Active Living Conference 2024

The 2024 Active Living Conference theme is Play every Day – it’s the Multigenerational Healthy Way! This theme represents a broad approach to the understanding that play, in whatever form, is meaningful, and critical to good health. Creating playful opportunities for people of all ages and abilities is a fundamental component of active living. Building communities that integrate movement into daily routines and facilitate active travel, recreation, inclusion, and sport can make it easier for people to play every day. 
 

It’s fitting that the conference will be held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, an emerging active community that seeks to be the first National Park City in the United States – a place, a vision, and a city-wide community that is acting together to make life better for people, places, and nature. A defining feature is the widespread commitment to act so people, culture, and nature work together to provide a better foundation for healthy living. It is long-term, large-scale, hyperlocal, personal, and intergenerational. Consequently, it is an ideal place for us to convene, share best practices and learning, and cascade that knowledge within our respective spheres of impact. 

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While we know creating spaces that encourage physically active behaviors is important, evidence shows that there are persistent inequities in access, availability, quality of facilities, and programming. All communities need access to health-promoting spaces and resources to close gaps that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. Play, in its most inclusive definition, is often spontaneous behavior that simultaneously provides mental and physical health benefits to the player in a way that feels like fun, not work. By focusing on play as a catalyst to physical activity in public spaces, we can help prevent disease, promote health, build community capital, and ensure more equitable, inclusive communities. 

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The Active Living Conference will highlight research, policies, and practices through a series of panels, presentation sessions, public gathering, idea sharing, and, yes, playful experiences in the field to highlight examples in action. The information shared at the 2024 Active Living Conference will help active living researchers and practitioners from transdisciplinary fields broaden our understanding and address the barriers to improving health outcomes, eliminate disparities, provide accessible public spaces, and make active lifestyles achievable for all.