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TRENDS Illinois Members of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration Look Toward the 21st Century Part Two This is the final of a two-part article featuring excerpts from Illinois members of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration who had articles featured in the Academy's publication. Twenty-first Century Management. Twenty-first Century Management was initiated to incorporate under one cover the thoughts and comments of Academy members regarding park and recreation services in the 21st century. This project was made possible by the generous contributions of Edmund B. Thornton. NOW SEEMS AN appropriate time to speculate about what parks and programs will look like as we rush towards the year 2001. Some trends are in definite conflict: conservation ethic versus suburban sprawl; energy conservation versus more modem energy consuming facilities. Competition for leisure time continues to dominate our lifestyle. Not only must we plan with funding in mind, we must plan to make better and more effective use of what we have. Do more with less. Let us convince people that we believe in them; that we care not just for youth and senior citizens, but for all ages. Give residents an opportunity to design their environment and their leisure time and what goes into it. Give citizens opportunity to plan, react to plans and to be part of the implementation process. Redesign those old parks to meet today's needs, not just assume yesterday's needs are today's answers. There is nothing more certain than change. The period we are entering will be full of technical, economic and social change. All of these factors will affect not only the nature and design of parks, they will affect recreation programming.
Here is what I see in my crystal ball: • Summer music and theater, intercommunity traveling from town to town. • Year-round park district operated camps for youth and families located not only locally, but regionally, that can be reached by mass transportation services. • Recreation centers that include exercise rooms, indoor pools and indoor running tracks heated by solar energy and body movement. • Park districts will become more transportation oriented to the point of expanding their own transportation services. • Museums, including historic villages and programs, will become major park endeavors. • Enclosed floating fishing piers on lakes and rivers. • Operation of stables with community-wide bridle paths. • Golf courses, driving ranges and green spaces will replace slums intertwined among the big buildings downtown, providing a river of green and a breath of fresh air. • Volunteering will become a major program. • Greenhouses in every playground; community gardens in every park and model operation farms here and there. • Programming will include scheduling and operation of fairs, carnivals and special events. Communities will either build these facilities on a minor scale or design park areas to accommodate such activities.
Ernest W. Nance 24 * Illinois Parks & Recreation * January/February 1994 PREDICTING THE FUTURE is often conjecture based on recent changes which, when viewed as independent activities, don't seem to form a pattern. However, when recent changes are grouped together and considered as trends, they begin to formulate a more understandable pattern with discernible movement and substance. The following thoughts are presented from the perspective of a municipal park and recreation level. They may also apply to county, regional or state levels as well. Time will tell. There was a time (my reference point is the early 1960s when my career began) when nearly all of the recreation program offerings were delivered at a very low cost or without a fee. Leisure agency facilities consisted of parks, swimming pools, zoos, horticulture areas, community centers, golf courses, etc. Today those same facilities exist, but so do state-of-the-art indoor ice arenas, indoor tennis courts, water parks, health and fitness centers, the list goes on. The fees are often set just below private market rates to be self-sustaining, and some are operated as revenue-producing ventures to fund other elements of the agency's system. Due to rising concerns about high levels of taxes, Proposition 13 syndrome is continuing in locations throughout the country, which mitigates toward reduced tax funding for public agencies. While expenses are being cut, revenue enhancements are also being sought in a wide variety of services, especially in fee-based programs and facilities. The summer playgrounds that were offered free and were once the staple of the summer recreation program have mostly been replaced by specialized camps that charge hefty fees to provide meaningful leisure activities that appeal to today's generation of computer literate grade school children. In some cases, a summer's activity schedule can cost several hundred dollars for a "public" recreation opportunity. The feared result is occurring; we continue to offer services that fewer tax payers can afford. The public agency is pricing itself outside of the ability of many of its constituents. We are becoming a segment of government that only those with a fair amount of disposable income can afford. My thesis is that public recreation is moving rapidly toward the private sector's philosophy that if you can pay, you can play. There will probably continue to be fewer "basics" in the leisure delivery system that are free. How stimulating, challenging and rewarding can it be to be allowed to sit in the park but not be able to pay the fee to get into the pool, ice rink, fitness center or golf course?
Michael S. Pope THE SEEDS OF the 21st century have, of course, already been sown and are growing rapidly. Major changes in parks and recreation will occur as an outgrowth of today's societal unrest, changing demographics and an environmental awakening in this country. Recreation programs will be called upon to take an integral role in solving social problems in this country, including the problems of drug abuse and inner-city gang activity. We have historically involved young people (preteens) in wholesome recreational pursuits, but as they drifted away from our programs and recreation centers and returned to the streets, we took the responsibility of other social agencies. We will be expected more and more to participate as team members in solving our community problems even if it means departing from traditional recreation programs. The growth of minorities, especially Hispanics and Asians, will dramatically change our work forces and our clientele. We must develop new selection processes for employees that allow these citizens to participate and grow in our profession. We need bilingual employees to deal effectively with our changing clientele. The explosion of the senior population requires that we face reality and establish appropriate fees for their participation. We cannot continue to use age, rather than need, as the criteria for discounted fees. We must develop programs that address the more active lifestyle of those reaching senior status in the next ten years. Park services will be more heavily emphasized than they have been in the recent past. Our citizens are becoming more environmentally aware and are beginning to expect outdoor experiences close to their homes. The demand for natural areas in most of the country far exceeds the supply and emphasis is shifting to reforestation of marginal farmlands, recreation of wetlands and more proactive management of flora and fauna. Creation of linear parks that follow abandoned rail lines and streams is as exciting as the development of the national park system was a hundred years ago. The national parks for most people are a pleasurable drive, but the linear parks are drawing people to active participation in the out of doors.
John C. Potts WITHIN THIS ARTICLE there will be many excellent suggestions and prognostications about our profession in the 21st century. I will add a special concern of mine as a former recreation educator. TRENDS Illinois Parks & Recreation * January/February 1994 * 25
Illinois Members of The American Academy
for Park and Recreation Administration Basic research and applied or normative researcare both of primary importance. Also of immediate concern is the development of a concerted effort to bring researchers, practitioners and recreation leadership specialists into closer rapport. We must carefully integrate them, otherwise the growing gap between research and functional operations will increase and the profession will be correspondingly impeded or cease to exist. These fundamental principles were outlined early in the post-war development of our social system by Steward C. Dodd: "Pure social theory needs concrete data for testing. Practical data can be dimensionally analyzed and experimentally treated to develop pure social theory. Each needs the other, whatever the source of problems, and whatever the major research emphasis, pure or applied; the social scientist can serve these two masters if armed with a sufficiently comprehensive yet precise theory." Finally, criterion reference testing must find means to train leaders who have the interest and skills to become knowledgeable and creative in both research and practice-specialized individuals who serve as middle-persons to disseminate and interpret knowledge beneficial to the entire profession. There is a need to revise our professional preparation at the university level and establish other unique types of professional training for service in the new employment opportunities of the future. The objective is to integrate these functions of the professions however they may develop as we move toward the 21st century.
Alien V. Sapora SUCCESS FOR PARKS and recreation in the public sector in the 21st century will depend to a great extent on how the public is involved. Park and recreation agencies cannot continue to assume full responsibility for the provision of parks, facilities and programs.
Park and recreation agencies must do two things: 2. They must involve the people in the community. They must buy into Communitarianism where the stress is on responsibility and community. Get people involved in Adopt-A-Parks, as volunteers, as members of advisory committees, and individuals responsible for helping to achieve success in the community. People want to get involved today, and by giving them the opportunity, the park and recreation agency not only gives them the pride of accomplishment, but they get them involved as supporters. They are part of the organization, and they become a strong political force for parks and recreation. I believe parks and recreation has a very positive future in the 21st century, and working with other agencies and involving people will certainly enhance that future.
Robert F. Toalson TRENDS • Middle-aged people (36-55) reported a great deal of personal benefit from local parks. • Seventy-one percent (71%) of non-users said they received a benefit from local parks and recreation. Source: The Benefits of Local Recreation and Park Services, published by the National Recreation and Park Association. 26 * Illinois Parks & Recreation * January/February 1994 |
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Sam S. Manivong, Illinois Periodicals Online Coordinator |