The Active Where? Study was designed to develop measures to understand how the physical environment impacts physical activity and eating behaviors related to chronic diseases, such as obesity, among children and youth. This study started with individual interviews with children and parents 'in situ', thus allowing researchers to observe and interact with youth while using neighborhood and park environments. This formative work was designed to generate appropriate items.

A set of quantitative survey measures was developed to assess home, neighborhood, park, and school environments to be completed by parent-child dyads, parent-adolescent dyads, or adolescents. A reliability study was conducted in 3 U.S. cities, which increased the generalizbility of findings, and most of the measures performed well. The study resulted in self-report environmental measures that are relevant to youth of a very wide range of ages and will supplement the adult instruments currently used in national and international research. The Active Where? Study was a collaborative project comprising three locations: San Diego, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Boston Children's Hospital.