title: Instituting a smoke-free policy for city recreation centers and playgrounds, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the United States, more than 600 municipalities have smoke-free parks, and more than 100 have smoke-free beaches. Nevertheless, adoption of outdoor smoke-free policies has been slow in certain regions. Critical to widespread adoption is the sharing of knowledge about the policy development and implementation process. In this article, we describe our experience in making City of Philadelphia recreation centers and playgrounds smoke-free.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Of the 10 largest US cities, Philadelphia has among the highest rates of adult and youth smoking. Our objectives for an outdoor smoke-free policy included protecting against secondhand smoke, supporting a normative message that smoking is harmful, motivating smokers to quit, and mitigating tobacco-related sanitation costs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Department of Parks and Recreation engaged civic leaders, agency staff, and community stakeholders in the following steps: 1) making the policy case, 2) vetting policy options and engaging stakeholders, and 3) implementing policy. Near-term policy impacts were assessed through available data sources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 220 recreation centers, playgrounds, and outdoor pools became smoke-free through a combined mayoral executive order and agency regulation. Support for the policy was high. Estimates suggest a policy reach of 3.6 million annual visitors and almost 850 acres of new smoke-free municipal property.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Localities can successfully implement outdoor smoke-free policies with careful planning and execution. Such policies hold great potential for reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, promoting nonsmoking norms, and providing additional motivation for residents to quit smoking.
authors.affiliation: City of Philadelphia, Department of Public Health, 1401 JFK Blvd, Rm 600, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA. Raymond.leung@phila.gov
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Giridhar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mallya
authors.forename: Lorraine T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: Amna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rizvi
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dignam
authors.forename: Donald F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Schwarz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D015143:Philadelphia; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011633:Public Facilities / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011640:Public Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D061845:Smoke-Free Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention