#community #resilience #parks #trails #greenspaces #passiverecreation #humanwellbeing

This study explores the influences of experience with and exposure to trail environments on family and community resilience, employing spatial pattern analysis and an extensive multi-modal survey. This project focuses on communities along two multi-use regional trails: Naugatuck River Greenway Trail and Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Connecticut. These multi-community trails traverse a diverse range of communities with urban, suburban, and rural environmental spectrum and with varying degrees of household income and racial composition. The trail environment is used as an anchor for defining the study area as well as an organizing amenity that connects with parks, green spaces and other outdoor recreation amenities. This project involves significant collaboration with and engagement of community partners and the existing Connecticut Trail Census Program. This is a three-year project (2020-2023) funded by USDA NIFA.