Outdoor play and independent, neighborhood activity, both linked with healthy childhood development, have declined dramatically among Western children in recent decades. This study examines how social, cultural and environmental factors may be hindering children’s outdoor and community-based play. A comprehensive survey was completed by 826 children (aged 10–13 years) and their parents from 12 schools (four each urban, suburban and rural) from a large county in Ontario, Canada. Five multilevel regression models, controlling for any school clustering effect, examined associations between outdoor play time per week and variable sets representing five prevalent factors cited in the literature as influencing children’s outdoor play (OP). Models predicted that younger children and boys were more likely to spend time playing outdoors; involvement in organized physical activities, other children nearby to play with, higher perception of benefits of outdoor play, and higher parental perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion also predicted more time in outdoor play. Time outdoors was less likely among children not allowed to play beyond home without supervision, felt they were ‘too busy’ with screen-based activities, and who reported higher fears related to playing outdoors. Study findings have important implications for targeting environmental, cultural and policy changes to foster child-friendly communities which effectively support healthy outdoor play.

This paper proposes a new conceptual approach to the development and utilization of youth-led environmental assessments to inform the planning of youth-enabling environments. Interdisciplinary research has established the influential effects of the physical environment on children and adolescents’ well-being and development, yet there is a gap in our understanding of how to create everyday environments for youth that speak to their needs and interests and provide opportunities for them to flourish. Engaging youth through participatory action research to both develop and conduct environmental assessments can have positive implications for youth empowerment and well-being while also altering research and planning practices to effectively integrate youth voice. The proposed approach integrates elements from affordance theory, the Capability Approach, and positive youth development within a youth participatory action research framework to create a process that encourages capability formation, fosters positive development, and improves our understanding of what constitutes a youth-enabling environment.