Strategies for Physical Activity Through Community Design | Physical Activity
Background
Engaging in physical activity is one of the best things people of all ages can do to improve their health. Physical activity is vital for healthy aging, can reduce chronic diseases, and prevent early death. Yet, only about 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 6 high school students fully meet the recommendations in the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.
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.
Many people from rural and low-income areas lack access to places to be active. People with limited access to places that support being active—such as sidewalks, trails, and parks—are also less likely to meet the physical activity recommendations.
Connect 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. Possibilities for each are listed below.
| Activity-Friendly Routes | Everyday Destinations | |
|---|---|---|
These may include new or improved:
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These may include increased:
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Potential state activities
Keep in mind
On this page:
* Designates short-term activities that may be accomplished in one to two years.
+ Designates activities that may take up to five years, depending on the organization’s capacity, previous work in this area, and size of the project.
Create interdepartmental memoranda of understanding (MOU), interagency agreements, or staff-sharing agreements with key departments. Include the state’s transportation department in your cross-sectoral coalition as well as others, such as outdoor recreation offices or parks and recreation departments. Meet to formalize the public health relationship and identify topics, projects, communication channels, and opportunities for collaboration.*
Provide technical assistance* on:
- Community engagement
- Coalition building
- Needs assessment
- Action planning
- Evaluation
Provide or promote training about activity-friendly communities to state leaders, state and local staff, and coalition members.*
Work with Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) or Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs) and state transportation departments to integrate health considerations into project scoring criteria. Help ensure connections with destinations. Consider engaging with parks and outdoor recreation offices to find opportunities to increase access to greenspace. Consider focusing on high-need areas+, such as:
- Places to create safe routes to schools, parks, and libraries.
- Places with the greatest opportunity for health impact.
- Places with limited access to parks and greenspace.
- Places with limited networks of activity-friendly infrastructure.
- Places at risk for pedestrian or bicyclist injuries or fatalities.
Work with state transportation departments, MPOs, and RPOs to track and improve walking, bicycling, and transit conditions. In rural areas, consider working in places where more people live, such as small towns.+
Work with partners to establish or update+:
- Master plans.
- State pedestrian, bicycle, parks, trails, and recreation plans.
- Housing, conservation, or economic development plans.
- Land use plans and zoning policies.
Be sure that plans include people with limited access to places that support being active and actions that can have the most impact.
Potential state and local activities
Establish, expand, or participate in a cross-sectoral coalition. Include:
- 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.
- 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.
Identify relevant state, regional, and local data. Use data on health conditions, health behaviors, and local capacity to support policies and plans for activity-friendly community design*. Prioritize communities with limited access to places that support being active. For example:
- 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.
Develop, tailor, and distribute community-specific messages supporting active lifestyles. Develop and test messages locally with intended audiences.*
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.+
Potential 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 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.+
Resources
Active Communities Tool
Helps committed, cross-sector teams create an action plan to improve community environments that promote physical activity and meet the needs of their community.
Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) Tools
Helps assess the physical environment features and amenities, town characteristics, community programs, and strategies that can affect physical activity among residents in rural communities.
A Guide to Building Healthy Streets: How Public Health Can Help Implement Complete Streets (PDF)
Focuses on how public health practitioners can work with other agencies to implement Complete Streets.
Built Environment Approaches Combining Transportation System Interventions with Land Use and Environmental Design
Explains how to combine interventions to improve pedestrian or bicycle transportation systems with land use and environmental design interventions to increase physical activity.
Everyday Destinations blog series
Describes 15 planning approaches that mall and rural communities can use.
Fostering Healthy Communities Through Planning and Public Health Collaboration
Shows how planners and public health professionals can work together to create healthy communities.
Public Health Action Guide: Public Transit
Promotes the health benefits of expanding public transit options and shares actions for public health professionals.
See more resources.
Definitions
Activity-friendly communities are places with destinations such as parks, schools and shops that are attractive and accessible to the community through activity-friendly routes. These communities support physical activity through community design by supporting activity friendly routes to everyday destinations.
Activity-friendly routes include safe and convenient networks that allow someone to walk, roll, or bicycle to everyday destinations. Public transit supports these routes because people who use transit are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines. These routes can offer a safe, direct and convenient connection with everyday destinations and may include well-maintained sidewalks, crosswalks, protected bicycle lanes, multi-use trails, and sufficient lighting at night.
Everyday destinations are places people go frequently. Some examples include homes, workplaces, shops, schools, libraries, parks, restaurants, cultural and natural landmarks, or health care facilities.
Land use refers to how land is used and what can be built on it. Land use goals that support increased physical activity include:
- Mixed land use, such as neighborhoods that combine restaurants, offices, housing, or shops.
- Increased residential density, such as sustainable, compact development with housing options that include smaller and multi-family homes.
- Community destinations that are accessible and close to one another.
- Access to public parks or public recreational facilities.
See more definitions.
Cross-cutting areas
Communication tips to support program efforts.
Evaluation framework for making evaluations useful, feasible, ethical, accurate, and culturally responsive.
Additional priority strategies
Breastfeeding Continuity of Care
Early Care and Education (ECE) Strategies
Family Healthy Weight Programs
Food Service and Nutrition Guidelines
Voucher Incentives and Produce Prescription Programs
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