Defining Play Deserts in Communities

Landmark reports and initiatives call for creation of or enhanced access to places for physical activity. The National Recreation and Park Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated to define “play deserts” in an effort to identify where there is a need or opportunity to increase access to physical activity in communities. Recently, the term “play desert” has been used to describe limited access to opportunities for physical activity or active play among youth.  The purpose of a standard play desert definition and methodology is to provide well-defined constructs and approaches for identifying, mapping, and characterizing areas with limited access for opportunities for active play. 

In the fall of 2012, a virtual panel of experts convened to develop a standard definition for play deserts useful for national surveillance, and recommend a standardized methodology for measuring and mapping play deserts in the U.S. Public health and youth physical activity researchers, geospatial analysts, park and recreation professionals, and food desert researchers were convened over 2 days for a total of 4 hours via a webinar-style platform to identify key criteria and constructs for defining play deserts. The meeting resulted in the development of a draft play desert definition and a framework to operationalize the play desert definition that was reviewed by all the experts. During this interactive session, speakers will present the findings from the virtual expert panel meeting including a standard definition and recommend a methodology for measuring play deserts.