title: Parks are the answer: help us prove it.
abstract: In just the last year I've seen several new fitness centers spring up in Pittsburgh, PA. But unless these centers sprout up in every neighborhood-with free memberships for all our citizens-they will never be the solution to our physical activity deficit. With a population of more than 300,000 inside our city limits, we need to be talking about ways to get tens of thousands of people more active. I'm not picking on fitness centers, just using that obvious example to illustrate the problem of translating activity programs to a meaningful scale. Is the activity scalable? When I read about programs designed to promote teen physical activity through exciting programs in canoeing-which bus participants miles from their homes-I have to wonder how that experience will translate into long term activity patterns. How many of the teens will be canoeing in 3 months or 3 years or 30 years? Is the activity sustainable?
authors.affiliation: Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Meg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheever
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D006801:Humans; D009043:Motor Activity; D019368:Nature; D011633:Public Facilities; D011998:Recreation; D014481:United States