Study: Proximity of parks to polluting sites in the United States (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-65808-7)
More than half of U.S. public parks are within two miles of an active industrial facility that handles toxic chemicals, according to a new University of Michigan study.
About 80,000 such parks are listed on the federal Toxics Release Inventory. In addition, nearly 27,000 parks are close to a toxic waste site requiring emergency federal cleanup, known as a Superfund site. Of those parks, more than 2,400 contain land that directly overlaps with a Superfund site.
Using data from ParkServe, U-M researchers cross-referenced an inventory of 151,366 public parks with the locations of TRI facilities and Superfund sites. The park inventory included everything from national and state parks to local hiking trails and school playgrounds available for public use.
The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, show that green spaces and industrial or hazardous waste sites frequently overlap or are located near one another across the United States.
"We wanted to inform the public about the many interlocking features that make up our neighborhoods and communities," said co-author Elliott Chemberlin, a scholar in the Junior Professional Researcher program at the Institute for Social Research. "While spaces like parks are easy to spot, polluting sites often hide in plain sight-even right next to where we live and work. We aimed to show how these dynamic, overlapping uses of space shape a more nuanced portrait of the neighborhood environment."
The study, partly funded by the National Institutes of Health, identified 63 parks with Toxics Release Inventory facilities inside their boundaries and more than 14,000 parks with such facilities within half a mile.
The researchers created a web map and public dataset to help communities identify where parks, TRI facilities and Superfund sites overlap or are located near one another. The information is available through the National Neighborhood Data Archive.
"While communities may experience health benefits from parks, our findings indicate that this does not necessarily occur in isolation from toxic exposures," said Philippa Clarke, U-M professor of epidemiology and ISR researcher. "Understanding that parks and polluting sites overlap adds important nuance to public health research on the health benefits of green space."
Studies show that public parks can improve health by encouraging exercise, supporting mental well-being and strengthening communities. Park trees also improve air quality, lower neighborhood temperatures and increase property values.
Research also has linked living near industrial facilities or hazardous waste sites to increased health risks, including higher rates of heart and lung disease, cancer, birth defects and neurological disorders.
The study did not measure pollution inside parks or assess whether park users were exposed to pollutants.
"Determining how much exposure to pollution might occur in any given park depends on many factors that our study did not measure, such as the types and concentrations of pollutants present; whether pollutants are concentrated in soil, water or air; how well they are contained and managed; what remediation efforts have taken place; and even weather patterns that determine how pollutants disperse and travel," Chemberlin said.
The findings can help communities, policymakers and researchers identify locations where additional testing, analysis or advocacy may be warranted.
"We can use the mapping tool to identify polluting sites that may be operating in and around our parks," Chemberlin said. "It can be a starting point for more research into how those sites could be affecting parks and communities. We hope communities and officials also use this tool to support advocacy related to public-space use and urban planning."
How parks and industrial sites became neighbors
Historically, city parks and factories were built side by side along waterways, while national parks in the West were sometimes established near mines, according to the study. Today, some former industrial sites and landfills are remediated and redeveloped as public parks.
"Many parks are deliberately built on previously contaminated land after it has been 'remediated,'" Clarke said. "Making these data available to the public can help urban planners identify land farther from polluting sites when considering where to construct new parks."
Co-authors of the study also include ISR researchers Robert Melendez, Kate Duchowny, Lindsay Gypin and Grace Noppert.
