Copyright © 2014 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. Santiago, L. E., J. C. Verdejo Ortiz, R. Santiago-Bartolomei, E. J. Melendez-Ackerman, and D. C. Garcia-Montiel. 2014. Uneven access and underuse of ecological amenities in urban parks of the Río Piedras watershed. Ecology and Society 19(1): 26. http://dx.doi. org/10.5751/ES-06180-190126 Research, part of a Special Feature on Understanding the Vulnerability and Sustainability of Urban Social-Ecological Systems in the Tropics: Perspectives from the City of San Juan Uneven Access and Underuse of Ecological Amenities in Urban Parks of the Río Piedras Watershed Luis E. Santiago 1 , Julio C. Verdejo Ortiz 1 , Raul Santiago-Bartolomei 1 , Elvia J. Melendez-Ackerman 1 and Diana C. Garcia-Montiel 2 ABSTRACT. The association between consumption of ecological amenities in a park setting and improved physical and mental health substantiates the need for improved accessibility to green areas in lower-income neighborhoods. We measured green area accessibility, considering income variation, and park use in a densely populated tropical urban watershed. Park use was explored with 442 in-person interviews, and U.S. Census and Puerto Rico Commonwealth data were used to measure accessibility. Nearly 20% of residents earning ≤ $15,000 lived within park service areas with the highest crime incidence in the region, whereas 90% of those earning > $75,000 lived within park service areas with lower crime rates. Innovative nonexclusionary activities such as growing vegetable gardens are needed to attract lower-income residents and increase their sense of safety in urban parks. Key Words: accessibility; ecological amenities; Puerto Rico; Rio Piedras watershed; urban parks INTRODUCTION For an urban watershed like that of the Río Piedras in San Juan, Puerto Rico, green areas can provide ecological amenities that range from the reduction of runoff that can cause flooding and deteriorating water quality in low-lying areas to various benefits for resident well-being and long-term sustainability (Chiesura 2004, Farber et al. 2006, Schipperijn et al. 2010). Green spaces also add value to residential sales prices (Jim and Chen 2006, Troy and Grove 2008, Saphores and Li 2012). However, public sector measures to conserve green areas in urban environments have often been insufficient, contributing to the loss and continuous degradation of green space in urban areas, often reducing the availability of urban parks (Heynen et al. 2006, Tzoulas et al. 2007). At the same time, previous works have underlined the process where poverty or other social factors such as race create areas within the city where lack of access to natural resources is prevalent (Logan 1978, Perkins et al. 2004, Heynen 2006, Peterson and Krivo 2010). The aims of this study are to explore whether watershed residents associate urban parks with green areas and the consumption of ecological amenities, and to document variations in accessibility as a result of income disparities across the watershed. Association between watershed public green areas and neighborhood parks Because urban neighborhood parks often provide urban residents some of the closest locations to consume certain ecological amenities (Kaplan and Talbot 1988, Jim and Shan 2013), the extent to which residents associate neighborhood parks with green areas constitutes a key component in this research. Government officials, particularly urban planners and real estate developers, have often conceived urban parks as public spaces where residents can recreate conducting passive and exercise- related recreation activities, among others (Budruk et al. 2009). As a result, common features of urban parks in the Río Piedras watershed considered for this study include basketball courts, baseball parks, and jogging tracks, where physical activities are conducted, and sitting and picnic areas, where passive recreation and social gatherings might occur. Proximity to public green areas and neighborhood parks A second key component of this research is the residents’ level of proximity to green areas and neighborhood parks in the Río Piedras watershed, considering distance to parks and green area density measures. There is scant literature on this topic in the Caribbean region. In the United States, Nicholls (2001) examined accessibility to 29 municipal parks in Bryan, Texas, considering the population within a road network service area in a Euclidean distance buffer of 800 m around each facility. The author found that accessibility in terms of distance was poor, with < 40% of the population having access to open spaces, and 12% to a park. European studies on urban green area accessibility show variation in compliance to existing regulations. Barbosa et al. (2007) examined access to green spaces in Sheffield, UK. They measured the distance along the road network from 179,844 residences to the nearest entrance to facilities with public green areas and examined the distance between 87 municipal parks and 10,000 households using network distance methodology. Only 36.5% of households were accessible, according to UK government guidelines, whereas 95.6% were in agreement with European Environment Agency recommendations. Comber et al. (2008) examined whether density guidelines in the city of Leicester, UK, were met. Using network analysis of distance from 890 output areas to 52 diverse green spaces, they found that Leicester met guidelines for green space provision, providing 3.5 ha per 1,000 inhabitants, a figure higher than the minimum 2 ha per 1,000 inhabitants required by established municipal or state guidelines. Social factors hindering accessibility to public green areas and neighborhood parks Accessibility to urban parks by various segments of the population may also be influenced by what is considered legitimate behavior in public areas, existing regulations concerning such behavior, and enforcement levels (Hartley 1992, Mitchell 1995, Berney 2010). If residents feel their neighborhood park is unsafe because of the occurrence of behavior that is considered illegitimate, they may not consider it as an option when selecting places to consume ecological amenities. Neglect of park vegetation and facilities may also act as a deterrent for potential visitors. 1 University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, 2 Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies, University of Puerto Rico * The first and second authors contributed equally to this manuscript.