seen is corroborated by previous studies, which claim that there are different levels of physical activity between the sexes, as well as less use of parks in areas of lower socioeconomic status,” says Fontán.

In middle and low SES neighborhoods, more barriers when using the parks. “High physical activity can be done alone and insecurity, for obvious reasons, can be perceived more by women than by men. This can delay intense physical activity”, argues the author.

“Parks are places for socializing and they also have a certain impact on people’s mental health. Designing green spaces in cities cannot just focus on physical activity or improving facilities and safety. There are other external factors, so it is necessary to broaden the picture to understand how the population perceives and makes use of these spaces. Besides take into account different age and social groups., who can use them with more or less intensity”, he concludes.