Activity-Friendly Communities
Activity-friendly communities are places with destinations such as parks, schools, and shops that are attractive and accessible to the community. Activity-friendly communities include welcoming, safe, and convenient places to play, walk, roll and bike to enjoy destinations that the community has to offer. Transit can help make these places more accessible. In other words, these types of communities are designed to connect activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.
Communities designed to be activity friendly can thrive by supporting economic development, revitalization, social connection, aging in place, and investments that will last for generations. In short, activity-friendly communities can contribute to economic improvements and social well-being.
Connecting Activity-Friendly Routes to Everyday Destinations
Activity-friendly communities include welcoming, safe, and convenient places to play, walk, roll and bike to enjoy destinations the community has to offer. To align with the Community Preventive Services Task Force’s built environment recommendation, where applicable, activity-friendly communities need to include at least one element from activity-friendly routes plus one element from everyday destinations.
Activity-Friendly Routes
These may include new or improved:
- Street pattern design and connectivity, such as convenient, connected, and accessible streets that create many route options, shorter block lengths, and shorter crossing distances.
- Pedestrian infrastructure, such as sidewalk networks that can include trails, traffic calming, intersection safety, street lighting, benches, public bathrooms, shade, and landscaping.
- Bicycle infrastructure, such as bicycle networks that can include slow/safe streets, protected bikeways, trails, traffic calming, intersection safety, street lighting, public bathrooms, shade, and landscaping.
- Public transit infrastructure and access, such as transit networks that include expanded services, times, and locations and public bathrooms that are safe and easy to access.
Everyday Destinations
These may include increased:
- Proximity to community or neighborhood destinations, such as homes, worksites, schools, parks, grocery stores, health care facilities, pharmacies, and other shops.
- Mixed land use such as neighborhoods that combine restaurants, offices, housing, or shops.
- Residential density to increase the variety of housing options in an area through compact community design and other approaches that reduce travel distances.
- Parks and recreational facility access, such as parks and recreational facilities close to homes.
Potential State and Local Activities
Activity-friendly communities include welcoming, safe, and convenient places to play, walk, roll and bike to enjoy destinations the community has to offer. Activity-friendly communities need to include at least one element from activity-friendly routes plus one element from everyday destinations. Possibilities for each are listed below.
- Community members or champions.
- People with limited access to places that support being active.
- Representatives of public health, transportation, community planning, and parks and recreation.
- Leaders who can help with specific issues, such as economic development, early care and education, K–12 schools, and universities, healthy food access, housing, and public safety and public works.
Work with a cross-sector team to conduct an assessment to support community actions that make it more activity friendly.
Work with partners to conduct health impact assessments. These could include an analysis of:
- Park, trail, and greenway access and safety.
- Walking, bicycling, and public transit access, convenience, and reliability.
- Collect health data such as physical activity levels, weight status, chronic diseases and risk behaviors, or pedestrian and bicycle injuries and deaths.
- Use mapping software when appropriate to identify areas with the greatest opportunity for impact.
Collaborate with partners to support new or improved plans and policies, activity-friendly districts, and/or other activities to create activity-friendly communities. Examples include:
Community ideas and priorities:
Innovative ideas and key priorities to improve communities. These ideas and priorities should be community created, demonstrating that residents are valued and appreciated.
Policies:
Complete Streets, Safe Routes, and Vision Zero policies, including relevant city, school district, or parks and recreation department policies. Also includes policies to promote mixed land uses, transit-oriented development, and residential density (where applicable).
Plans:
General or comprehensive land use plans that address physical activity, including action plans to implement policies. Include specific actions to reach the goals and objectives. Examples include:
- Walking, bicycling, trails, and greenways master plans.
- Complete Streets, Safe Routes for All, and Vision Zero action plans.
- Incentives for activity-friendly project evaluation.
- Plans to address vacant lots or deteriorated areas to promote walking and connectivity.
Projects:
Pop-up or demonstration projects with evaluation measurement, such as:
- Bike racks, crosswalks, or traffic calming measures.
- New or improved sidewalks, protected bike lanes, or transit routes.
- Placemaking: a collective process across a community to design public spaces that meet community needs and reflect the uniqueness of the community. For example, beautifying a sidewalk and street crossings between a public school and the nearby community center where before and after school care is provided.
Codes:
Zoning, building, subdivision, or other codes/procedures, including those that integrate land use regulations with other municipal goals that guide form of buildings rather than land uses, or those that encourage districts that promote walking and other activity.
Programs:
Safe Routes to School or Safe Routes to Parks that encourage people to use safe routes.
Systems:
Increase bicycle, pedestrian, and transit (where applicable) network connectivity and access, park coverage and accessibility, and incentives for activity-friendly project evaluation or supportive land development, such as plans to address vacant lots or deteriorated areas.
Track the progress on community supported plans and policies related to physical activity.
More Ideas for Local Activities
Conduct walk/move audits with local decision-makers and community members. Select community members who represent diverse perspectives, such as age, ability, race/ethnicity, sex, and income.
Conduct and evaluate inclusive demonstration projects supported by the affected communities. Demonstration projects can help build support for more permanent changes because communities can test approaches specific to their needs. Measure the effect of the demonstration project on outcomes, such as use of public spaces, safer streets and increased walking, bicycling, or people who use a wheelchair.
Rate access to parks, trails, greenways, and recreational facilities and work with community coalitions to create or improve safe access to these locations.
Assess concerns related to activity-friendly community design by engaging community organizations, champions, and experts who can address these concerns.
Provide training or technical assistance to coalition members and community leaders on activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.
Work with partners to establish or update comprehensive plans. Prioritize access to physical activity for everyone as well as specific actions to support that access. Consider people with limited access to places that support being active. Examples include plans covering:
- Regional and local areas
- Land use and zoning
- Pedestrian and bicycle use
- Parks and recreation
- Housing
- Conservation or economic development
Work with partners to protect local priorities through updated zoning codes guidance and practices to include activity-friendly design.
Made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.