Family Friendly Communities

Project Background

Family friendly communities are communities where families enjoy housing that is affordable, child care, parks to play in, quality schools, and safe neighborhoods.

Despite rapidly changing demographics that indicate a need for more choice, many communities are in fact restricting choice through plans and regulations that inhibit the flexibility necessary to create family-friendly environments. Restrictions in choice can take a variety of forms — lack of affordable housing, limited transit options, inaccessible recreation amenities — but the end result is the same: a city hostile to families.

Planners are uniquely positioned to move a community-building agenda forward that is truly family supportive through both the physical and social infrastructure.

Because of this unique role, APA collaborated with the Linking Economic Development and Child Care Project to engage planners in thinking critically about what makes a family friendly community, what's currently being done, and what opportunities are there to create more friendly communities.