Are You Living in an NYC Playground Desert?

For a city with so many kids and so many opportunities for enrichment, New York has a playground crisis. The city is full of “playground deserts,” places similar to food deserts in that living in one means you do not have access to resources such as healthy, fresh food–or a designated place to play. Many NYC neighborhoods lack within-walking-distance monkey bars, swing sets, slides, and more, according to a report from Controller Scott Stringer, and the city’s playground per capita rate places it behind 47 other major cities including Detroit, Chicago, and Boston.

NYC has about 2,067 public playgrounds, but more than a million children ages 10 and younger. According to the report, even when kids do have access to a playground within walking distance, the equipment can be dangerous and mismanaged. More than half of the 1,028 playgrounds run by the Parks Department had at least one “hazardous” feature requiring “immediate attention” in their most recent inspection last year. At those 521 dangerous playgrounds were 807 hazards that could cause slight or moderate harm to kids–and 29, such as broken equipment, fences, and safety surfaces, that could lead to debilitating or life threatening injuries.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn has the poorest ratio of playgrounds to kids, and the borough’s playgrounds have the highest risk of harming kids. There are only 8 playgrounds to choose from per 10,000 Brooklyn kids, and the city deemed 24% of available spaces “unacceptable” and/or “unsafe or unsanitary.”