December 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Community Center
American Societal Changes
Affect Municipal Public Services
By Roger L. Kemp, Ph.D., ICMA-CM

W

idespread societal changes in the United States are having
a dramatic impact on the types and levels of municipal
public services provided in recent years by our cities to
their citizens. This includes park and recreation offerings,
which often involve many facets of public life, including feeding programs, health and wellness services, child care, cultural services, planning
and economic development.
For our purposes here, societal
changes currently affecting the dissemination of municipal public services,
particularly those including and related
to leisure services, may include:
*	 More sophisticated computer hardware systems and software applications, coupled with ease of access
through Internet-based interfaces

*	 Wi-Fi, Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) being used
to improve the level of public services, as well as enhance economic
development
*	 The influx of immigrants and an
aging population creating new demands for public services

*	 Recent economic downturns creating a need for additional revenues
and stretching thin existing municipal coffers
*	 Changing economics of American
families, with many parents working full-time and little or no access
to affordable child care
Impact on Public Services
These societal changes have influenced and impacted the services outlined below, among others. While not
all of them fall under the parks and
recreation umbrella, these services are
all tangentially related to - and often
have a direct impact on - community services offered or managed by
park and recreation departments. The
following bulleted lists capture just a
handful of ways in which operations
of these social services have been affected by the changes outlined above.
Economic Development
*	 GIS data, including environmental, income, population density
and other census information,
can help to stimulate economic
development
*	 Government funds may be made
available to redevelop contaminated brownfield sites that must
be cleaned before they can be revitalized
Financial Services
*	 Adjustments to departmental user
fees and charges can impact an
agency's bottom line

14	 Parks & Recreation

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December 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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December 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2017
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2013
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2010
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2010
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