Game changer: Radical plan to shut down streets to cars so children can 'kick the footy and ride their scooters around'
- A Sydney council plans to shut down streets to allow children to play outside
- The plan aims to encourage children to play outside more instead of staying in
- The play-street trial plans to boost the city's urbanisation and recreation needs
A Sydney council has proposed a plan to shut down streets so that children can spend more time outdoors.
Quiet streets will be temporarily shut down on weekends in a bid to lure kids out of their bedrooms and away from their gaming consoles.
The Inner West Council intends to launch the street-play trial in order to address the increase of young families moving closer to the city.
'The idea of 'play streets' is to give our kids a taste of the kind of play we remember from our childhoods - by providing a safe and fun outdoor play space for kids in a home environment right outside the front door,' Councillor Anna York told Sydney Morning Herald.
A Sydney council has proposed a plan to shut down streets so that children can spend more time outdoors (stock image)
She added that the plan would also offer a solution for young families with little backyard space.
Two streets in Sydney's inner west will be closed to traffic for two to three hours on Sundays starting in April or May.
The council has asked residents to suggest possible streets for the play street program and has received over 30 proposed locations.
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Mignon Green, a resident and mother-of-three, reacted positively to the play street program and even suggested Camden Street in Enmore as a possible location.
'We said wouldn't it be great if the kids could get out on the shared space to kick the footy and ride their scooters around, but we can't because of the cars,' she said.
The program has been tried and tested in Britain and the United States in order to combat childhood obesity and benefit communities with no park space.
The program has been tried and tested in Britain and the United States in order to combat childhood obesity and benefit communities with no park space (stock image)
Mignon Green, a resident and mother-of-three, reacted positively to the play street program and even suggested Camden Street in Enmore as a possible location (pictured)
Communities in Victoria such as Glenroy, Kensington and Carlton have also embraced the concept by hosting a series of 'pilot play streets' and helping other suburbs launch their own.
The Victorian suburbs are aided by VicHealth and Co Design Studio, a Melbourne-based consultancy that encourages people to build safer, friendlier neighbourhoods together.
New York was the first city to launch a Play Streets Program in 1914.
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