Lessons from sustainability of Play Streets in the United States

Katelyn Esmonde; Keshia M Pollack Porter; Patricia Mahoney; Tyler Prochnow; Christina N Bridges Hamilton; M Renee Umstattd Meyer

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101894

Lessons from sustainability of Play Streets in the United States

Prev Med Rep. 2022 Jul 5:28:101894. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101894. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Katelyn Esmonde¹, Keshia M Pollack Porter², Patricia Mahoney³, Tyler Prochnow⁴, Christina N Bridges Hamilton⁵, M Renee Umstattd Meyer⁶

Affiliations

¹ Phoebe R. Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Deering Hall, 1809 Ashland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
² Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
³ Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁴ Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, 2929 Research Parkway, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
⁵ Department of Public Health and Health Education, SUNY Brockport, 350 New Campus Drive, Brockport, NY 14420, USA.
⁶ Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, Department of Public Health, Baylor University, One Bear Place 97303, Waco, TX 76798, USA.

Abstract

Communities around the world lack safe places for children to play and be physically active. One solution to this issue is Play Streets, which involves the temporary closure of streets for several hours to create a safe space for active play and physical activity. While the benefits of these programs are greater when they are recurring over many years, there is a dearth of literature regarding how to successfully sustain Play Streets. To understand how Play Streets can be sustained in the long term, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 Play Streets organizers representing 22 Play Streets programs across the United States. Four recurring sustainability challenges were highlighted from the thematic analysis: 1) securing and sustaining funding, 2) managing community and city resistance to street closures, 3) navigating government bureaucracy, and 4) retaining interest amongst organizers and volunteers. With each challenge, we describe how Play Streets organizers navigated those challenges, with a goal of generating recommendations for those wishing to sustain Play Streets programs in the long term.

Keywords: Active play; Program implementation; Program sustainability; Qualitative research; Youth physical activity.