The StreetPLAY Pilot Program, led by Earth Day Canada in collaboration with the City of Toronto, closed 7 street sections in an inner-urban neighbourhood in Toronto to promote children’s play. Researchers from the TRANSFORM lab (led by OPC’s Leadership Group Member, Dr. Raktim Mitra) at Ryerson University evaluated the pilot project to assess the impact of the program in enabling outdoor play, challenges faced, and the feasibility of replicating the program on other neighbourhood streets.

The pilot attracted children between the ages of 4-11 years, with more boys attending than girls. Several areas for future improvement were identified, such as the need for a streamlined street permit process, continued opportunities for children’s access to street play spaces, and a need to improve the community consultation process. All in all this pilot identified the potential for success in implementing StreetPLAY on Toronto neighbourhood streets.

Check out the full StreetPLAY Pilot Program Report here.