ABSTRACT
Winter use is being encouraged, but little is known about the patterns of use, its potential and its problems. This chapter examines patterns of use, demand, programming, resource availability, the issues of demand and facilities, and trends for potential use, and provides recommendations for future planning design and policy. While such elements as sunshine, daylight, cloudiness, fog, and wind speed do influence the winter use of playgrounds, their effects are secondary in comparison with temperature, wind chill, precipitation and snow cover. The major factors in terms of local topography and vegetative cover are: elevation surrounding land, slope, variation in local topography, vegetative ground cover, tree cover, and groundwater and surface water. Many municipalities still maintain a very traditional approach to planning and providing for children. An attempt was made to get as wide a range as possible of different sizes of municipalities spread throughout the province's different climatological regions, with distribution being roughly proportional to regional population distribution.
