Co-creating places for urban health & healing: the case of Pogo Park

ABSTRACT This case study explores how an urban, low-income, community in Richmond, California, came together to reclaim a local park, redesign and redevelop it, and the impacts that process and the new green space is having on local residents. The park is called Elm Playlot and the community group, Pogo Park. Methods used to generate the case study included original document review, participant observation, and interviews, as well as data from two community surveys and a youth photovoice project. The case study emphasizes that urban health promoting and healing physical and social transformations must be co-created, community leadership, ownership and economic benefits must be prioritized, and decade-long commitments from residents, local government and non-governmental organizations, not one alone, are necessary. We also found that redevelopment of Pogo Park contributed to significant reductions in self-reported fear of violence and improvements in community social connections, trust and overall stress for those living in the parks’ Iron Triangle neighborhood. Further, two years after the completion of the park, life expectancy in the neighborhood had increased by five years, the number of gun homicides was reduced by over 30%, and almost 60% of residents were rating their health as good or excellent.