The Challenge: Regular physical activity improves health and reduces the risk for obesity and its related health consequences, and evidence suggests that parks and playgrounds can encourage physical activity.

Make an impact: Parks and playgrounds play an important role in promoting physical activity and health, and communities with more parks and more total park acreage have higher levels of physical activity.

What the findings are about: This synthesis summarizes research on how parks can shape active lifestyles across a variety of populations, including children, seniors, lower-income families, specific racial and ethnic groups and other populations at high risk of being inactive.