Evaluation of the Inner West Council Play Street Pilot

The Inner West Council initiated a Play Streets pilot program as part of its Recreation Strategy. This initiative was part of a suite of projects designed to improve access to outdoor recreation space for Inner West community members after an extensive community needs assessment identified the need for safe and accessible places to play for all ages and abilities as a key priority.
This evaluation project was designed in consultation with the Inner West Council
recreation services team and involved surveys with visitors to the pilot Play Street during the event and interviews with key stakeholders after the event.
The aims of this evaluation were to:
1. Assess community attendance of the pilot Play Street;
2. Examine community members’ experiences and sentiments about the event;
3. Understand stakeholder perspectives about the pilot Play Street; and
4. Identify enablers and barriers to implementation of Play Streets.
The Play Street trial at Cary Street indicates that there is community support for such initiatives and participant responses to the survey align with previous research highlighting the effectiveness of such initiatives for providing a context for children to engage in safe active play as well as for local
residents to build community connections.