By Maddie Luongo
Maddie Luongo is a senior at Wheaton College. This summer, she served as an intern with Wildlands Trust, assisting Green Team Brockton with various stewardship projects and organizing our 50th anniversary raffles.
Green Team crewmembers with Iolando Spinola (center) of WalkMassachusetts.
On August 15, members of the 2023 Green Team participated in a walking audit of D.W. Field Park in Brockton. A walking audit is an assessment of the accessibility and walkability of an outdoor space, and for somewhere with as much foot traffic as D.W. Field Park, it is an integral step in the restoration planning process.
The audit was conducted by Iolando Spinola of WalkMassachusetts, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make walking safer and easier for people in all types of outdoor spaces. Having grown up in Brockton, Spinola was personally familiar with D.W. Field Park and its amenities. Spinola instructed the Green Team by assigning crewmembers specific tasks, such as assessing the condition of the roads and walkways, counting benches, and evaluating park signage. Despite the rainy day, the Green Team was attentive to their tasks, photographing potential problem areas in the park and discussing their findings with each other.
Iolando Spinola of WalkMassachusetts leads the Green Team in a walking audit of D.W. Field Park.
One of the keys to a successful walk audit is the people conducting it. As residents of Brockton, the Green Team was familiar with the area and, through this paid summer service-learning program, had already worked on other projects in D.W. Field Park. The walk audit gave the kids an opportunity to view the park through a new and more inclusive lens, attuning them to some of the park’s finer details. This skill can serve crewmembers well in many of their future endeavors.
Spinola spoke highly of the walk audit as a whole, but also of the Green Team members specifically. “I thought the walking audit was a great way to get a sense of the accessibility and overall walkability of D.W. Field Park,” he said. “The park has a lot to offer, but there are also some areas that could be improved. For example, the sidewalks are uneven in some places, the entrance of the park could be redesigned to ensure pedestrians are safe, and there could be more wayfinding signs to improve the user experience of the paths and park. The park also lacks some basic amenities, such as accessible restrooms, drinking fountains, and bike racks. I loved that the Green Team youth group was working to improve the park throughout the summer and took part in our walk audit. They are super inspiring and had great insights on how to improve the park.”
As part of the walking audit, Green Team members measured vehicle speed along a roadway in D.W. Field Park.
When pursuing sustainable development, accessibility is crucial to consider. Accessibility and sustainability are intertwined in important ways that few people consider unless they directly apply to them. “Accessibility is important to sustainable development because it ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities and background, can participate fully in society and in our public spaces,” Spinola said. “When people are able to access the same opportunities, services, and resources, it creates a more equitable and inclusive society. Our public spaces are richer and more enjoyable when we can all fully live and utilize them. Sustainable development is about creating a better future for everyone, and accessibility is about ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities to participate in that future. When we design our communities and infrastructure with accessibility in mind, we make them more sustainable for everyone.”
The D.W. Field Park Initiative is working to create these equal opportunities in Brockton, so that all residents of Brockton can easily access the amenities of D.W. Field Park. It takes projects such as those the Green Team worked on this summer to bring these ideas to fruition, and it is vital that young Brockton residents lend their voices and visions to this effort.
Green Team members walk down a damp path at D.W. Field Park.
On a personal note, watching Green Team members participate in the improvement of their city was deeply motivating. It even inspired me to conduct similar projects on my college campus. I am incredibly grateful to these dedicated youth for their hard work, and I can’t wait to see how future Green Team projects advance the sustainable mindset in D.W. Field Park and beyond.
Thank you to Maddie for her many contributions to Wildlands this summer. To learn more about the D.W. Field Park Initiative, visit wildlandstrust.org/dwfieldpark. To learn more about Green Team, visit wildlandstrust.org/green-team.