Did you ever wonder what leading thinkers from the business side of the park and recreation industry believe are the most important trends influencing our field in the next few years? NRPA’s Board of Directors wanted to know, so they invited a select group of representatives from park and recreation supply and manufacturing companies to discuss that very topic at their recent Board retreat during the 2013 Congress. The results of the discussion between the industry reps and the Board provide a fascinating glimpse of where they think parks and recreation is heading in the near future, why they expect certain changes and what it means for all of us.

For businesses, trend analysis can provide powerful information — when and where to develop new product lines or services, when to make capital investments, and when certain types of purchasing might be on the rise or the decline. Being in tune with trends can help businesses mitigate risk or provide new opportunities. For the NRPA Board, however, understanding new trends is about more than just good business intelligence — it is about understanding how NRPA’s goals and our strategic plan can best support the members of the association and the future of the profession. Looking at new trends is also about gaining a better understanding of how we can implement NRPA’s three strategic pillars — conservation, health and wellness, and social equity — in a collective way that advances NRPA’s mission while maintaining a vibrant economic climate for our members’ products and services.

Representatives from seven companies participated in the workshop. These included officers and senior staff from Go Ape (Chris Swallow), GreenPlay LLC (Chris Dropinski), PlayCore (Bob Farnsworth), Playworld Systems (Ian Proud), the Toro Company (Paula Sliefert), Waterplay Solutions Corp. (Randy Flint) and Wibit Sports (Robert Cirjak). Prior to the Board retreat, each company was invited to complete a survey designed to elicit their thinking on what were the most important emerging trends affecting parks and recreation at large, and to identify key trends affecting individual professionals in their jobs. Additionally, preliminary questions to the industry reps focused on what NRPA needs to be thinking about in order to achieve our goals and what NRPA agencies should be doing to be ready for coming challenges. Condensing the responses, the Board requested that the retreat discussion focus on five key trends identified by the industry respondents:

• Human Capital
• Green Infrastructure
• The Societal Piece
• The New Narrative/Reframing Our Proposition
• The Economic Forecast

Each participant was asked to identify how important or urgent each trend was, what steps member agencies and the national association could take to respond, and the single most innovative step we could take to anticipate or respond to the trend. Each industry representative made an individual presentation, and then all responded to Board questions. Afterward, all the industry reps joined with the Board and senior NRPA staff for table discussions on the trends, and the discourse led to a number of takeaways and actionable steps.

Trendline: Human Capital

Human capital is the idea that one’s knowledge, skills, personal attributes, creativity and more are combined in the ability to perform a job that equates to a measure of economic value. There is a better understanding emerging within the park and recreation industry of what defines the human-capital needs of the field and what those professionals look like now and in the future. The human-capital needs for public parks and recreation are changing dramatically. While traditional roles, job classifications and employment types still predominate, new models are emerging rapidly, which sometimes provide fewer benefits and less security for workers and can require greater flexibility in job skills, training and education. There was clear consensus that we must be very attuned to the trends that are shaping public- and private-sector employment opportunities in parks and recreation. We need to know and better define what makes a park and recreation professional; what skills, knowledge and abilities are needed to pursue a career in the field; and the assets these professionals will need to have.

With general-fund support for public-sector budgets becoming ever tighter, consolidations and other influences on the composition of “traditional” park and recreation professionals will require employees to have business acumen and skill sets under their belts beyond the present traditional expectations for revenue building, fundraising and marketing. A new understanding of the range of human-capital needs will be necessary, especially a better understanding of the role of contractual, seasonal and private-sector employees. What skill sets, training and professional development will these employees need, and how will they be delivered? What will be the standards for top-notch public service?

From a national perspective, skills development and training will be critical for young adults. NRPA’s three pillars offer a sound framework for needed professional development and training that will well prepare those entering the job market to meet critical national priorities. Agency and university training and educational offerings must be reflective of the hybrid nature of new employment categories and needs for business acumen and skills. Equally, training and skills development for midcareer professionals will be vital to bridge succession gaps created by the exodus of the largest cohort of professionals presently employed in the field: baby boomers quickly departing their positions due to retirement.

On the local and agency level, human-capital development will also focus on young adults, young professionals and succession-planning needs. Cross-training, intergovernmental loans and individual career-planning programs will help young professionals broaden skill sets and gain valuable experience. Continuous development of communication skills, proficiency with all types of media and deeper marketing skills will be critical for all levels of employees. New hybrid management structures, such as “P3” public-private partnership entities and other nongovernmental management structures, will require more versatile, adaptable and capable employees.

Overall, we must ensure that the human-capital needs for parks and recreation are met not only in traditional ways, but also in expanding models of public-private governance. Remaining relevant is always the challenge, but the pressures to anticipate, plan and deliver are considerably greater than they have ever been before. Professionals must expand their skills and know-how to ensure they are ahead of the curve in meeting the needs of our communities. As our own agencies adapt to meet changing conditions, the professionals of the future must be trained and equipped to contribute toward creating and sustaining livable, healthy and environmentally resilient communities.

Trendline: Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure is a new approach to the management of land and water that utilizes the processes of natural systems to slow, store and treat stormwater, thereby reducing the costs of traditional hard infrastructure such as channelization, underground stormwater storage tanks, and combined storm and sewer overflows. Key components of green infrastructure are water management and water quality, areas in which parks definitely play a role that will become increasingly important in the future because parks and conservation lands will increasingly be tapped for their potential to contribute to stormwater management and eco-benefits. Significantly, the cost of utilizing parks and conservation lands will be far less expensive than traditional gray infrastructure, and the best green infrastructure projects will bring new funding as well as new recreation opportunities and facilities for public use.

From a national perspective, playing a lead role in the trend to move toward green infrastructure solutions will be paramount. Engaging with key players in the green infrastructure space, identifying best practices, and contributing to research and the development of implementation tools around green infrastructure strategies will be vital to establish and contribute to the important role that parks and recreation can play in this area.

For many park and recreation agencies, this is revolutionary thinking about new roles for parks and conservation lands. How we respond to this new challenge to re-envision our concepts of what parks do and how we look at the role of parks in providing conservation solutions to communities will profoundly influence the future of what parks look like and what value and benefits they provide for communities. NRPA needs to be at the forefront of implementing best practices, contributing to research, sharing information and using opportunities to partner with other public-land managers. By connecting with the stewards of water and conservation districts, for example, we can continue to create livable communities that are environmentally responsible, climate-resilient and sustainably built. This is clearly in the public interest and provides an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate our role in providing innovative solutions for communities.

Trendline: The Societal Piece

Changing demographics have shaped our nation since its founding. For parks and recreation, understanding how communities are changing and responding to those changes is critical to ensuring relevancy. What participants in the Board retreat called “the societal piece” was more a recognition that parks and recreation must adopt a new role of being facilitators and innovators in terms of larger social contexts. Grasping the concepts of one of NRPA’s most intriguing yet least understood pillars, social equity, is key to understanding our role in participating in social innovation, placemaking and providing health solutions for communities.

This trend suggests that at the local level, agencies become the “one-stop shop” for the community, and can meet people where they are by being present and connecting with them in new ways, such as mobile apps, search engine optimization and search engine marketing, in order to effectively respond to community needs. To be fully engaged, we must develop partnerships with community organizations as well as responsively tailor programs to best serve the cultural and social makeup of the community.

Nationally, sharing best practices for addressing societal shifts and integrating new technologies to stay connected to the community will be vitally important to park and recreation agencies in the future. NRPA needs to be at the forefront of identifying and recognizing park and recreation agencies that are leading the way by serving their communities in these ways.

Trendline: The New Narrative/Reframing our Proposition

Part and parcel of the societal piece is the new narrative of how parks and recreation must reframe value propositions. The basic value propositions for why parks were created as public “goods” remain, but clearly, parks and recreation must evolve into something more to remain relevant in a dramatically changing society and environment. The participants of the Board retreat considered a new value proposition: The concept of park and recreation agencies as, first and foremost, a provider of services and programs to the public at large is rapidly changing. More and more, park and recreation agencies are being expected to be innovators for community solutions that involve conservation, health and wellness, and social equity, among other imperatives. And if the proposition that park and recreation agencies must evolve beyond being just program and service providers is to be believed, what will this mean going forward to public agencies and park and recreation-related businesses and suppliers? How can agencies activate the three pillars in their communities, and what new innovations can parks and recreation bring to serving the public good? What must the industry do to anticipate this trendline, and how can the resources that will be necessary to support the new narrative be provided to the field?

Understanding what is necessary for reframing our guiding value propositions is a greater task than can be accomplished in a day-long retreat. However, there was clear support that the three pillars were a solid foundation for framing a new narrative. At the intersection of the three pillars is the concept of healthy, livable, sustainable communities. Parks and recreation must be contributors to the social innovation strategies that activate healthy communities and make them vibrant places that people value and where they want to live.

Trendline: The Economic Forecast Factor

The status and health of parks and recreation serves as a bellwether for the state of the economy. However, perhaps more than any other public-sector service provider, parks and recreation agencies suffer direct consequences as a result of fluctuations in national and regional economies. Evidence shows that park and recreation agencies receive cuts in greater proportion to any other public-service sectors when economies decline. The simple fact is that the state of the economy is always going to be a driving factor for park and recreation budgets. Even if that fact is a given, the Great Recession of 2008–2011 has had a greater and more long-lasting impact than any other recession of modern times. The events of the past few years have had major implications for how agencies operate now and how they will be funded in the future.

Many who are knowledgeable about funding for public parks and recreation believe that economic models for these areas are changing irrevocably, and not always for the better. Certainly this has been true at the state level, and some evidence is pointing to similar trends at the local and municipal levels as well. While recessionary pressures over the past few years led to greater efficiencies and greater adoption of business-oriented models, it also led to what many fear are permanent declines in tax-supported funding devoted to parks and recreation. Moreover, new trends, such as the infusion of private capital into public parks, the growth of public-private partnerships, and the development of privately funded and managed parks and park systems through Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) or Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) mechanisms, have caused a re-evaluation of traditional methods of funding parks and recreation through tax-supported general funds. Critical to the success and future of public parks and recreation is engaging communities in understanding the benefits and value of parks and recreation. The greatest need to make the most compelling case for public parks and recreation is evidence-based research. The urgency level of understanding and responding to this trend is high.

At the conclusion of the Board retreat, the NRPA Board of Directors identified three initiatives they will pursue in the coming year that align with the identified trends and support the three pillars:

Green Infrastructure: An invitation-only roundtable is being planned by NRPA in cooperation with the American Planning Association for early 2014 to encourage greater collaboration between urban planning leaders and park and recreation agency directors. This roundtable will address utilization of green infrastructure solutions as well as economic development and planning for health outcomes.

Human Capital: To best understand the professionals of the future, the Board will look to hold discussions with members on this topic and work on creating a new definition for the park and recreation professional to better guide the profession and help with our collective marketing and communication strategies. This Board workgroup will reach out through the networks and other channels.

New Narrative/Societal Piece: Touching both of these goals, Board members will examine ways to recognize cities and agencies that are leading the way in innovative strategies to connect with the public and demonstrating the impact they are making in their community in each of the three pillar areas — conservation, health and wellness, and social equity.

Lauren Hoffmann is NRPA’s Senior PR and Communications Manager. Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA’s Vice President of Conservation and Parks.