Grant: Project Grant

Children have been called an indicator species for cities. The visible presence of children and youth of different ages and backgrounds, with and without their parents, outside in city streets, sidewalks, yards, and open spaces is a sign of the health of human habitats. Indeed, the extent to which a neighbourhood supports children's outdoor play - ie. its playability - can be directly linked not only to children's health, levels of obesity and psychological well-being, but also to the population's well-being as a whole. Research concerns about stranger-danger, traffic accidents and a general lack of safe, enticing places for children and youth to play outdoors, have been partially responsible for children and youth becoming more sedentary and remaining indoors to play. Concomitantly there has been an increasing interest in promoting children and youth's outdoor play due to the myriad of benefits it is shown to provide. This proposal takes children and youth's outdoor play as a critical public health issue that can help municipal policy makers, public health practitioners, active transport advocates, urban designers, child advocates and society in general join the dots between complex issues like pollution and global warming, active transport planning and community cohesion on the one hand, and concerns regarding the physical and mental health of both children and adults on the other.