Environmental justice: a framework for collaboration between the public health and parks and recreation fields to study disparities in physical activity.
BACKGROUND
Despite the importance of physical activity (PA) for good health, not all populations have equal access to PA facilities and resources. This disparity is an environmental justice (EJ) issue because of the negative impact on the health of low-income and racial/ethnic minorities.


METHODS
This paper reviews the first wave of the EJ movement, presents the second wave of the EJ movement, discusses the implications of adopting principles from the EJ movement to focus on research in parks and recreation services (PRS), and recommends future research directions.


RESULTS
Studies on EJ have documented the disproportionate burden of environmental challenges experienced by low-income and racial/ethnic minorities. With regard to PA, these communities face inadequate access to, quality of, financing for, and public involvement in recreation opportunities.


CONCLUSIONS
EJ is a useful framework to facilitate collaborative research between public health and PRS to study racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in PA.
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Wendell C
WC
Taylor
Myron F
MF
Floyd
Melicia C
MC
Whitt-Glover
Joseph
J
Brooks
D001107:Architectural Accessibility; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005006:Ethnicity; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups; D011203:Poverty; D011634:Public Health; D012935:Social Justice; D014481:United States