The Active Living Research 2014 Conference: "niche to norm".

When I think of theword niche, phrases such as a “specialized place” or a “distinct segment” come to mind. When it was time to identify the theme for the 2014 Active Living Research (ALR) Conference, we thought about how some people consider the field of active living a niche area. Because of this, it is not entirely surprisingly that around the world, communities still lack sidewalks, pedestrians and bicyclists are injured or killed by speeding traffic, and physical inactivity remains a global pandemic (Kohl et al., 2012). In selecting the theme “niche to norm,”we aimed to recognize the importance of advancing active living from an emerging research field with limited impact to well-accepted findings that guide every day decision-making across various sectors to create more active communities. We wanted to encourage dialogue around how to take evidence-based interventions that promote physical activity mainstream, and we did just that. The Conference included workshops, oral and poster presentations, and keynote addresses documenting how environmental and policy changes that increase physical activity are increasingly more common. We heard presenters discuss complete street ordinances, which have been adopted in hundreds of communities. We learned how thousands of schools are implementing evidence-based policies and programs to increase youth activity and combat the childhood obesity epidemic. Tools such as Walk Score were described as a way to help millions of home buyers and renters find walkable neighborhoods. My own work to develop and disseminate Promoting Safety is helping ensure that efforts to create environments that facilitate opportunities for physical activity consider the fact that transportation-related injuries are one of the leading causes of death for Americans (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). By partnering with architects, planners, transportation engineers, and colleagues from parks and recreation, we showed how injury prevention and public health professionals can help ensure that new and renovated spaces maximize both active living and safety (Pollack et al., 2014–in this issue). These examples are just a few that illustrate howworking across silos and engaging various stakeholders can help move active living from niche to norm. To build on the momentum from the 2014 ALR Annual Conference, there are many other exciting initiatives that those of us in the field of active living can leverage to continue to take physical activity interventions mainstream. For instance, physical activity environments and related policies are controlled by non-health sectors, including urban planning, transportation, parks and recreation, education, architecture, and corporations, among others, so active living and public health experts need to have input into decision-making that effects our environments (Sallis et al., 1998, 2006). There is emerging evidence regarding