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Designing Streets for Kids: Play Streets

Summary

Play Streets turn roadways into play spaces, increasing road safety while building opportunities for play and connection. This is achieved by closing roads to vehicle traffic during set times and providing programming and resources through a youth co-design process. By creating new, accessible public spaces, Play Streets benefit everyone - with a focus on young people, who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID. By animating roads, we can create accessible play spaces in dense, park-poor communities. Our co-design process with local youth will ensure the spaces are safe and responsive to their context. We improve mobility options by calming traffic, providing a chance to safely try out active-transportation and increasing safety for other users who will be able to access the street by bike, wheelchair, etc.


Our project’s desired outcome is to make it easier for kids to get outside, neighbours to connect, and communities to form stronger outdoor play habits.

Project Overview

Car dominance of public spaces limits children’s opportunities for outdoor play, socialization, and independent mobility, especially in the higher-density, lower socioeconomic status, green-space deficient neighbourhoods. Childhood sedentary lifestyles have lasting negative impacts on health.

Play Streets are an effective intervention for health promotion as they create safe vehicle-free outdoor public spaces with opportunity for safer play and building social connections. Our project is inspired by participants in our Child and Youth Friendly Communities activities over the last 5 years, and the successful piloting of Play Streets in Vancouver over the spring of 2022. After the pilot 76% of parents wanted the School Street to continue, and 32% of families reported walking more during the program.

Society for Children and Youth of BC has successfully collaborated with the City of Vancouver to implement Play Streets throughout 2022, with plans to continue in the spring of 2023. Hundreds of young people, as well as adults and parents, attended our Play Streets over the last year. In addition to informal feedback, we gathered feedback through surveying on at least 1 day of every activation location, and City staff gathered feedback through a written survey following our elementary school locations. Responses were overwhelmingly positive, with 91% of young people and 100% of adults we surveyed reporting they would like to see more Play Streets in the future. 88% of young people and 100% of adults reported Play Streets made them more physically active, and 90% of young people/100% of adults felt more connected to their community.

Funding from the Vision Zero Road Safety Grant would allow us to expand our Play Street offering into a new municipality, growing the program and allowing more children and families to experience the efficacy and benefits of activating road space for public play and community building.

Loose Parts play area on Ketcheson Road

Bike and scooter course on Abercrombie Drive

Chalk art

Header image source: Pixabay. Photo is shown for illustration purposes only and may not be an accurate representation of the project.

Funded To

Society for Children and Youth of BC

Project Stream

Stream 1

Project Year

2023-2024

Project Budget

$15,000

Health Authority